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Home » Travel Destinations » United States » California » Fun & Wacky Museums: Our Visit to California’s PEZ Museum
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Fun & Wacky Museums: Our Visit to California’s PEZ Museum

Last updated: January 23, 2019- Written by Jessica Norah 12 Comments

This weekend Ethan and I visited the Burlingame Museum of PEZ Memorabilia—that’s right a PEZ Museum! The one-room museum is dedicated to the history of this iconic candy and displays over 800 unique PEZ dispensers.

It was voted one of the “top 50 American roadside attractions” by TIME.com and has the world’s largest PEZ dispenser on display! In addition to PEZ, the museum also includes exhibits on classic toys and banned toys.

After hearing that this quirky museum was located so close to us, we had to stop by and check it out. We grabbed our PEZ dispenser (Batman) and headed to Burlingame, California to learn about PEZ candy.

PEZ Museum Burlingame Museum of PEZ Memorabilia California

Basic Information about the PEZ Museum

Here is some basic information for planning your visit to the PEZ Museum.

Location?

The Burlingame Museum of PEZ Memorabilia is located at 214 California Drive, Burlingame, CA 94010. It is located in San Mateo County, approximately 20 miles from San Francisco and 30 miles from San Jose.

Getting Here?

The two best ways to get here are car or by public transit using CalTrain.

By Car: It is easy to get here by car. There is metered parking alongside California Drive and around the CalTrain station. Just bring some quarters with you.

By Public Transit: You can take the CalTrain to the Burlingame station. It is a 1-minute walk from the CalTrain station to the museum. Just note that not all CalTrain trains stop here so please check the schedule.

Hours?

Open Tuesday through Saturday 10:30am to 5:30pm, closed on Sundays and Mondays

Cost?

Adults and children over 10 years of age are $5.00. Senior tickets are $4.00 and tickets for children age 4-12 are $3.00. Children under 4 years of age are free. Prices are correct as of January 2019.

They also offer private after-hours tours and tastings that need to be booked in advance.

Other Information?

Visit the Burlingame Museum of PEZ Memorabilia official website or call them at +1 650-347-2301 for more information.

PEZ Museum Burlingame Museum of PEZ Memorabilia California

Our Experience at the PEZ Museum

We live only about 20 minutes away from Burlingame, so after hearing about this quirky museum we had to come visit. We drove and were able to easily locate metered parking along California Drive within a minute walk of the museum. Unfortunately we didn’t have much change with us, so we had to stop at the nearby donut shop for some quarters.

After entering, we found ourselves in the museum’s gift shop and met Gary Doss, the museum owner and curator. After paying the admission fee, Doss followed us into the single-room museum and started the personal tour by explaining the history of PEZ.

First, if you don’t happen to know what PEZ is, it is an Austrian candy that was first produced in 1927. PEZ is an abbreviation of the German word for peppermint: pfefferminz. The first PEZ dispensers (little plastic things that you put the PEZ in) were developed around 1950.

PEZ would eventually become very popular in the United States once PEZ became available in more flavors and when dispensers with character heads were developed. If you are a fan of the TV series Seinfeld, you might remember a popular episode featuring a Tweety Bird PEZ dispenser.PEZ Museum Burlingame Museum of PEZ Memorabilia California

original PEZ dispensers without character heads
original PEZ dispensers without character heads

Mr. Doss told us about each of the display cases, pointing out a number of objects and giving us more details. We found out that Doss had started the collection about 15 years ago but only opened the store in 1995. He has only recently started also collecting classic toys and banned toys.

He also told us that there are annual PEZ conventions—not just one, but several!—where collectors get together to buy and trade PEZ dispensers and other memorabilia. Mr. Doss is clearly very passionate and knowledgeable about PEZ and toys in general, and he  was able to answer all our questions and give us more information about every object we asked about during our visit.

After about 20 minutes or so, he left us to explore the collection on our own and to take any photos we wanted. There are apparently over 800 unique PEZ dispensers on display, from the originals created around 1950 to the most recent.

It is amazing how many characters have been used for PEZ character heads—from President Washington to Popeye to Garfield to Darth Vader to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

PEZ Museum Burlingame Museum of PEZ Memorabilia California PEZ Museum Burlingame Museum of PEZ Memorabilia California

The museum also has quite a number of Japanese PEZ candy dispensers, but unlike the regular dispensers which hold 12 candies, these shorter dispensers only hold 3 candies. Um, I think I’ll stick with the regular size as you would always be needing to re-load these little guys!

