After hearing of the possible closure of Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum, I decided to take a trip there and see it for myself. It has been years since I was last there. If my memory serves, I believe the last time I was at Marvin’s may have been in the late 90s, I can’t recall. It had been so long that when I pulled up I didn’t realize that you can drive under the sign to parking right in front of the entrance.

Last week the city of Farmington Hills city council voted unanimously to demolish the building to make room for another Meijer store. I mean, how many Meijer stores does one region need? I guess we need more.

According to their Facebook page last week “Yes, the city voted and the mall will be torn down but from what I understand we have our space till the end of the year. We will be moving, not closing! Where? I do not know as of yet but I hope to stay within the same general area and will keep everyone posted as things progress but again WE ARE NOT CLOSING!” I hope not. Places like this are hard to find.

As I walked, I noticed a couple of things right away. First off, there were a lot of kids in sight. As I walked into the place a little more I came to realize that it was an arcade from about 8 feet down, and from 8 feet up it’s something you might see on American Pickers. All sorts of classic tapestries from years gone by. I found myself marveling at the old posters promoting everything from old fairs and circuses to sayings, to magicians, and so on. I also took note of how small the place is. Just 5,500 square feet of a step back in time of game-playing goodness.

Personally, I was drawn to the older machines. Some of them are from a hundred years ago. Yeah, there are modern games like pinball and others, but I wanted to see some of the vintage machines. Fortune tellings, to all sorts of crazy machines that came from the mind of the founder, Marvin Yagoda. In the words of his son, Jeremy, he said his father was a “very interesting character.” who fell in love with coin-operated machines when he was a little kid.

If you get a chance, take a stroll to Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum in Farmington Hills and make some memories with your family. It would be sad to see a locally owned family business disappear.

Check out some pictures I took from my visit below.

-Meltdown-

• Share

  Lots of people took advantage of the day of for President's day to check out Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum. This is the front wall part of the building. More on that coming up.

• Share

  Here you can see some of the vintage posters that adorn the walls. Plus, you can see the planes they circle the entire room. They're attached to a laundry conveyor belt .

• Share

  The front wall is packed with pinball machines. There was a Foo Fighters one, RUSH, Stranger Things and others. This may be the most "modern" section of Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum.

• Share

  Another shot of the back part of the room. You can see newer and vintage machines in this one shot. There's something for everyone.

• Share

  Everything from magicians, to Marilyn Monroe adorn the walls. Vintage airplanes to kids rides. You could walk around this place for hours and never play a game!

• Share

  I had to get a picture of Zelda the Mysterious. Anyone who's seen the movie Big knows about these things. I did not ask for my fortune. Ha!

• Share

  I'll admit, I've never seen a Vibratory Doctor before. This is in the back corner of the room, and a classic piece of arcade fun.

• Share

  This was just creepy to me. Very macabre. This is the Polka Babies. It probably wasn't meant to creep you out, but I think it missed the mark. LOL

• Share

  In a day of streaming services, why not deposit a coin into this and hear some music? This uses over 55 instruments and has over 3,000 song selections. It was made by the Ragtime Music Company in California just for Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum.

• Share

  More planes, vintage signs and more. Jeremy said his father was obsessed with P. T. Barnum. You can see the sign in the middle of the picture.

• Share

  I took this picture for one reason: how many arcades do you know that have a woman strapped in an electric chair on the wall? Pretty wild. Just another piece that makes Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum different.

• Share

  One of the first pictures I took. As you can see, there's a TON to look at in this place. I'm not even sure where to begin with this picture.

• Share

  The entrance of Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum. In today's world, it's a little like stepping back in time. Some of the machines in there are like stepping back a century or so.

• Share

  With a clock that goes backwards, and is always wrong, drive under this sign to get to Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum.

Sign Up For The WRIF Everything That Rocks Newsletter

Get everything that rocks sent right to your inbox. We're talking rock news, concert updates, stories from all around metro Detroit, plus exclusive contests, games and more.

Email *

Subscribe

By clicking "Subscribe" I agree to the website's terms of Service and Privacy Policy. I understand I can unsubscribe at any time.