National Automobile Museum — on the erased ground

A world-class car collection — standing where a neighbourhood used to be.

Key facts

The National Automobile Museum, 10 S Lake St on the river, opened in 1989 and holds the Harrah Collection — over 200 cars.
Among them is the 1907 Thomas Flyer, the car that won the 1908 New York-to-Paris race — collector Bill Harrah bought it in 1964.
The museum sits beside and across the river from the old Chinatown ground — near it, not on top of it — which is exactly why it's worth pausing here.

Narration transcript

A few steps on is the National Automobile Museum, and it's genuinely one of the great car collections anywhere — more than two hundred cars, from the dawn of the automobile to concept dreams. The star is the 1907 Thomas Flyer, the American car that actually won a race from New York to Paris in 1908, going the long way around through the frozen edge of the world. If you have an hour and you love machines, it's worth every minute.

And it's here, by the river, right beside the ground we just stood on. That's the thing to sit with. This whole riverfront — the museum, the parking, the open space — is the same few blocks where a neighbourhood of people lived until the city decided they couldn't. We don't say that to spoil the cars; we say it because both things are true at once, and most visitors only ever hear about one of them. Reno kept the Thomas Flyer and tore down the Chinatown. Now you know about both.

That's the walk. Head back to your car.