Culture’s Keeper

"Mickey McGowan’s reverence for cultural relics is contagious. It awakens a desire to daydream and play. Mickey is best known as the man behind the Unknown Museum, a pop-culture repository he opened in Mill Valley, California, in the 1970s. The museum, famous for its tableau vivant exhibits cluttered with twentieth century toys, knick knacks and curios, became a favorite stop for media outlets and tourists alike. When the museum closed its doors in the late ’80s, much of its contents ultimately wound up in Mickey’s San Rafael 'Culture Cave.' The day before our photo shoot with Mickey, we had some concerns. The location he was sending us to sounded more like a warehouse than a home. We wondered if he didn’t have any records at his house, explaining that our goal was to feature collectors in their record rooms."
Dust and Grooves
Mickey McGowan