Musee Mecanique
- Hours:
Mon-Fri 10:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m.
Sat-Sun 10:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m. - Good for Kids: Yes
62 reviews
Neighborhood: Fisherman's Wharf
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143 Reviews for Musee Mecanique
It feels like you've traveled back in time!!!
Great machines to explore and use.
The photobooth prints black and white photos!! It's not cheap but it works and the quality is gooood.
It's the neatest place on the Wharf to play!
I LOVE THIS PLACE . Been here a couple of times but never really payed much attention to it until today . This place has A LOT of fun old-school games each costing a quarter or two . They're old-school but they're very interesting and will keep you entertained for quite while . In fact , I personally prefer this place over the arcade in the Pier .
I could have spent all day in here!
Challenged my hubby to a fire man game. I'm not sure who won. Also played an early edition of "rock em, sock em robots" and he did win on that one. For 25c each, it was well worth the 5 minutes of play.
There is something for all ages here. My grandmother spoke about the games she saw from the boardwalk when she was young. My mom and sister played Ms. Pacman. We got our fortunes told by the variety of machines around the building. A few had a go at the arm wrestler. There are 8 or 9 penny press machines.
The gift shop was closed but I want the new book they have out, 35 years of found photos. They have 3 photo booths and they have made a book out of all the photos that have remained unclaimed over the past 35 years. Very neat, and only $20!!
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So glad I had time to check out this fascinating place.
At first, I was a bit spooked by the freaky factor of these old-time arcades but with time I got into it.
The vibe, the history and the nostalgia this museum brings to mind is truly priceless.
A fun way to spend part of the day. Good for all ages.
Could have spent a lot more time at this place, but Mom's interest waned quickly. That said, even she really liked it here.
Played a quick game of Pong near the entrance (she won, but P1 has some sort of advantage, I swear). Walked around a bit, checked out the old-timey photo booth and some little "climb-the-mountain" ball game. Played skee ball, mom's favorite, which of course we could have played anywhere. One of the classics that has not lost its popularity.
Anyone would have 15 minutes of fun here. I was eyeing the Area 51, an early '90s relic, but Mom was ready to go.
Was surprisingly and pleasantly uncrowded.
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It's definitely a one of a kind place filled with different kinds of amusements. I was fascinated that people were at one time fascinated by all these arcade machines. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't spent all day walking around the city.
Absolutely fantastic! I could spend all day in here...and I did! Old fashioned arcade machines including moving pictures, fortune tellers, arm wrestling and tons more. Fill your pockets with quarters and enjoy!
Not to be missed when visiting SF!!!
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SO much fun. Get $5 in quarters and kill an hour here. Both the little cousin and I had a blast playing games and looking at all of the weird old machines. Definitely be careeful with the arm wrestling guy - Julie Andrews made it look easy in the Princess Diaries.
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Anything that reverts me back to my childhood for even an hour makes me happy. Laughing Sally still remains the same as I remember when I was young and used to visit Playland at the Beach by Ocean Beach. Although her somewhat scary laugh seems to have got a lil more creepier... or have I just become more of a scaredy cat?
Scrounging for some quarters, (and even some nickels & dimes), I went about like a kid getting my fortune, watching the mechanical carnival, and sticking my head in several viewfinders to watch some silly old 10 second movie reel considered "naughty". Mechanical puppet shows, getting more fortunes, and photo booth action ultimately made my day.
If only I could blast back into the past to relive the days at Playland, but I'm thankful they have preserved what was left of it...and oddly for a split second I felt as though I was back at Playland at Ocean Beach.
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To be honest, I was super scared the first time I came here. You can't blame me though, it's a kinda dark place in a totally random location with a huge creepy clown out front.
I'm glad I ventured in here though because it's one of my favorite places in the city! Here are some things I found out on my most recent visit:
1. Photo strips smell really bad when they first come out of the machine
2. Julie Andrews is one strong MoFo (that arm-wrestler is impossible to beat)
3. I am "HOT STUFF!" The metal wizard guy told me so when I shook his hand! (Don't believe me? Check out my photos.)
We stumbled into this place by chance and found it HIGHLY entertaining.
Located on Fisherman's Wharf, this museum is free - the only catch is that most of the antique machines take a quarter to operate (there were a few at 50 cents, but not many). They've got a little bit of everything here - old school "peepshows", animated puppetry, and some just plain racist set-ups (i.e. the "Opium Den" full of what were clearly all Asian puppets, and "The Inquisition" which featured an Indian after he was torn apart by Buffalo). I can't even make this stuff up. You have to see it to believe it.
Some of my favorites: The "French" execution, featuring a beheading, a severely creepy monkey band, and a graveyard with a drunken clown, shaking in fear at a skeleton, a devil, and a corpse.
