Hardcore Star Wars Fans Will Drool Over This Massive Museum Collection On The West Coast

The city of Petaluma, California, is one that might already be known to hardcore "Star Wars" fans, since it's where writer-director George Lucas filmed his earlier classic, "American Graffiti." In the movie, Petaluma Boulevard North stood in for the main drag in the town of Modesto, where Lucas grew up and became obsessed with cars. Located about 39 miles north of San Francisco, Petaluma still serves as a gathering place for classic cars during the annual Cruisin' the Boulevard event. The city has another claim to fame for fans, however, since it's home to Rancho Obi-Wan, the nonprofit museum that holds the Guinness World Record for "largest collection of 'Star Wars' memorabilia."

Estimates vary on how many pieces of memorabilia Rancho Obi-Wan contains, since there are literally too many of them to count. All it took for the museum to set the record in 2015 was 93,260 catalogued items, though it is thought to house anywhere between 350,000 and 500,000 total. Appropriately, it achieved its Guinness status on Star Wars Day (May the Fourth, a pun on "May the Force be with you"). It was the year of "The Force Awakens," the top-grossing "Star Wars" movie to date.

Excitement for the franchise was at an all-time high, but for Rancho Obi-Wan's founder — and Lucasfilm's former head of fan relations — Steve Sansweet, it had begun a long time ago in a galaxy not so far away. Sansweet was working as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal's Los Angeles bureau in 1977 when he happened to fish his first "Star Wars" artifact, a color brochure for the original movie, out of the trash. Today, his museum overflows with random curios, including a hazardous waste barrel with a pop-up version of the one-eyed trash compactor monster from "Star Wars."

Rancho Obi-Wan differs from a typical museum in that it doesn't maintain regular operating hours. To visit, you'll need to schedule a guided tour in advance, setting aside two to four hours for a deep dive into the "Star Wars" vault. Tickets are $80 for visitors 13 and up, and $40 for kids aged 6 to 12. Unfortunately, no younglings under 6 are allowed, and the tours are limited to 12 people. They're led by one of a small team of volunteer docents, five of whom are members of the global costuming organization, the 501st Legion. One person also used to lead a tour of Alcatraz, which offers an eerie look into San Francisco's past.

As for what you'll see at Rancho Obi-Wan, the tour here should be heaven for any geek who ever bid high on a "Star Wars" auction or went garage-sale shopping or bargain-bin hunting for franchise merch. You want a lightsaber baseball bat or a tower of action figures, the complete vintage line from Kenner? Rancho Obi-Wan's got them. The latter is the first thing you'll see when you enter the holy of holies. The museum even has some stop-motion animation figures used to act out the "Robot Chicken" "Star Wars" specials on Adult Swim.

In one corner, there's an entire kids' bedroom that's literally draped in "Star Wars," from the curtains on the window to the sheets on the bunk bed. The museum's vast repository of international acquisitions includes a limited-edition R2-D2 Roomba vacuum from Japan and a hand-beaded Imperial Royal Guard helmet from Mexico. You're more likely to see Porgs at Rancho Obi-Wan, too, than you would on Skellig Michael, the remote island off the coast of Ireland that's a must-visit for "Star Wars" fans.

As big as it is, Rancho Obi-Wan is looking to expand even more by merging with three other mega-collections to form the Saga Museum of Star Wars Memorabilia. The plan is for the new museum to hold pop-up exhibitions in major American cities before opening in a location large enough to showcase some 1.5 million objects. Until then, Rancho Obi-Wan remains in Petaluma, where it occupies two former hen houses that once held 20,000 birds. The houses are bridged by an all-white spaceship hallway that looks straight out of "Star Wars." It was assembled by the R2 Builders Club for Star Wars Celebration IV in 2007.

That convention took place in Los Angeles, Steve Sansweet's old beat as a reporter. Rancho Obi-Wan has been a repeat exhibitor at Celebration, which is returning to LA for the 50th anniversary of "Star Wars" in 2027. By then, you'll be able to view some of George Lucas' own 40,000-piece art collection across town at the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, which opens in 2026. Lucas revealed at San Diego Comic-Con 2025 that everything from Norman Rockwell paintings to large-scale movie props, such as Luke Skywalker's landspeeder and the speeder bikes from "Return of the Jedi," will be on display.

Petaluma also has its own neo-classical library and museum listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Beneath its stained-glass dome and Corinthian columns, you'll find a small "American Graffiti" display, sort of an appetizer for the Lucasfilm treasure trove at Rancho Obi-Wan. If nothing else, Sansweet's museum is an essential stopover for any "Star Wars" fan who happens to be on the California road trip of a lifetime. Add it to an itinerary with the Imperial Sand Dunes, and you can even step onto a "Star Wars" set.