The Museum Date

A cultural escape from culture.

Culture is hard to find in our little big town. Strange, considering we have a funded district dedicated to the arts. But we think of the zone for a favorite bakery and a craft brewery. Their combined excellence far exceeding the experience of seeing weird local art murals and student painted fence panels.

Thankfully, a short drive out of town takes us to the downtown called Norfolk. Norfolk, Virginia is home to the Chrysler Museum of Art. Chrysler offers culture. So, we drive the Chevy to the Chrysler and the Chrysler is why we created The Museum Date.

Along with its own breathtaking art collection and kick-ass glass studio, the museum funds world class temporary exhibits. We enjoyed the debut of the Paul McCartney Photography exhibition, Eyes of the Storm, with an immersive archive of Fab-Four candids from ’63 and ’64. It’s no easy task to create a Beatles exhibit and not have it spill as nostalgic. The show is a resonate historic documentation that delights. Check the McCartney website to see if it’s near you anytime soon.

Our most recent date had us devouring Farm to Table: Art, Food, and Identity in the Age of Impressionism. More than 50 works curated as exploration of France’s relationship with food in the nineteenth century. Monet, Bracquemond, Pisarro, Renior, and it goes on. World class name dropping to say the least.

Accompanying the sensory seduction Impressionism naturally offers was the mouthwatering exhibition experience itself. In expected museum nerd behavior, I invited conversation with a Gallery Host on the choice of wall colors and lighting techniques. There was a time in my museum life when I hung large exhibitions in a modern art institution and the skill-craft of display still fascinates me. On this day this nerd was thankful Chrysler uses knowledgeable companions in the galleries, vs stoneface security guards with shiny badges.

Losing time is a good sign of cultural immersion. On The Museum Date hunger usually nudges us back to our watches. And that’s when we begin our walk to the Press 626 Wine Bar. The leisurely half-mile stroll takes us through the historic side streets. The mixture of homes from the nineteenth and early 20th centuries offer a cultural canvas of their own.

Press serves within a 1906 Victorian. The food and atmosphere share a similar elegance. It’s a pleasant bar area, though our timing often invites dining in the lovely sunlit front parlor. With the Chrysler funding allowing free entry, our delicious lunch becomes the only expense for our half-day escape.

Escape from the everyday culture. The race on the roads. The race in our workplaces. Everyone. Racing. Rat-Race still holds as appropriate trope. The phone culture pedaling pop psychology. Social media pushing our anxiety buttons to sell mental health the same way they sell us shit-filet. I don’t even have words for our current political collapse. Everyday culture has become about exhaustion. And, according to culture, there’s always someone else to blame.

Worse is we’ve given up silence. The space between. The empty places that invite something other than consumption. Christmas comes the day after Halloween. The binge blurs on the tube. The next show blaring before the just watched show credits roll. The sports show another game just as fast. Or we’re expected to watch multiple screens. And click the gamble by phone betting bait for every play.

In a culture of no rest, we’ve come to savor The Museum Date. The galleries are quiet. We move slowly. We think. We wonder. We ask ourselves questions. Whisper impressions. We lose time. We covet not needing to be anyplace else.

Until we get hungry.

And stroll to lunch. Eat local food. Order dessert and lose time again.

1. Cover photo by Author.

2. Chrysler Museum of Art. Author photo.

3. We go early to exhibition openings to beat the crowds. Author photo.

4. Farm to Table: Art, Food, and Identity in the Age of Impressionism gallery. Author photo.

5. We take our time walking the side streets to lunch. Author photo.

6. Interior, Press 626 Wine Bar, Norfolk, VA. Author photo.

© Copyright William Hazel, 2025