If you’ve ever doubted the popular staying power of PEZ, a quick Google of those three letters will put to rest any doubts about PEZ’s popularity. Everything from PEZ books to PEZ art to PEZ clothing (here’s my favorite PEZ tee) pays homage to the little plastic dispensers that first took the world by storm in Vienna, Austria in 1927.
One of the coolest PEZ sites I’ve found is the Burlingame Museum of PEZ Memorabilia. The site is loaded with pictures and information, and has an online store complete with a directory for easy shopping. Hundreds of dispensers, from characterless “regulars†to cartoon likenesses, are on display at the California-based museum. The site has a cool interactive picture of the PEZ collection, and you can click on different rows to zoom in and check out Daffy Duck, Hulk, Bullwinkle, and just about any other dispenser.
The museum also displays some interesting facts about PEZ, like that the candy was originally peppermint-flavored and sold in tins, and the cartoon heads and fruit flavors weren’t introduced until around thirty years after PEZ’s debut.
One of my (and probably most people’s) top reasons for loving PEZ is its crossover appeal. I like Nintendo, the Simpsons, the Peanuts, Garfield, and tons of other fun stuff, and PEZ dispensers offer a connection to just about every game or character imaginable. The Burlingame Museum of PEZ Memorabilia is a collector’s dream.
If you can’t make it to the actual museum in California, you can buy the interactive CD-ROM for $24.95. Or, if you do go to the museum, you can pick up the a Podcast tour for your iPod.
Burlingame is one of several PEZ museums. Another cool one is the Easton Museum of PEZ in Pennsylvania, which features about 1,500 dispensers in scenic displays. The Easton Museum site has a Games section, and I wasted several minutes mindlessly enjoying myself with PEZ Popper, a ball-bouncing, block-breaking game.
Now, I’m going to attempt the impossible—choose a favorite PEZ dispenser—and right now, I have to go with the Psychedelic Eye. If I ever get to one of the actual museums, I bet I’ll come up with a few others, but the vintage eye is my current obsession.
- Burlingame Museum of PEZ
- Official PEZ site
- PEZ Collector’s News
- Book of PEZ
- More PEZ coverage on Candy Addict
Buy PEZ products:
woozers thast my kind of museum!
May 29th, 2007 at 5:56 pm