How is being in walking distance of a museum a selling point?

Do people go to any museum often enough that the fact they need to use the parking lot or perhaps commute in is some significant demerit?

I want to go to a museum? I take a train and a subway. Takes an hour or so, sure, but it's not like you go to a museum on your lunch break at work.

The "not having restaurants" bit confuses me, though. I find suburbs tend to have much better dining options than major city cores, by virtue of the fact with money actually live in those areas to make a market for it.