JEFF HUNT We acknowledge and respect the first humans of the unceded land we call San Francisco, the Ramaytush Ohlone. We condemn the genocide of these and other tribes across the Western Hemisphere. We honor their legacy and history and we support rematriation and sovereignty efforts. Those of us who live in San Francisco in the greater Bay Area rarely get down to Fisherman's Wharf, and for good reason. We're from here, and that large swath of the northern waterfront is geared almost entirely for tourists. Still, walking around down there, you can't help but wonder what it's like to visit here from out of town … souvenir shops selling those very important sweater vests with “San Francisco” splayed across the front … chowder bowls … buskers. And whether you set out intentionally or you happen to stumble across it, just behind the iconic Fisherman's Wharf sign at Taylor and Jefferson lies a waterfront warehouse full of magic and wonder. This episode is all about San Francisco’s own Musée Méchanique. When you enter Musée Méchanique, as you walk through the narrow pathways between penny arcade games, antique gadgetry, and maybe a few arcade games from the ’80s, you might spot a human in a dark blue work suit gliding happily around the place on roller skates. He has a friendly, slightly grizzled “I'm from here” face and a patch on his suit that reads “I work here.” Meet Musée Méchanique’s owner, Dan Zalinsky. [ARCADE GAME SOUNDS] JEFF Are we on a certain number pier here? DAN ZALINKSY Yes. This is Pier 45 JEFF 45? DAN 45, like the gun on your hip. JEFF And and an age I used to be … and, and who the heck are you? DAN I am Dan Zalinsky. I am the previous owner of Musée Méchanique. This is a collection my dad started, Ed Zelensky. He started this collection back in 1933 when he got his very first machine. He was enchanted by it and never looked back. He collected machines, coin-operated entertainment machines his entire life starting in 1933. JEFF You said you're the previous owner? DAN Well, my dad. JEFF Oh, he's the previous owner? DAN No. I get backwards. So you're gonna have to keep an eye out on me. JEFF I'll keep an eye and an ear out. But you're the current owner. DAN I am the current owner. JEFF You currently, would you say, own and operate? DAN I own and operate. JEFF You have at least one other person working with you DAN Oh yeah, Tom Johnson's out there always helping me. This is not a one man show. This takes a lot of maintenance to keep everything here working. And I cannot do it myself. There's no doubt about that. JEFF Can we dig back into your family history … DAN Depends on what you wanna know. JEFF Well, I wanna know, your dad, where was he born? What did he do? What got him into maybe this stuff? DAN Well, that's easy. My dad was born here in San Francisco, but the way he got involved with coin-operated machines is a delightful story. He was playing bingo one day at his school and he won the bingo tournament. He was 11 years old. There was this stage and on the stage that had a big wheel of fortune. He got to go up there and spin the wheel of fortune and it landed on the grand prize. Dad was just totally stoked … except the grand prize was a case of oil for a car, which he couldn't have cared less about. So he took the oil home and he sold it to his piano teacher for 50 cents. There was a store by his house that sold penny arcade machines. And he bought a penny arcade machine for 50 cents and he took it home. It was coin-operated. It took pennies and his mom and dad put pennies in it. His friends put pennies in it, and he soon had 50 cents, so he went out and bought another one and he never looked back. He just kept collecting, and anywhere he traveled, all over the country, all over Europe, Mexico, he was always looking for new toys to add to the collection. JEFF Now let's hear about Dan's dad moving to the North Bay and eventually raising a family that would include our host, Dan Would he do, you know, like maybe if he'd find some machines that weren't necessarily for sale, but would he would ask them, “Can I buy that?” DAN There was a lot of wheeling and dealing. One awesome story is kind of backwards about what you're talking about. A friend of my dad wanted to buy a machine from him. But it was at that time and probably still one of the most popular slot machines and everybody wanted it. It's just awesome. It's a mechanical roulette wheel. So this gentleman offered my dad what it was worth and then twice what it was worth. And then three times … and my dad just said, “I'm really sorry. I love this. It's in my collection. I'm keeping it.” A year goes by. The guy comes back with another offer. More ridiculous. Very high. My dad says “I'm sorry. It's really not for sale.” So the guy comes back, which turned out to be the last time, because he offered my dad a house in Mill Valley. JEFF Oh my god. DAN Two bedroom, one bathroom, two-car garage, backyard. He said, “I'll trade you this for that slot machine.” My dad said, “Done.” I mean the wheeling and dealings and the stories that my dad told me and I've watched him execute throughout the years have just been very entertaining. I started out counting pennies. Our first location was in Tiburon under The Dock restaurant. I think I started working there in the early ’60s counting pennies two at a time. And then I worked up to three at a time. And now I can do five at a time. I've come a long way. JEFF I don't wanna date you, but … DAN Oh, please do. It took so much work to get to this point. JEFF When did your dad start having children and a family? DAN My sister was born in 1948. So late-forties into the ‘50s. JEFF Can you tell us what it was like growing up going to your dad's place at the Cliff House? DAN Well, yeah, but before that it was all in the