When the electronic trappings of modern life get to be too much, close up the laptop, put away the iPhone, turn off the TV, unplug the Wii and head into San Francisco and spend the day at Musee Mecanique. What is Musee Mecanique, you ask? It's an eccentric private museum devoted to arcade games and attractions of a bygone era.
If you grew up in the Bay Area, you may remember the Musee Mecanique back when it was housed underneath the Cliff House. (If you're a real San Francisco old timer your recall the collection from your days at the long-defunct Playland at the Beach amusement park.) When the Cliff House underwent remodeling a few years ago, the collection moved to Pier 45 at Fisherman's Wharf.
While the Pier 45 location doesn't have the same ambience (if that's the correct term to describe the cold, dark, and slightly dingy former site), it more than makes up for it by actually being there at all. And some people even prefer the Musee Mecanique's current bright and airy setting.
