The International Banana Club: One Appealing Museum

James Frey may have redeemed his fake-memoir self with his latest book, at least according to a rave review by Janet Maslin of The New York Times. But I’m more interested in Frey’s (random?) nod to an L.A.-area museum devoted entirely to bananas.

Maslin mentioned it only in passing and not by name in her review, but since I haven’t read the book yet, I’m going to have to guess that it’s a reference to the 32-year-old International Banana Club and Museum,  now located in Hesperia and home to the “world’s most famous petrified banana.”

It’s not the only banana museum around—Seattle and Martinique, among others, have celebrated bananas—but it claims to be the “world’s first and largest banana museum,” and it’s the only one I can identify in Southern California.

Top Banana Ken Bannister even wears a banana suit.

Photo by marshall astor - food pornographer via Flickr (Creative Commons).

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