Check it out - you will not be disappointed!
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Like Rins, this place is a national treasure. If you give this place 2 or 3 stars, you either are a monster or have no sense of humor.
Wifey and I spent our first Saturday together meandering about the city, and we ended up here, taking pictures at the photo booth. This is how to fall in love.
It's a delight to see these relics, still functional in all of their creepy weirdness. Most museums discourage you from touching things. Here, it's invited! And you don't even need to pay, though it's encouraged. (Ahem, photo booth!!!)
Frankly, Fisherman's Wharf is a wasteland of total crap. This place is a shining light in the middle of it all.
NATIONAL TREASURE!
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What a fun, cheap way to while away an hour or so! Sort of a cross between a museum and an arcade, the only downside to the Musee is that it's always packed on weekends.
Though I'm a local, I LOVE coming here and gawking at the old games, magic lanterns, Wurlitzers and coin operated machines. At the back, they have two Skee Ball tables, too! Woo Hoo!
I spend my laundry quarters here more often than I'd like to admit....
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Ready for the time warp? Lets do the time warp again...... I swear as soon as you walk into here and you are greeted by laughing Sal, right away you'll get a smile on your face because she is so creepy. Some of the displays are over 100 years old and still operating. Most pieces cost .25c to watch, it is so worth it.
The most shocking shows are the ones like, "execution" or "town hanging." Some crazy ass stuff you'll see what our past relatives watched for fun.
I love Saturdays where it feels like you don't do anything and yet you go to the Ferry Building for breakfast/lunch, hit the French Music Festival, go to Chevy's and have WAY too much salsa, walk around North Beach playing pool and nudie photo hunt and somehow find yourself at the Musee Mecanique.
The second I walked through the door I turned into an 8 year old. There were SO many fun things to play with. I found out my friends call me "mild " behind my back. I beat Keane at skee-ball then lost the title of Master Skee-Baller to Donna H, I watched a creepy man open his jacket (http://photos-b.ak.fac...), I jumped into a photobooth with 4 of my favorite people and for a little while forgot all about my "grown up" problems and relaxed.
A great place to check out for tourists and locals alike.
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Wonderful.
A must-see for visitors (which is conveniently located in the Fisherman's Wharf area anyways). I loved it as a child, and still get a kick out of it now.
Definitely a totally unique, totally San Francisco experience.
When I'm depressed I go to the Musee to play five dollars in quarters. Free admission, fun old school games and attractions. For a quarter you can "See What The Stripper Does on Her Day Off", or have a peek inside the "Opium Den" (my favorite moving diorama, I don't think it's called "The Opium Den" but you'll see it right across from the giant matchstick amusement park machine.)
Also the home of a "Laughing Sal", the most terrifying thing I've seen in any museum. I pay people NOT to start it up. Laughing Sal is famous, and invades dreams. Think before pushig yer coins in if you don't like things such as clowns. (It's not a clown, but Laughing Sal gives me a panic attack as soon as it begins to move inside its glass cage.)
Far down from Sal is a new addition for the new location (unless I missed it @ the old location): SKEE BALL! Hell, yeah!
Don't go on a weekend, especially since they've moved to the new location. Touristas ruin the vibe. I miss the old location. Only been to the new one once, on a Sunday, and was choked by the fumes of tourists buzzing around in those ridiculous "go car" deathtraps. (Just a matter of time: "Boston couple mangled in Go Car incident involving trolley, bike messenger"
I used to love seeing all these games and Laughing Sal at the Cliffhouse, but I love it even more in its new location near Fisherman's Wharf. I still laugh back at Sal, although her looks really frighten me. I love how the prices of these games are still cheap and entertaining. It's cool knowing that I can play the same games that my mom and her siblings played at the real Playland. Usually when I go here, I spend my quarter on the Ski Ball machine in the back. Last time I played against a 4 year-old. No joke. Thank goodness I still beat him but it was a close one! This is a fun place to take your touristy friends and just a fun place to be a kid again!
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I love this place. The games are authentic and creepy, just the way they should be. I wish it was still down by Ocean Beach.
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Like a little girl let loose with a pocketful of change in a Chuck E. Cheese, I have no clue as to which rickety machine to hit up first with my roll of quarters. This place gets me terribly excited and inappropriately jumpy.
It's the first place I bring all my out-of-town friends and family to --- and I've never received a complaint from any of them. There's a little bit of history in each machine --- a great excuse to bring kids here to be run around gleefully with.
I love the fortune telling grandma and the huge huge windowed farm/circus boxes. Although there are number of machines here that don't appear to work, they're all so detailed and wonderfully imaginative that it really doesn't matter.
Big Bertha still freaks me out a bit though.
