International Banana Museum

International Banana Museum

As I drove along the east side of the Salton Sea, I came upon a museum -- a banana museum. And this isn't just any banana museum, it is the International Banana Museum.  

The small museum is packed full of every time of banana themed item you can imagine -- from food to ceramics to MP3 players. Admission is $1 per person, but if you buy something, admission is free. Proprietor Fred Garbutt bought a banana collection in eBay in 2010, and over the next couple years transformed the bar next to his liquor store into the International Banana Museum.

Fred was looking for something appealing to get travelers passing by his property to stop. A banana museum in the desert alongside a dying salty sea that was created by accident seemed just crazy enough to work.  Fred opened the museum in the fall of 2012, and has since continued to add thousands more bananas to the museums collection.  Fred told me he has unopened packages of eBay banana purchases piling up at home, waiting to be added to the museum.

I took in the bananas. I played a round on a banana-themed slot machine. I chatted with Fred and his daughter as I enjoyed a chocolate ice cream cone. (They were sold out of banana ice cream.) The museum provided a nice air-conditioned stop on my travels through the desert. If I pass this way again, I'll be back for more banana fun.