The Musée Mécanique (, "Mechanical Museum") is a
for-profit interactive museum of 20th-century
penny arcade
''Penny Arcade'' is a webcomic focused on video games and video game culture, written by Jerry Holkins and illustrated by Mike Krahulik. The comic debuted in 1998 on the website ''loonygames.com''. Since then, Holkins and Krahulik have establish ...
games and artifacts, located at
Fisherman's Wharf in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
. With over 300 mechanical machines, it is one of the world's largest privately owned collections.
History
The museum's original owner, Ed Zelinsky, began collecting at age 11. His games were exhibited in the 1920s at
Playland. In 1972 Playland closed and Musée Mécanique became a part of the
Golden Gate National Recreation Area
The Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) is a U.S. National Recreation Area protecting of ecologically and historically significant landscapes surrounding the San Francisco Bay Area. Much of the park is land formerly used by the United ...
.
The museum moved into the
basement
A basement or cellar is one or more floors of a building that are completely or partly below the ground floor. It generally is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, ...
of
Cliff House, just a few blocks north and across the
Great Highway
The Great Highway is a road in San Francisco that forms the city's western edge along the Pacific coast. Built in 1929, it runs for approximately next to Ocean Beach. Its southern end is at Skyline Boulevard ( State Route 35) near Lake Merced; ...
from the Playland site. Zelinsky's son, Dan Zelinsky, took a temporary job in the 1970s maintaining the collection.
The museum was featured in the 2001 film ''
The Princess Diaries
''The Princess Diaries'' is a series of epistolary young adult novels written by Meg Cabot, and is also the title of the first volume, published in 2000. The series revolves around Amelia 'Mia' Thermopolis, a teenager in New York who discovers ...
''
and in a 2011 episode of the Japanese television show ''
GameCenter CX
, also known as ''Retro Game Master'' in other regions, is a Japanese gaming-variety show television program produced by Fuji Television and Gascoin Company. The name is a combination of "game center" (the Japanese term for an arcade) and Fuji TV ...
''.
Move to Fisherman's Wharf
In 2002, when renovations to the Cliff House had begun, the
National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...
announced plans to relocate the Musée Mécanique temporarily to Fisherman's Wharf. A portion of the $14 million renovation was devoted to moving the museum, with support from the National Park Service, the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and museum owner Ed Zelinsky.
The museum's move sparked protests by San Francisco locals. An
online petition
An online petition (or Internet petition, or e-petition) is a form of petition which is signed online, usually through a form on a website. Visitors to the online petition sign the petition by adding their details such as name and email address. T ...
was created opposing it, with over 12,000 signatures. Many of the protesters believed that the money was unavailable to fund the move and renovations, and many had strong feelings about the museum's historical and
nostalgic
Nostalgia is a sentimentality for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations. The word ''nostalgia'' is a learned formation of a Greek compound, consisting of (''nóstos''), meaning "homecoming", a Homeric word, ...
significance from its history at Playland. Unaware of the museum's for-profit status, many of them attempted to donate to the museum to keep it at its current location. Despite public frustration, museum manager Dan Zelinsky remained excited about the move, understanding the historical and emotional connections locals held for the museum: "You have to understand that people grew up with these kind of machines ... To the generation before, these were the
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
s. Many visitors haven't been here since childhood, but when they walk through that door, they are going
back in time." Original plans were slated to have the museum return to the Recreation Area in 2004 on completion of construction, but the museum remains at Fisherman's Wharf.
Despite the locals' love for the original location,
National Public Radio
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...
described it as "cramped, noisy, damp and a little dingy."
Musée Mécanique today
The Musée Mécanique is a for-profit
museum owned and managed by Dan Zelinsky.
The machines require constant maintenance, and some have undergone major restorations.
More than 100,000 visitors a year visit the museum. Admittance is free, but visitors must pay to use each game.
In 2011 ''
U.S. News & World Report'' called the Musée Mécanique one of the top three "Things to Do in San Francisco".
''
SF Weekly
''SF Weekly'' was a free alternative weekly newspaper founded in the 1970s in San Francisco, California. It was distributed every Thursday, and was published by the San Francisco Print Media Company. The paper has won national journalism awards, ...
'' called it the "Best Old-School Arcade" for 2011.
The collection was threatened on May 23, 2020 when a fire broke out at four A.M. on Fisherman's Wharf. It destroyed a warehouse, but was extinguished before it reached the museum.
Collection
The museum has a collection of over 300
mechanical games and amusement devices including
music box
A music box (American English) or musical box (British English) is an automatic musical instrument in a box that produces musical notes by using a set of pins placed on a revolving cylinder or disc to pluck the tuned teeth (or ''lamellae'') ...
es, coin-operated
fortune teller
Fortune telling is the practice of predicting information about a person's life. Melton, J. Gordon. (2008). ''The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena''. Visible Ink Press. pp. 115-116. The scope of fortune telling is in principle identical w ...
s,
Mutoscope
The Mutoscope is an early motion picture device, invented by W. K. L. Dickson and Herman Casler and later patented by Herman Casler on November 21, 1894. Like Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope, it did not project on a screen and provided viewing to ...
s,
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
s,
love testers,
player piano
A player piano (also known as a pianola) is a self-playing piano containing a pneumatic or electro-mechanical mechanism, that operates the piano action via programmed music recorded on perforated paper or metallic rolls, with more modern i ...
s,
peep show
A peep show or peepshow is a presentation of a live sex show or pornographic film which is viewed through a viewing slot.
