Last week, I was fortunate to make a return visit to Geppi’s Entertainment Museum in Baltimore, Maryland, or as I like to refer to it — “The Greatest Place on Earth.” Geppi’s was founded by Stephen Geppi, owner of Diamond Comic Distributors, and is located right next to Camden Yards, where the Orioles play. The museum is home to nearly 6,000 pop culture artifacts from the turn of the century to modern times.
I actually maxed out my camera’s memory card by taking over 200 pictures, but I’ll just give you a small taste here…
The museum takes up the second floor of the historic Camden Station, built in 1854 as the B&O Railroad headquarters. The historic setting and dark wood floors and walls really make the vintage toys and comics feel important. The halls are lined with incredible advertising posters and original art. I think I fell in love with that Red Ryder standee.
The comic book room has some incredible treasures on display, such as Action Comics #1 and Detective Comics #27, but the museum also does a good job of promoting more recent comics such as Pokemon and Frank Miller’s Dark Knight series, just to name a couple.
The selection of super hero toys is top notch, and I really like how they are displayed alongside the actual comics. I might need to employ that technique in my own collection.
Want it, want it, got it, need it, want it…
This exhibit is for the ladies of pop culture, and I want one of everything.
This exhibit had me wanting to reach for the skies. I clearly need to ramp up my space toy collection.
There really aren’t all that many James Bond toys out there, but presenting them with some other famous spies makes for a great display.
My Christmas list got twice as long after seeing the vintage Batman toys on display. This picture shows just one of the two Batman cases. Time to hit up eBay!
I really do love this museum and could spend hours taking it all in. This time, I took my wife and two young kids, and they were troopers. While I was like a kid in a candy store, pointing and ooh-ing at every little thing, the kids actually seemed interested and my wife even got in the act, stopping to pose with one of the life-size Superman statues that stands guard over the place. If you are a pop culture fan or toy collector, you should definitely make your way to Baltimore for a visit to Geppi’s.
I wish I’d have known you were going, I still haven’t made the trip.
Hey Todd, I can hit Baltimore anytime. You name the date!
I’ve actually been thinking about making a trip up your way for that tour. 😉
Awesome!
Wow, next time I visit family in DC I’ve got to go hit this place up!
Do it Tommy! Baltimore is only an hour or so north of DC. Let me know when you’re coming, and we can carpool up there. 😉
This place would make me go nuts! Just some amazing stuff to see in there.
It took a lot of restraint for me not to leave nose prints on all those glass displays. 😉
Sometimes all you can say is WOW!
I said that a lot! 😉
Geppi’s has been on my “to do” list for a long time. In fact, the last time that I was in Baltimore, I missed closing hour by about 15 minutes. I need to move it back to the top of the list after seeing your pics 🙂
Make a day of it Wendy and while you’re there, be sure to check out the new Ripley’s museum. That one is right up your alley. 😉
Awesome pics Brian!
For everyone that’s never been, it’s definitely worth a trip.
Thanks! I didn’t realize you were from Baltimore (for some reason, I was thinking North or South Carolina). I should have asked you for other places to visit while I was in Baltimore!
the family wants to hit up the baltimore aquarium this summer so this might be a cool place to stop on by for me.
matt
Yep, we hit up the aquarium too–well worth the trip alone. I assume your reason for going is the new Pinball museum? Unfortunately, it’s only open on the weekends, so we missed out on that one.
I had the privilege of being interviewed for a History Channel show at Geppi’s Entertainment Museum and it was AWESOME. Thanks for the post!
That sounds great Tim! Is the video online anywhere? I’d love to check it out.
My kids have the ARCHIE comic where he and Jughead are security guards at that museum. Looks great.
One of the best parts about visiting this museum is going “I have that” or “I used to play with that as a kid.” There aren’t too many museums that are filled with items like that. It’s a blast looking through those displays.
Man, oh man! Looks like I have another bucket list item, as I don’t make it out of state very often. I could probably spend all day there, and not have enough time to soak everything in. I’m kind of curious to see the other pictures you took(not all 200, obviously). Awesome post Brian!
Thanks Jason. I haven’t got around to posting all the new photos up on Flickr, but you can see plenty of pics from a visit I made a couple of years back:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/coolandcollected/sets/72157624615890302/
I’m in love with the Capt Midnight wide poster. So awesome. I don’t know how I missed this place. I’ve been in and around Baltimore several times.
Next time you’re in Baltimore, Geppi’s is literally right next to Camden Yards. it’s upstairs from the Sports Museum and has parking right out front. Super easy to visit.