If you're under the age of 50, you might not be familiar with Gene Autry, a Texas-born actor who starred in 82 Westerns and became known as the "Singing Cowboy." Located north of Downtown in Griffith Park, his eponymous museum is one of California's best, a collection of art and artifacts of the European conquest of the West, remarkably comprehensive and intelligently displayed. Evocative exhibits illustrate the everyday lives of early pioneers, not only with antique firearms, tools, saddles, and the like, but with many hands-on displays that successfully stir the imagination and the heart. You'll find footage from Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, movie clips from the silent days, contemporary films, the works of Wild West artists, and plenty of memorabilia from Autry's own film and TV projects. The "Hall of Merchandising" displays Roy Rogers bedspreads, Hopalong Cassidy radios, and other items from the collective consciousness -- and material collections -- of baby boomers. Provocative visiting exhibits (whose banners are visible from Interstate 5) usually focus on cultural or domestic regional history.