Largest
collection of bunny memorabilia - The Bunny Museum sets
world record
PASADENA, Calif., USA -- Steve Lubanski
and Candace Frazee live in The
Bunny Museum, where they have 24,632 bunny-related
items which sets the world record for the Largest
collection of bunny memorabilia. Photo: Candace Frazee, co-owner and curator
of the Bunny Museum, who only dresses in red, talks on the
talking on the Bugs Bunny telephone at the museum in Pasadena.
Photo by Jae C. Hong / Associated Press
(enlarge
photo)
The couple are surrounded by rabbits, from
wallpaper to wind chimes, phones to faucets and sheets to
screen savers. Thousands of items are in storage because there
is no space left.
Guinness
World Records dubbed them the largest in 1999 when there were
only 8,437 pieces in the house.
Frazee counts and catalogs the collection
and keeps track of visitors — hovering around 16,000. The
most asked-after item in the museum is an Elvis Parsley pitcher,
Frazee said.
Photo: "Elvis Parsley" - not Elvis
Presley - is the most popular bunny in the museum (for visitors)
because he is recognized by all cultures around the world.
Not everyone knows who Peter Rabbit, Roger Rabbit, and Thumper
are. But, everyone knows who Elvis is! Photo by Jae C. Hong
/ Associated Press (enlarge
photo)
The museum is home to Bugs Bunny, Lola
Bunny, Peter Cottontail, NesQuik Rabbit, Peter Rabbit, Brer
Rabbit, White Rabbit and March Hare (from Alice in Wonderland),
Roger Rabbit, Trix Rabbit, Rabbit (from Winnie the Pooh),
Thumper (from Bambi), Uncle Wiggily, Energizer Bunny, Miffy,
and Mashimaro, to name a few. Lubanski, 52, and Frazee, 53, met at
a singles seminar in 1992. She called him "Honey Bunny" and
he gave her a stuffed rabbit for Valentine's Day.
In the beginning, they gave each other bunny
gifts on holidays. Then every day. Sometimes dozens a day.
At the reception to their 1994 wedding, he dressed in a bunny
costume; they did the bunny hop and ate carrot cake.
In 1998, they opened the museum, calling it the
"hoppiest
place in the world." Admission is free, by appointment
only.
The couple have seven real bunnies and continue
to expand their collection at antique, novelty and out-of-town
stores. Even when they go on vacation, there are bunny influences
- like the Rabbit Ridge Winery in Paso Robles or the Jackrabbit
Trading Post in Joseph City, Ariz.
This time of year is like Christmas because
Easter makes stores nearly as bunny happy as they are.
The most asked question? "How do you
dust?"
She used to do it all herself but finally
hired a housekeeper to help two days a week. "But the truth
is," she jokes, "we don't mind dust bunnies at the museum."
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