Whispers of the exotic beckon. Before you stands the John Wickett Museum of Exotica a San Francisco enigma. This wasn’t your typical museum. John Wickett a successful businessman with fourteen businesses to his name built this private collection. He traded the formality of high society for a life of global travel and unusual acquisitions.
The John Wickett Museum of Exotica wasn’t just a building it was a labyrinth. Formerly a laundromat its three rooms now featured lofts narrow passageways and hidden alcoves. Every inch was crammed with objects. A tribal throne from New Guinea shared space with a bishop’s mantle woven with solid gold thread. A whale rib lay near an antique marionette of Joan of Arc. The collection was truly eclectic.
One of Wickett’s most intriguing pieces was a Tibetan drum fashioned from human skulls. The museum lacked labels. Wickett kept all the information in his exceptional memory. He was a collector of the weird often politically incorrect. His collection included Laughing Sal one of the original dolls from San Francisco’s Playland-at-the-Beach. It was later sold for $50000.
Wickett’s museum wasn’t just a collection of artifacts. It was a place of private parties. Young people sometimes lived in the mezzanine spaces filled with mattresses and pillows. They helped with the parties in exchange for lodging. The museum’s unusual atmosphere made it a perfect setting for unconventional events. One such event was a Proust-themed wake a fitting tribute to the author’s interest in the ephemeral nature of things.
After Wickett’s passing the collection was auctioned off. The John Wickett Museum of Exotica is gone now. But the memory of its unique collection its eccentric owner and the stories it housed lives on. It remains a fascinating footnote in San Francisco’s rich and unusual history.