Bikini Magazine .: Banana Museum & "Where To Find Books You Never Would've Thought Existed" :.

Banana Museum

Good old Doctor Freud would have a heyday peeling apart the layers of meaning behind this museum: one dedicated entirely to our little yellow friend the banana. Ken Bannister, the founder and TB (Top Banana) of The Banana Club and the Banana Club Museum, says the whole concept began "as an accident, with a roll of stickers." He had started handing out Chiquita banana stickers to the people at photo equipment conventions in order to get a smile. Soon he became known as the "Banana Man" and found himself the recipient of all kinds of banana-related items donated by the people he had met at the shows. Four years later, his office and home were so full of banana paraphernalia that he had to rent a space just to store it all. And so was the birth of the Banana Club Museum in 1976.

The museum is divided into several sections to make your banana-touring more efficient. There's the Hard Section, which consists of solid banana objects, featuring such items as banana harmonicas, squirt guns and sprinklers, banana jewelry, banana pipes for smoking the peels, and an assortment of brass, wooden, metal and glass bananas (including a sequenced banana called "the Michael Jackson Banana"). The Soft Section consists mainly of banana-patterned attire, but it does boast its share of banana stuffed animals as well. The Food Section is full of anything banana you can put into your mouth and swallow. Then, of course, there's the Banana Library, where all your banana literary needs can be met.

Worthy of note are the "petrified banana", a black, rock-like banana that's been in the museum for 25 years, and the "German Banana Warmer," a fuzzy, zippered device which operates much like a mini sleeping bag for the fruit (you tell me.)

Although anything banana is the idea here, Ken says he doesn't allow items that are "lewd, crude or lascivious" to be displayed, as he wants the club to be welcoming to all age groups. "People want to be recognized, and be part of something that is fun and positive, and that's what this is," says Ken of his club. And yes, it is just that: good, clean, old-fashioned fun.

I guess it just goes to show you that sometimes a banana is just a banana.


	Bikini Magazine
	Banana Museum Good old Doctor Freud would have a heyday peeling apart the layers of meaning behind this museum: one dedicated entirely to our little yellow friend the banana. Ken Bannister, the founder and TB (Top Banana) of The Banana Club and the Banana Club Museum, says the whole concept began "as an accident, with a roll of stickers." He had started handing out Chiquita banana stickers to the people at photo equipment conventions in order to get a smile. Soon he became known as the "Banana Man" and found himself the recipient of all kinds of banana-related items donated by the people he had met at the shows. Four years later, his office and home were so full of banana paraphernalia that he had to rent a space just to store it all. And so was the birth of the Banana Club Museum in 1976. The museum is divided into several sections to make your banana-touring more efficient. There's the Hard Section, which consists of solid banana objects, featuring such items as banana harmonicas, squirt guns and sprinklers, banana jewelry, banana pipes for smoking the peels, and an assortment of brass, wooden, metal and glass bananas (including a sequenced banana called "the Michael Jackson Banana"). The Soft Section consists mainly of banana-patterned attire, but it does boast its share of banana stuffed animals as well. The Food Section is full of anything banana you can put into your mouth and swallow. Then, of course, there's the Banana Library, where all your banana literary needs can be met. Worthy of note are the "petrified banana", a black, rock-like banana that's been in the museum for 25 years, and the "German Banana Warmer," a fuzzy, zippered device which operates much like a mini sleeping bag for the fruit (you tell me.) Although anything banana is the idea here, Ken says he doesn't allow items that are "lewd, crude or lascivious" to be displayed, as he wants the club to be welcoming to all age groups. "People want to be recognized, and be part of something that is fun and positive, and that's what this is," says Ken of his club. And yes, it is just that: good, clean, old-fashioned fun. I guess it just goes to show you that sometimes a banana is just a banana.
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