Where else can you go to play a game called "Opium Den"?
Yes, it's the Musee Mecanique, where pocket change can make a miniature toothpick ferris wheel come to life and you can do your best against the masked mechanical arm wrestler.
If Laffing Sal doesn't scare you, you'll see dozens and dozens of coin-operated antique arcade machines that will remind you of the Main Street Arcade from Disneyland. Many of them are from Playland at the Beach, an old time amusement area, and some are over 100 years old.
I haven't been hear since they moved from the Cliff House, but I hope they kept their collection of 70s and 80s arcade games as well. (Once I had the high score there on Ms. Pac-Man.) It was like a whole other vintage wonderland, albeit starring Defender and Q-Bert.
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This is probably one of the few places in Fisherman's Wharf, in which you can spend an entire afternoon in, and not spend over $5.00
I used to come here when it was actually situated by the Cliff House, and although it was quite far removed from the rest of the SF tourist traps, back then, there were more of them. As it happens now, there are less people in here, although I suspect the larger space affords a sort of spacious seclusion that you couldn't find in it's old place.
Here you find old coin-operated machines that still work even after all the years of continual operation. Some are merely old state-fair machines that are mechanical marvels to adore and look at, like Big Bertha, or the coin-operated race-track. There are plenty of things here that keep everyone happy.
Me and my gf spent an afternoon in here, and we only spent $5.00 amongst us both. It was great! We took pictures, and gawked at passerbys when they decided to place their quarters in the hole, and watched to see these old antiques come to life. Everything had this ol' old-timey feel to it. Great if you want to just kinda relive the past.
Did I mention the old arcade games of the 80's and early 90's? They have them there too! Star Wars (the vector based arcade game) is there,and it works perfectly! It is damn spiffy!
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this place rules! the only reason im not giving 5 stars is because they seem to not have a staff? sometimes the machines eat my quarters and there is no staff to complain to! lol, whatever though. where else can you go to play pong, nfl blitz, and foozball? and every game is 1 or 2 quarters. at the arcade at pier 39, you end up spending a fortune. here, u literally end up spending your loose change. a MUST
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I really love this place. It transports to back into days when there was no television and you had to turn a handle in order to watch porn. And even then it consisted of a girl wearing a bathing suit (scandalous!!!!)
I take every single visitor I have here. Heck, I take myself here a lot too. It's the greatest play to have a ton of fun on the cheap. My boyfriend and I have an ongoing battle with the little boxing men. I think it's the perfect place to take a date. You get to let loose, be a kid and be totally rich with $5.
What can I say. It's one of my favourite tourist spots in San Francisco. I have to say that that laughing woman in the box, at the entrance makes me want to throw something at her, but otherwise, it the perfect place to be 5 years old again.
Oh yeah, and the guillotine makes me laugh my head off every time.. what can I say... I'm sick.
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Every local in the bay area dreads the inevitable visit from older relatives.
"So, is there anything you'd like to see? We could tour North Beach, see murals in the Mission, go see the Elephant seals mating at Ano Nuevo ..."
"What about that Fisherman's Wharf?"
"It's shit."
(awkward pause)
"But everyone we know who went to San Francisco went there. They all said to try the delicious fresh crabs."
"Lies, all lies!"
"Is that chocolate factory there?"
"... sigh."
And so on. Thus, dragged once again to Fisherman's Wharf, you try to wring such joy as can be had from the area. The one shining beacon of actual fun in Fisherman's Wharf is the Musee Mecanique. Even the most devoted 3d-film-watching, fudge-eating, sweatshirt-buying aunt will succumb to gradual childlike wonder at the contraptions in here. From Laughing Sal to the animated moral dioramas warning against opium dens, the Musee Mechanique has something to entertain both kids and elderly relatives. Yes, you can go through quarters pretty fast, but for a couple bucks you get fortunes from Zoltan, mechanical horses, miniature farms springing into motion, strength testers, love meters, zoetrope peep shows. and classic arcade games. Anywhere else on the Wharf, $4.00 buys you a shitty Otis Spunkmeyer cookie.
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Very nostalgic like a step back in time! Some of the games were very corny and didn't do much bot for a quarter a piece, it was a fantastic time!
me and GF spent nearly an hour here playing with machines.
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By far one of the most fun things to do down on tired-ass fisherman's wharf!
I've taken several people here, old and young, big and small, smart, and stupid...you get the picture. and everyone has a blast.
So many different typesof games; check out the old school peep shows! Just make sure you bring a shitload of quarters!
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Musee Mechanique takes you back to the ol' days before Television and Ipods and video games.
It's one of the world's largest collection of antique arcade machines and mechanical music machines.
A lot of the collection came from The Cliff House in SF. My mom used to take me here as a kid so I remember some of the collectibles.
