L.A. Mayor Tries to Convince George Lucas to Build Museum There, With Hilariously Last-Minute Twitter Campaign

George Lucas and his wife are planning on building a cultural arts museum devoted to his legacy, and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti really, really wanted them to build it in his fair city. So he took to Twitter with an obviously well-thought out and totally foolproof campaign, perhaps hoping that Lucas would not be able to repel hashtags of that magnitude. It definitely went extremely well—for people who like hearing snarky jokes about L.A.

Garcetti, with the help of a special @WhyLucasInLA Twitter account, kicked off the last-minute campaign with a series of tweets explaining why L.A. would be the perfect place for the Lucas Cultural Arts Museum. I want to imagine him sitting at his kitchen table carefully scribbling all of these logos and designs with a marker, because it amuses me.

So creative! Just look at how uneven those lines are! Regular straight lines are so boring.

Of course, there were a lot of people on the hashtag that seriously and earnestly wanted the museum to come to L.A.—so much so that the hashtag briefly trended in the Los Angeles area.

But sadly for Star Wars-loving Los Angelinos, the campaign ultimately failed. George Lucas announced today that the museum will officially be built in Chicago, Illinois, just alongside Lake Michigan and right next to Soldier Field stadium. He said in a statement:

We are honored to be partnering with the city of Chicago and the many cultural, educational and community groups that have come forward with ideas about how the LMNA will add to their work[…] Choosing Chicago is the right decision for the Museum, but a difficult decision for me personally because of my strong personal and professional roots in the Bay Area. I thank all Californians who reached out to me in support of the Museum.

He did not add, “Also, L.A. has been getting kind of clingy lately and I think maybe I need some space to see other cities,” but we bet he was totally thinking it.

The museum will open sometime in 2018, and plans for development will be presented to the city later this year. But you know: if you want to change your mind about Chicago last minute, George, then why not try New York City? Not only would it be a nice change of pace from stupid Californian things like “nice weather” and “having a decent amount of personal space,” but our summer streets smell just like the garbage compactor on the Death Star—it’ll really give your museum that authentic Star Wars feel!

(via Deadline, image via Star Wars and Victoria McNally)

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