Los Angeles, Long Beach make a play for the George Lucas museum

The mayors of Long Beach and Los Angeles wasted no time Friday in making pitches to George Lucas to bring his museum — which would showcase the filmmaker’s art collection —to Los Angeles, now that plans for building it in Chicago have been abandoned.

When news came in May that San Francisco was being explored as an alteative site for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art — which faced delays and legal opposition in Chicago — Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Los Angeles also would love to have the museum.

Garcetti reiterated that Friday, saying “The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art would be perfect for Los Angeles.”

“Tens of millions of people visit our city every year — and L.A. has unquestioned stature as a world arts capital, thanks to institutions like the Broad, the Getty, MOCA and LACMA,” Garcetti said. “We would welcome the opportunity to be a permanent home for this incredible collection, which would become part of a museum culture that is unrivaled in the United States.

Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia also weighed in, tweeting after news broke that Chicago was out.

“Would love to have you in Downtown LB on the water. Let’s talk,” Garcia posted on his personal Twitter account.

Garcia reiterated his sentiment in a short interview, saying the Lucas museum would be a natural fit in Southe Califoia, given the region’s history of filmmaking.

Lucas is best known for creating the “Star Wars” franchise.

“We’re a great choice for the museum or any great museum of that caliber,” Garcia said.

David Perry, a spokesman for the museum, said Los Angeles was being considered as a potential location, along with San Francisco.

Garcetti in 2014 wrote a letter to Lucas suggesting Exposition Park, which contains the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, as a site for the Lucas museum.

Councilman Curren Price, who represents the area, joined Garcetti Friday in issuing a statement, saying “A museum of this caliber is worthy of a world-class home and that is just what Los Angeles offers.”

Price said the museum “would enhance an already thriving museum campus at Expo Park, and enrich the lives of Angelenos of all ages,” adding that his district “welcomes the Lucas Museum and this investment in South L.A. with open arms.”

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The museum will feature pieces from Lucas’s art collection, which includes works by Norman Rockwell, N.C. Wyeth and Maxfield Parrish, as well as exhibitions centered around “narrative art” used in storytelling, usually in popular mediums such as film and illustrated books.