Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum

Lucille Ball was born in 1911 in Jamestown and raised largely in the nearby village of Celoron on Chautauqua Lake. She left for New York City as a teenager to chase a stage and modeling career, working her way through bit parts in Hollywood for years before television gave her the vehicle that made her a legend.

Jamestown never let go of her, and she never quite let go of it. The museum grew from the town's pride in its most famous daughter, and today it holds a deep collection tracing her life from her Chautauqua County childhood through the height of her fame, connecting the small city to the comedy she carried around the world.

When Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz brought I Love Lucy to television in the early 1950s, they insisted on filming it before a live audience with multiple cameras on high-quality film, a method that let the show live on in reruns for generations. Their company, Desilu, became a powerhouse that later produced landmark series of its own.

The museum brings that history close, with faithful recreations of the show's apartment and other sets, original costumes and scripts, and props that fans recognize instantly. The partnership of a small-town New York girl and a Cuban musician reshaped an entire medium, and the exhibits keep both halves of that story front and center.

Jamestown has built an identity around laughter. The Lucy museum led the way, and it was joined downtown by the larger National Comedy Center, making the little city an unlikely capital of American comedy that draws visitors from far beyond western New York.

Every August the town throws the Lucille Ball Comedy Festival, filling the streets and stages with performers and fans. The rest of the year the museum offers a quieter, more intimate look at Lucy and Desi, an easy pairing with the comedy center a few blocks away.

Summer is the high season, capped by the August comedy festival that brings crowds and top comedians to town. Spring and fall are quieter and comfortable, good for taking in both the Lucy museum and the comedy center without the festival rush.

Because the museum is indoors, it welcomes visitors year-round, and winter in the snowy Chautauqua hills makes a cozy time to step inside Lucy's world. The lakeside town of Celoron, where she grew up, adds a short, worthwhile detour in the warmer months.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.