Bunny Museum Move: Help Pack It Up

The long-of-ear Pasadena favorite is hopping to a new location; can you lend a hand?

The word "institution" is often used in place of "museum," which instantly lends a repository of interesting or priceless objects an even deeper level of gravitas and permanence.

But sometimes institutions mail out the "change of address" postcards, too, for various reasons. And while fans might wonder when the opening date might be, and revisit photos of past visits, they almost never, ever swing by to help the museum pack its boxes.

Of course, The Bunny Museum of Pasadena is not your typical institution, and, yes, if you adore this offbeat institution, you can indeed join other volunteers as they fill up the bins ahead of the museum's jump to a new location.

Often classified as one of California's quirkiest destinations, the home-based museum at 1933 Jefferson Drive has been welcoming visitors since 1998. That's when Candace Frazee and her husband Steve Lubanski decided to share a peek at their ever-growing rabbit collection, an astounding assemblage that began when Mr. Lubanski first presented Ms. Frazee with a plushie bunny on Valentine's Day in 1993.

The massive collection hopped into history from there: There are now over 33,000 rabbit-related items in the home, a collection that has the historic cottage bursting at its proverbial seams.

So a fresh locale is due for The Bunny Museum, at 2605 N. Lake Avenue in Altadena, and the proprietors have sounded a call for all paws that can to pitch in — er, hands, rather.

Some 700 boxes have been packed so far, but there are many more to go. If you can give four hours of your time, and perhaps arrive with bubble wrap, tape, and other packing materials to donate, you'll nab a free ticket to either the Empty Museum Party on Saturday, Oct. 22 (at the Lake Avenue location) or the Grand Opening that's slated for the spring of 2017.

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Pack hare-cute artifacts for eight hours and you'll see two tickets hippity-hopping into your pocket.

Think of volunteering as an especially neighborly way to help out a quirky museum that's been in "The Guinness Book of World Records" and on dozens of TV shows around the world, as well as travel magazines galore.

And consider this: Four hours of packing bunny doodads may put your next house move in perspective. We'll wager that you do not own 33,000 rabbit artifacts, or items that even fall within one theme (cheers if you do, of course — that's impressive).

Surely seeing all of those long-eared figurines and toys and such go into box after box may provide a fresh point of view of all that's gone into this small and sweet-hearted museum over the last 18 years.

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