Several historical media provided voyeuristic entertainment through hidden erotic imagery. Before the development of the ci ...
s,
photo booth
A photo booth is a vending machine or modern kiosk that contains an automated, usually coin-operated, camera and film processor. Today, the vast majority of photo booths are digital.
History
The patent for the first automated photography ma ...
s,
diorama
A diorama is a replica of a scene, typically a three-dimensional full-size or miniature model, sometimes enclosed in a glass showcase for a museum. Dioramas are often built by hobbyists as part of related hobbies such as military vehicle mode ...
s, and
pinball
Pinball games are a family of games in which a ball is propelled into a specially designed table where it bounces off various obstacles, scoring points either en route or when it comes to rest. Historically the board was studded with nails call ...
machines.
It displays about 200 of them at their current location.
The museum has many rare and historical pieces. A large
diorama
A diorama is a replica of a scene, typically a three-dimensional full-size or miniature model, sometimes enclosed in a glass showcase for a museum. Dioramas are often built by hobbyists as part of related hobbies such as military vehicle mode ...
of a traveling
carnival
Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival typi ...
with a
Ferris wheel
A Ferris wheel (also called a Giant Wheel or an observation wheel) is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating upright wheel with multiple passenger-carrying components (commonly referred to as passenger cars, cabins, tubs, gondolas, capsules ...
and other rides occupies its center. It also owns what is believed to be the only
steam-powered
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be tr ...
motorcycle
A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...
in the world, built in
Sacramento
)
, image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg
, mapsize = 250x200px
, map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...
, in 1912. The Royal Court diorama features couples
ballroom dancing
Ballroom dance is a set of partner dances, which are enjoyed both socially and competitively around the world, mostly because of its performance and entertainment aspects. Ballroom dancing is also widely enjoyed on stage, film, and television.
...
and was featured in the
Panama–Pacific International Exposition
The Panama–Pacific International Exposition was a world's fair held in San Francisco, California, United States, from February 20 to December 4, 1915. Its stated purpose was to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal, but it was widely se ...
.
Laffing Sal
Laffing Sal is one of several animatronic characters that were built primarily to attract carnival and amusement park patrons to funhouses and dark rides throughout the United States. Its movements were accompanied by a raucous laugh that somet ...
, which has been described as "famously creepy", is a 6-foot-tall
laughing
automaton
An automaton (; plural: automata or automatons) is a relatively self-operating machine, or control mechanism designed to automatically follow a sequence of operations, or respond to predetermined instructions.Automaton – Definition and More ...
. The museum also owns a collection of machines made of
toothpick
A toothpick is a small thin stick of wood, plastic, bamboo, metal, bone or other substance with at least one and sometimes two pointed ends to insert between teeth to remove detritus, usually after a meal. Toothpicks are also used for festive ...
s by prisoners at San Quentin.
Gallery
File:Uncle Sam carnival game....Hot Stuff meter.jpg, Uncle Sam carnival game....Hot Stuff meter
File:Musée Mécanique 013.JPG, Love tester machine
A love tester machine (also called ''love meter'' or ''love teller'') is a type of amusement personality tester machine, which upon receiving credit tries to rate the subject's sex appeal, love abilities or romantic feelings for someone. Many lo ...
File:Musée Mécanique 028.JPG, Grandmother fortune teller machine
A fortune teller machine (also known as a genie machine or mechanical genie) is a type of amusement automaton, which upon receiving credit gives out a card with a prediction of the reader's future. This is typically given by an automaton. They ...
File:Musée Mécanique 043.JPG, Steam-powered motorcycle
File:Musée Mécanique 114.JPG, Player piano
File:Musée Mécanique 088.JPG, Arm wrestler
File:Musée Mécanique 184.JPG, Skeeball
Skee-Ball is an arcade game and one of the first redemption games. It is played by rolling a ball up an inclined lane and over a "ball-hop" hump (resembling a ski jump) that jumps the ball into bullseye rings. The object of the game is to collect ...
File:Musée Mécanique 188.JPG, ''Robotron: 2084'' video game
File:Musée Mécanique 097.JPG, Claw game
A claw crane, claw machine, toy crane, or skill crane is a type of arcade game known as a merchandiser, commonly found in video arcades, supermarkets, restaurants, movie theaters, shopping malls, and bowling alleys.
Machine components
A cl ...
File:Musée Mécanique 056.JPG, The Barber Shop "Quart"
Image:Laffing Sal.jpg, Laffing Sal
Laffing Sal is one of several animatronic characters that were built primarily to attract carnival and amusement park patrons to funhouses and dark rides throughout the United States. Its movements were accompanied by a raucous laugh that somet ...
File:Musée Mécanique 215.JPG, The Addams Family pinball
File:Musée Mécanique 046.JPG, Carnival music box from Playland
See also
*
List of music museums
This worldwide list of music museums encompasses past and present museums that focus on musicians, musical instruments or other musical subjects.
Argentina
* – Mina Clavero
* Academia Nacional del Tango de la República Argentina – Buenos ...
References
External links
Official SiteVideo tour of the museum from Visit San Francisco
{{DEFAULTSORT:Musee Mecanique
Museums in San Francisco
Amusement museums in the United States
History museums in California
Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco
Amusement arcades
Pinball museums