Connect with us

Lifestyle

The Bunny Museum, destroyed by Eaton fire, vows to return

Published

on

The Bunny Museum, destroyed by Eaton fire, vows to return

Among the losses in the devastating Eaton fire was the Bunny Museum, husband-and-wife Candace Frazee and Steve Lubanski’s grand ode to the world’s hoppiest animal, the rabbit. The Altadena museum, located on Lake Avenue, was one of L.A.’s quintessentially quirky institutions, a place that transported guests to a strange and magical world where the bunny permeates all aspects of life.

There were stuffed bunnies (including the first bunny that Lubanski gave to Frazee, the one that he gave to her because they used to call each other “bunny” as an endearment), hundreds of miniature porcelain bunnies, a bunny T-shirt collection, bunny cookie jars, bunny movie posters (including “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” and “Peter Rabbit”), a bunny song room (Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit” for one), bunny costumes, bunny books, bunny items from Rose Parade floats, and on and on.

The couple ended up collecting more than 46,000 bunny objects and memorabilia in all — a certified Guinness World Record for largest bunny collection in the world.

The Bunny Museum, photographed before the fire, had the world’s largest bunny collection.

(Maxwell Williams / Los Angeles Times)

Advertisement

Most of it burned in the fire on Wednesday. “We lost our wedding albums, my wedding dress, and 46,000 bunny objects,” Frazee wrote in an email from a motel, as her phone was also lost in the fire.

It was a life’s work, and Lubanski stood outside the building hosing it down until the building next door caught fire. It was then that the couple grabbed a few select bunny items, their real bunnies Doris and Nicky and their cats, and left.

“We saved the first bunny and the second bunny of the collection,” Frazee said. “Gifts to each other. We saved the antiquity items, three framed Guinness World Record certificates and the Elvis Parsley water pitcher. We lost our wedding albums, my wedding dress and 46,000 bunny objects.”

She added, “It’s not a hoppy day.”

Advertisement

But on Thursday, Frazee vowed to fans on social media that the Bunny Museum will rebuild, hopefully in the same space. She said the museum has yet to set up a GoFundMe, though they plan to, and that any current fundraising efforts floating around are not sanctioned by the Bunny Museum.

The Bunny Museum began as a humble endeavor back in 1998. Frazee and Lubanski had been collecting bunnies since that first one, and they had enough in their arsenal to open the first location, in their Pasadena home, to the public on appointment. It was an oddity back then, but people came. They told their friends about this strange collection of bunny items, and the collection grew, and finally, in 2017, the Bunny Museum expanded to Altadena, to the 7,000-square foot midcentury building that they proceeded to stuff to the brim with bunnies.

As Frazee used to tell nearly everyone that entered, it was the “hoppiest place on Earth.”

Advertisement

Lifestyle

Iris van Herpen Reaches for the Stars

Published

on

For Iris van Herpen, couture is a laboratory as much as a runway. Our chief fashion critic, Vanessa Friedman, takes us inside this Dutch designer’s latest Paris show — from sci-fi-inspired gowns to an audacious attempt at a dress made of charged plasma.

Continue Reading

Lifestyle

The BoF Podcast | Decoding Paris Haute Couture: Wonder, Restraint and the Call of the Void

Published

on

The BoF Podcast | Decoding Paris Haute Couture: Wonder, Restraint and the Call of the Void
Amidst a record-breaking heatwave, top brands and independent designers soldiered on, showcasing the creative obsessions and aesthetic shifts that defined the haute couture Autumn/Winter 2026 season. Imran Amed and Tim Blanks break it all down.
Continue Reading

Lifestyle

‘The Invite’ is a marriage comedy with sex and heart

Published

on

‘The Invite’ is a marriage comedy with sex and heart
What happens when a simple dinner party goes off the rails? That’s the premise of The Invite, a very good new comedy directed by Olivia Wilde. Wilde also stars alongside Seth Rogen as a couple who invite their neighbors over for a meal, played by Penelope Cruz and Edward Norton. And it’s a heck of a dinner party, full of frank talk about sex and its complications.If you like slightly absurd relationship comedies, check out these episodes:’Mr. & Mrs. Smith’ is a stylish take on spy marriageIn Tina Fey’s ‘The Four Seasons,’ marriage is far from a vacationConnect with Pop Culture Happy Hour:Letterboxd / FacebookOur weekly newsletterSupport Pop Culture Happy Hour+
Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending