The Musée Mécanique is a for-profit museum of penny arcade games and mechanical curiosities at Pier 45, at the end of Taylor Street on Fisherman's Wharf. It owns more than 300 machines and shows about 200 of them, making it one of the world's largest privately owned collections of its kind. Entry is free. You pay to play each machine, and Atlas Obscura says most games cost 25 or 50 cents, with change machines on site.

A collection that started at age 11

Ed Zelinsky began collecting at 11. Many of the games were shown at Playland at the Beach under the Musée Mécanique name. When that land became part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area in 1972, the museum moved into the basement of the Cliff House. In 2002, renovations at the Cliff House pushed it to Fisherman's Wharf. Locals protested, and an online petition gathered more than 12,000 signatures. The museum was supposed to return, but it stayed at the wharf. Ed's son Dan Zelinsky runs it now, and Atlas Obscura says he's on site most days. A May 23, 2020, fire on Fisherman's Wharf destroyed a nearby warehouse but was put out before it reached the museum.

What to look for

  • Laffing Sal, a 6-foot laughing automaton that came from the Fun House at Playland.
  • The Royal Court diorama of ballroom dancers, shown at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition.
  • A traveling-carnival diorama with a Ferris wheel, which Atlas Obscura says has more than 100 moving parts.
  • A red steam-powered motorcycle built in Sacramento in 1912, believed to be the only one in the world.
  • A praxinoscope from 1884, the oldest piece in the collection.
  • Toothpick machines built by prisoners. Wikipedia says they were made at San Quentin, and Atlas Obscura says Alcatraz.
  • Fortune tellers, Mutoscopes and peep shows, player pianos, love testers and old photo booths that still print black-and-white strips.

Know before you go

Bring quarters or small bills. The machines need constant maintenance, so some may be out of order on any given day. Atlas Obscura lists the museum as open daily from 10 to 8, but confirm hours before a trip. Pair it with the Sutro Baths ruins, near where the collection used to live.