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Garcetti Wants George Lucas To Build Planned Art Museum In LA

EXPOSITION PARK (CBSLA.com) — Mayor Eric Garcetti is trying to persuade "Star Wars" creator George Lucas to build his proposed art museum in Los Angeles.

Chicago and San Francisco have made bids to become home to The Lucas Cultural Arts Museum.

Garcetti is asking Angelenos to creatively persuade Lucas by tweeting #WhyLucasinLA with their reasons.

Employees at the famous Langer's Deli did.

So did Benjamin Andrews, who apparently caught R2-D2 on his way to City Hall.

"It's a win-win for us and the Lucas Museum," said Molly Fowler, a spokeswoman for the mayor.

"We are the capital of the entertainment and creativity world, so it felt totally natural for a museum focused on building storytellers to be located right here in LA," Fowler said.

According to its website, The Lucas Cultural Arts Museum will be a center highlighting populist art of the past to today's digital art used to create animated and live-action movies, visual effects, props and sketches.

Fowler tells us the LA Sports Arena would be torn down to make way for the museum in Exposition Park.

"Cultural institutions like this are a fantastic way for us to not only create jobs but bring more visitors in our city and those visitors generate tax dollars. So there will be an economic benefit for LA," Fowler said.

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