Ethos

Musee Mecanique

Museum · Fisherman's Wharf, California

A working collection of coin-operated machines in Shed A on Pier 45: music boxes, fortune tellers, Mutoscopes, player pianos, peep shows, photo booths, dioramas and pinball. More than 300 machines are held and about 200 are on display at a time. No source states its opening hours or its admission price, so none are given here.

History

The collection was assembled by Ed Zelinsky and is directed by his son, Dan Zelinsky. Among the machines are a Praxinoscope built in 1884, a steam-powered motorcycle built in Sacramento in 1912, the Royal Court diorama shown at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, and Laffing Sal, a six-foot laughing automaton. The collection stood at Playland from 1928 to 1972 and then in the basement of the Cliff House.

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