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Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum

Posted in destinations, museums, oddities, vintage with tags destinations, museums, oddities, vintage on April 7, 2011 by shewalkssoftly

If I’m ever in Michigan, Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum will be on my itinerary.

“Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum is known from coast to coast, like butter and toast. From headlines to bedlines, from school rooms to pool rooms, this place is like no other that can be found in the contiguous United States and other environs of the free world.”

The museum contains items of magic, neon, antiques, posters, airplanes, robots, animation, and all sorts of odd and unusual coin operated games. The coin operated games are the main attraction, and range from the oldest gypsy fortune telling machine of the early 1900’s, to the lastest video games. All the games are operational.

There is so much fun stuff to explore on the website alone…I can only imagine how interesting it would be in person!

Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum

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House on the Rock

Posted in antiques, automata, candy coated nightmares, destinations, ephemera, museums, oddities, puppets, steampunk, vintage with tags antiques, automata, candy coated nightmares, destinations, ephemera, museums, oddities, puppets, steampunk, vintage on June 29, 2010 by shewalkssoftly

I have never wanted to hop a plane to Wisconsin so badly in my life. I absolutely must visit the House on the Rock.

I’m going to be honest. I can’t write detailed descriptions of all the rooms in this place, because I WILL impulsively buy a plane ticket I can’t afford…and we don’t want that, now do we?

However, I will direct you to this fantastic post that describes the house in more detail.

Antiques, oddities, puppets, monsters, instruments, specimens, props, masks, machines, weapons, books, carnival and sideshow relics…enough to make one’s head explode in the most delightful way.

A wise friend recently pointed out a common thread in my preferences: a penchant for intensely created little worlds full of unique vision. I think this place is a perfect example. I like to be sensually overwhelmed, immersed in creativity, history, the carefully crafted extremes of madness and entertainment. Places that collect the bizarre fringes of human invention never fail to fascinate me.

Each bit of ephemera tells a story…stories run through my head with every picture I see…

Time to count the change in my jar and save up for that ticket…

Source
Official site

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The International Cryptozoology Museum

Posted in antiques, creatures, exhibits, food, museums, oddities with tags antiques, creatures, exhibits, food, museums, oddities, taxidermy on June 21, 2010 by shewalkssoftly

Last week, I had the opportunity for an impromptu trip to the city of Portland, Maine. First stop: International Cryptozoology Museum

The museum is tucked in the back of The Green Hand bookstore, which in itself is a fantastic place to visit. There’s a wonderful selection of used books and interesting artifacts. This taxidermy gentleman greets you upon arrival:

I enjoyed keeping my eyes peeled, and coming across things like this bony fellow on the couch.

With renowned cryptozoologist Loren Coleman (who is truly the expert in this field) as our guide, we explored some fun and fascinating artifacts.

Museum items included specimens, bones, taxidermy, molded casts, replicas, pop culture renditions of various cryptids, video footage and movie props.

I was a fan of the Mothman display case.

The museum also covered notorious creature hoaxes and fakes, which was a wonderful addition (and in my opinion, a necessary one when presenting the subject matter).

And on our way out, we saw this plate in the parking lot…

I recommend stopping by the museum if you are ever in the Portland area. Loren has a ton of interesting things to share and has amassed quite a collection.

After the museum, I had my heart set on going to Duckfat for authentic Poutine (Belgian style fries, cheese curds, duck gravy). I was not disappointed.

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The Pacific Pinball Museum

Posted in museums, retro, vintage with tags museums, retro, vintage on June 7, 2010 by shewalkssoftly

I’d like to introduce you to the Pacific Pinball Museum.

I’m about to reveal two things that show me in a decidedly unromantic light. Aside from thinking “Wow! I’d love to see the artwork and design on these machines,” my other two initial impressions were:

1) I don’t even want to imagine the noise when this place gets crowded.
2) I would have to play at least 60 pinball games to equal the cost of admission (which includes unlimited games)

Of course, it’s a museum, so calculating game cost is irrelevant. It’s simply the way my mind works sometimes. The place actually looks pretty cool.

Check out the site here.

Source

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The Strange Museum: Llonovoy

Posted in decay, museums, toys with tags decay, museums, toys on February 20, 2010 by shewalkssoftly

Well this was a fun site to stumble upon. The Strange Museum Llonovoy has a lovely little collection of broken toys, often pieced together in odd ways.