basement at home, before my dad had an arcade. So I grew up with all the pianos and the fortune tellers and slot machines in the basement … dynamite birthday parties. Lots of fun. But you know, it's not as much fun as having a location that's open to the public, right? Because if you're not sharing it with somebody it's kind of old and boring. But as soon as you can make somebody happy, it's all worthwhile. And that's why I love working here. Because making people happy is wonderful. I walk in and soon as I started seeing some of the things moving and hearing Sal laugh, I'm just like, “Oh, how can you not be happy here?” Sometimes when somebody's not happy, I can give them a refund and then they're happy again, right? So I really don't let 'em get away without being happy. JEFF Michelle and I wanted to talk to some visitors during our visit to Musée Méchanique, to hear from them what it was like to find this magical needle in a haystack in the middle of Touristlandia. First up, here are Rachel and Seamus from Philadelphia. You guys are from Philadelphia. Just visiting on vacation or …? SEAMUS Rachel's here for work. I'm just kind of following along. JEFF Oh, OK. You don't have to say what kind of work you do, but do you work in an office out here or …? RACHEL I work at Punchline in Philly and we have a Punchline here in San Francisco. JEFF This podcast loves the Punchline. In fact, we just went back, maybe two or three months ago, for our first time since the pandemic and … SEAMUS Oh, cool. JEFF Yeah, so thank you for the work you do, making us laugh. So, how did you find out about this place that we're in, this magical place? SEAMUS Weren't you saying Princess Diaries? RACHEL No, I don't think it was filmed here, but they have games from the movie from here, I guess. JEFF Oh, they rented them or something? RACHEL I think it used to be somewhere else and they moved it to this location. JEFF It did used to be somewhere. It used to be out more on the ocean than the Bay. RACHEL Oh, OK. JEFF So I didn't even get that yet in this podcast that pieces from here were in The Princess Diaries. RACHEL Yeah. The laughing lady … Laffing Sal and the arm-wrestling guy. SEAMUS Julie Andrews wrestles the arm-wrestling guy. JEFF You guys are blowing my mind. Thank you. I picked the right people to talk to. So that was how you found out about the existence of Musée Méchanique? RACHEL We just saw it online earlier. I saw it this morning on a map and then I was like, “Oh, I wonder if that's where that movie was?” And it was. SEAMUS It's really cool. It's great. JEFF Have you seen a place like this anywhere else? Do you feel like it's pretty unique? SEAMUS Yeah, I would say so. I think it's pretty unique. I'm kind of surprised by all of the execution games. That's kind of a big play. Like, what is this? What's happening here? JEFF It's a trip through some … rough history. SEAMUS They gotta release The Last Rites on PlayStation 4. They've gotta remaster … Opium Den for the PlayStation or whatever. JEFF [laughing]. What has been y’alls’ favorite thing so far? How long have you even been here? RACHEL Last night. SEAMUS We just got in. JEFF Oh, but I mean here at Musée Méchanique? SEAMUS Ten minutes. JEFF Oh, OK. So I caught you on the early end. Unless you have anything else to say, I'll leave you alone now to explore. SEAMUS Do you have any recommendations? JEFF Oh, for San Francisco or for this place? SEAMUS What's your favorite? JEFF I mean, I think it's a mix of … “Oh, this is really fun!” and “Oh, this might be racist.” SEAMUS Yeah. I think so. I think you're right. Yeah. JEFF So it's really just, whatever your attraction is at the moment. [SOUND OF LAFFING SAL] JEFF So many questions, like how did y'all get Sal? Was she already part of the collection? DAN Nope. Sal came … I got a phone call from the previous owner of Sal. He said, “I've got Sal. I don’t want her. I wanna sell her.” He said, “Come on over.” So I went over there and there she was—covered up under a white sheet under a staircase. I mean, you couldn't even see it. And I said, “All right, I'll buy it. That’s awesome.” So I came back with a check and he said, “Ah, changed my mind. Don't really wanna sell it.” Years and years went by and I got a notice in the mail that an auction house had her up for sale. And I thought, “Wow, we'll never see that.” I mean, how many people are gonna bid on this? So, we didn't even go to the auction. My dad put in a silent bid and we said, “Call me,” right? Anyway, three weeks later, they called us. We got it. Not only did we get it, but there was not one other person that bid on it. I would assume it's because everybody else thought what I thought—”I'm not gonna get that. There'd be so many people bidding on it.” So anyway, that's how we got her. JEFF OK. And had she been at Playland until it closed? DAN Yeah. [LOUD BELL RINGING] DAN Time out on the field … JEFF Whether you love her or hate her, Laffing Sal is a true San Francisco legend. That's it for Part 1. Join us next week for Part 2, when we'll learn a little more of the history of Musée Méchanique. Music for Storied: San Francisco was produced, performed, and curated by Otis McDonald. Michelle Kilfeather does original photography for us. Erin Lim of Bitch Talk Podcast is our contributing producer. And the show is produced and hosted by me, Jeff Hunt. Now in our fifth season, we have more than 190 episodes available on our website, storiedsf.com, or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you're able to, please rate and review the show. And drop us a line at storiedSF@gmail.com. Thanks for listening. Stay strong, weird, and healthy, and we'll see you next time on Storied: San Francisco. This podcast is a proud member of the BFF.fm Podcast Network. Learn more at podcasts.bff.fm.