PEZ Museum Burlingame Museum of PEZ Memorabilia California
Japanese PEZ dispensers

The classic toys exhibit includes an original Barbie, LEGOs, Lincoln Logs, Easy-Bake Oven and several other toys that were first introduced over 50 years ago and are still being produced.

The most interesting to me was learning about the history of Mr. Potato Head. Apparently, the original Mr. Potato Heads actually had children stick the facial features into an actual vegetable or fruit from their home. This was news to me as my Mr. Potato Head in the 1980s was made of plastic.

PEZ Museum Burlingame Museum of PEZ Memorabilia California
Original Mr. Potato Head kit

The banned toys exhibit is small, but included banned dolls (one with a mechanic mouth), a comic book, crayons, and dangerous Lawn Darts. You’ll learn why each of these toys were banned.

The most interesting to me was the 1951 Atomic Energy Laboratory which actually came with radioactive uranium ore, an electroscope, a spinthariscope, and a Geiger counter. Science kits for children today pale in comparison—what could go wrong with giving kids radioactive substances!

PEZ Museum Burlingame Museum of PEZ Memorabilia California
Perhaps one of the most dangerous toys ever?

On our way out, we took a picture with the world’s largest PEZ dispenser (over 7 feet tall!) and bought some PEZ candy to fill up our very own Batman PEZ dispenser. Ethan chose some cola flavored PEZ while I wanted to try the strawberry-vanilla PEZ.

In total we spent about 50 minutes in the museum and checking out the candy and dispensers for sale in the gift shop. It is a small museum and you could easily do a quick visit in 30 minutes. We found it to be a short but sweet visit (haha).

PEZ Museum Burlingame Museum of PEZ Memorabilia California
Our Batman PEZ dispenser now has plenty of candy

We love wacky, colorful American museums like this! If you are a PEZ candy fan, it is probably a must-see sight. If you are not a big PEZ fan, but happen to be in the area, it is a fun place to stop if you have an extra hour.

In addition to just being fun, our visit to the PEZ Museum was quite nostalgic as we learned about and thought about all of our—and our parents’— childhood toys. Also, if you are in the area, you may consider a stop at the Burlingame Hillsborough History Museum located inside the historic Burlingame CalTrain Station (only open very select hours each month), which is only a 1-minute walk away.

PEZ Museum Burlingame Museum of PEZ Memorabilia California
the world’s tallest PEZ dispenser!

What do you think about the Burlingame Museum of PEZ Memorabilia? Have you visited? Have you recently visited a similar fun or funky little museum? We’d love to hear your thoughts!

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There are 12 comments on this post

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  1. Martha Post author

    March 7, 2014 at 10:06 am

    I still have my childhood PEZ dispenser collection in a box somewhere! That atmoic energy kit is nuts. I guess way back then they weren’t too worried (or else didn’t regulate enough) dangerous substances. But I bet the kids LOVED it!!!

    Reply
    • travelcats Post author

      March 9, 2014 at 9:13 pm

      Yes, I bet the kids did love pretending to be a scientist with real radioactive substances. Thanks for stopping by Martha!

      Reply
  2. Jennifer Post author

    February 14, 2014 at 6:56 am

    That looks like such a fun place to visit. I live in PA, so it would be a long way to travel. If I am ever out that way, I would love to check it out!

    Reply
    • travelcats Post author

      February 14, 2014 at 3:03 pm

      It is a really fun little museum if you are ever in the area!

      Reply
  3. bevchen Post author

    December 11, 2013 at 12:34 am

    Aaaah, that is so cool! And I had no idea PEZ was invented in Austria!

    Reply
    • travelcats Post author

      December 11, 2013 at 11:30 am

      Yes, neither did I. I guess most people think PEZ is an American candy since it is so popular here. I believe that Americans are the largest consumers of PEZ candy.

      Reply
  4. Meredith Post author

    December 10, 2013 at 1:28 pm

    Ha – definitely haven’t heard of this one before, but it looks like fun!

    Reply
    • travelcats Post author

      December 11, 2013 at 11:29 am

      I love these little fun museums that have large collections of something a bit quirky (teapots, thimbles, corkscrews)!

      Reply
  5. Dannielle Post author

    December 10, 2013 at 3:45 am

    I remember getting pez dispensers in every christmas stocking and easter basket! If I lived nearby I’d check it out.

    Reply
    • travelcats Post author

      December 11, 2013 at 11:26 am

      PEZ dispensers would be great stocking stuffers:)

      Reply
  6. Louisa Post author

    December 9, 2013 at 10:17 am

    How quirky! : )

    Reply
    • travelcats Post author

      December 9, 2013 at 4:44 pm

      Quirky, indeed!

      Reply

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