This museum is right on fisherman's wharf and it is free admission.
$5.00 dollars in quarters gets you a long way. But you can't use the new 5's in the machine. (FYI).
The museum also has some stuff that isn't too old but still fun to play like skeeball or pacman.
Musee Mechanique makes you feel like a kid again walking around w/ a fist full of quarters,even if you aren't as old as the machines themselves.
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My bf and I frequent here even though I'm a native and he grew up in the east bay. Just love the old arcade games like pac man and the og street fighter. I love to egg him on that he sucks and Chi-Li a girl, is kicking his ass.
We like watching the tourist too, and the laughing fat lady still scares me.
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Nothing consistently makes me happier than putting 10 cents in a slot, and watching a popsicle stick with a hula skirt and a crappy little wig shimmy for 2 seconds.
It just never gets old...
i have always heard about the musee and how it moved from the cliff house. one night at around 945 i found it by accident and i was hooked immediately. it was deserted and slightly eerie, but we spent our bus fare having a ball. We went back recently during the day amidst the summer mania that is fisherman's wharf. still so fun. the player pianos were going off and we discovered more amazing games. the favorite by far is a steam shovel game located on the left wall. you pick up shovelfuls of lentils and try to get them in the hopper. blissssss! oh and don't forget the typewriter horoscope machine whose keys were so jammed, it spit out a piece of paper that read. "FU". priceless. and don't get caught as the "cold fish" on the sex-o-meter.
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What a wonderous time was had by all!
I expected a dusty, old shop full of antiques but found instead a magical land of toothpick carnivals, fortune tellers, and black and white photo booths.
Take someone here on a first date and bring lots of quarters!
They should rename this place the Twilight Zone.
All you need is a bit of change to peek into a piece of history. It's easy to imagine how people felt seeing these games for the first time. They are ingenious and crudely built at the same time. How often do you see hand carved mechanical machines these days? For about 25 cents a game you can see the last rites performed, a band in a box, or "dirty Myrtle" do her thing; all transporting you to another place and time.
This is a wonderful collection and a unique museum. I just wouldn't want be caught there alone at night after closing time, creepy.
This place was always on the top of my list for out of town guests when located behind the old Cliff House. It's still a great place to visit and I still direct folks there, but much of the old charm and magic is lost in the new space. It's a shame we've lost the Cliff House too. That whole corner of the city was once such a calming/welcoming place to go and spend a day. Oh, well. Visit the Musee. It's pretty cool.
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Oh joy, I am absolutely delighted to include this buiding on my "All time Great Places to Poop or Pee-on in San Francisco" (please see my list,) shameless plug here!!!
My human used to go here as a youth, one of her fav haunts when cutting class from Wash. Oops, how did that get out? Well, the coinage has changed a bit from the penny and such, but you can still enjoy yourself with all the variety of machines from the bygone era.
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I had read about this place before going, and I ended up loving it even more than I thought I would. It was so much fun to roam around the room, packed with games but with a high ceiling that makes it feel very open and airy. I could have spent a whole day (and lots of quarters) playing games, looking at old pictures, and getting my fortune read by various (slightly creepy) mannequins.
Another nice feature is that, at the right time of day, you can get some great natural-light photos of the old games in action. They have a vibrating chair in there also - I recommend getting a friend to sit on it so that you can take pictures of their reaction.
Bring friends, quarters and a camera, and I'm sure you'll have a great time.
It's a little sad that this wonderful place had to be moved from the Cliff House to the touristy, Pier 39. But if the new-ish location means it's going to generate money to keep these machines going, then I'll support it wherever it may be. I took tons of pictures and was pleasantly reminded of how morbid we humans are. There's not just one execution machine... but several.
And yes.
I dropped a coin in each of the ones I came across.
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Tres cool! I felt like a kid again, old school games were awesome... must see and spend a couple of $ to have some fun...
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I only got to see so little because I was with a group but I do plan to come back to explore by myself so I can finish taking pictures of the neat toys that are so detail and some look life like and so cool even the ones that are not so real. Bring the kids and show them how toys were made and how they reap imagination with such cool toys.
This is a cool place, plan to spend at least 30 minutes and that's slow for me because I'm not a walk around and mope kind of guy. I plan to bring my real camera and get some ideas for real shots with real people.
San Francisco and Bay Area photographer at
http://bjmartinphotogr...
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(INSERT MANDATORY CAVEAT ABOUT FISHERMAN'S WHARF AND HOW SOLIDLY SHITTY AND EXPENSIVE IT IS)
I love the Musee Mecanique. It's a great litmus test for a new girlfriend too. Basically, if they can't be entertained in this place for more than thirty minutes, leave them on the God forsaken wharf. No questions.
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