For nearly a decade, George Lucas has been trying to build a museum for his personal art collection.
After several false starts, the film-maker will finally decide in January whether to locate his museum in San Francisco or Los Angeles.
The prize is big, and both cities want it badly.
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, as it will be called, promises hundreds of jobs, a high-profile cultural attraction — and it’s essentially free.
The Star Wars creator is financing the project himself. He plans to spend more than 1 billion dollars (£813 million) to build the museum, endow it and provide a trove of initial artworks valued at some 400 million dollars (£325 million).
LA Mayor Eric Garcetti said Los Angeles is “the natural home” for George’s museum. A San Francisco official said he thinks Lucas’s heart is in the Bay Area.
