Bunny Museum

Altadena, California

It began on Valentine's Day 1993, when Steve Lubanski gave his girlfriend Candace Frazee a plush bunny as a present. The bunny-giving between Candace and Steve quickly multiplied like you-know-what, and their bunny collection -- the largest in the world -- may have surpassed 40,000 rabbit-related items by the time you read this.

In 2017 Candace and Steve moved themselves and their bunny-mass into a three-building museum complex, calling it "the hoppiest place on Earth." In addition to the expected dolls, figurines, teapots, and toys, there is bunny-themed furniture, bunny jewelry over 2,000 years old, a bunny carved from ash ejected by Mt St Helens, Mexican human-bunny bodysuits with rabbit masks, and eight giant bunnies from Pasadena's Rose Parade floats.

The most memorable room in the museum is the Chamber of Hop Horrors, off-limits to anyone under 13. Here visitors will find Candace and Steve's creepiest collectibles, a shrine to the rabbit victims of medical testing, and a big, eerie rabbit Tiki god salvaged from a Long Beach Polynesian restaurant. Another museum highlight is The Warren, the living room of Candace and Steve's multiple live bunnies. Watching over the hopping hoard are all of the couple's deceased rabbits, preserved as taxidermy specimens in a corner showcase.

Candace and Steve like to point out that many of the world's most famous and respected museums, including the Smithsonian, began as private collections -- just like theirs.