Dabls Mbad African Bead Museum
6856 Vinewood St., West Side
Run by Olayami Dabls, this is not the type of attraction that can (or should) be put neatly into a tourism box. The title "museum" is a purposeful, playful misnomer: The shimmering, bright house outfitted in shiny pieces of broken mirror, installed by Dabls—is a shop in that you can actually buy beads from Dabls' extensive collection of African art. If you're fortunate, Dabls will pop into the shop while you're there (or if you linger long enough); he can tell you how many hundreds of years old every single bead in the space is (suffice it to say, there are a lot, and many more not on display), and from which country in Africa. Using iron, rock, wood, and mirrors, Dabls (who would say he is a storyteller, not an artist) tells a gripping cultural narrative that is both sad and stirring on the exterior of his store. Dabls is currently at work to evolve the property to include a gallery space, community gathering spot, and safe, climate-controlled storage for his important collection of African art.
