Pez Museum: Sweeter Than Candy
Like Pez candy and Pez dispensers, the Pez Museum is small—one room behind the Pez gift shop in downtown Burlingame. But you don’t need much space to display the only 900 (and counting) Pez dispensers ever made. In fact, Pez Museum collector/shopkeeper Gary Doss has squeezed two other collections into the room that are just as much fun to inspect: Classic Toys and Banned Toys.
Plenty of Pez dispensers, both current and “retired,” fill the shop, along with other hard-to-find toys and candy for sale in the shop. Where else will you find Wizard of Oz dispensers ($30 for eight Oz characters), a Slinky ($5), or the newest Pez dispensers plus candy for $2.15-$3.00 each? There’s also an old Pez vending machine that still works if you happen to have any German pfennigs in your pocket. A nearly eight-foot-tall Snowman Pez dispenser is also displayed—the Guinness World Record largest of its kind and it even dispenses candy. But the best of Pez is in the museum in back.
Pez dispensers, dating to 1950, are displayed along two walls. Doss gives museum-goers a brief “tour” and cheerfully answers any Pez questions that arise. The rarest dispenser? That would be this 1972 “Make a Face” Pez, immediately pulled off the market because it was a choking hazard. Value: $5,000. You’ll also see Princess Leia Pez dispensers signed by Carrie Fisher and George Lucas.
The Classic Toys displayed on a third wall are all at least 50 years old. You’ll recognize some because they’re still popular: Mr. Potato Head, Pluto Platters (predecessor of the Frisbee), Legos, Lincoln Logs, Tinker Toys, a Magic Slate and an Erector Set made in 1912.
The “Banned” Toys against the back wall were pulled off the market for a variety of reasons. There’s Spanish Barbie, pulled because animal-rights advocates didn’t like her bullfighter’s outfit. There’s a Cabbage Patch doll that chewed pretend food, even if it was a little girl’s hair. There’s Steve the Tramp, a doll deemed insensitive to the homeless. Most remarkable is the Atomic Energy Lab, banned because real radioactive ore was included. (“Golly, son, you’re glowing!”)
The Burlingame Museum of Pez Memorabilia is tucked inconspicuously between a wedding cake shop and a musical instrument store. Just look for the Pez dispensers painted on the windows. The museum has no connection to the Pez Candy Company in Linz, Austria, although the two new dispensers released each month are dutifully added to the collection. It’s just one man’s hobby gone wild, as sweet as Pez candy on the tongue.
HelloSanFrancisco tip: Admission is free on the first Thursday of each month.
Posted on Feb 13, 2011 by Bob Cooper
