A Visit to the Hollis Museum of Popular Culture in Dora, Alabama
If you grew up in the 1950s, 1960s, or 1970s you might recognize words like Colorforms, Soaky, and Ben Cooper Halloween masks. These and thousands of other items were staples for kids growing up in that era and are on full display at the Hollis Museum of Popular Culture in Dora, Alabama! It is a mind blowing private collection consisting of 4,200 square feet of nearly 23,000 pop culture items, with an emphasis on cartoon characters of the day, which have been meticulously indexed, archived, and put on display by history and pop culture historian Tim Hollis.
61 year old Alabama native Hollis is an author of over 40 history books with titles ranging from long lost roadside attractions, amusement parks in the past, vintage breakfast cereals, and how cartoon characters were used in toy merchandising. Besides having on display items from his own childhood growing up, he began collecting additional pieces in 1981 on a “one at a time” basis. When you see a collection like this, one would assume that Hollis just bought out estates or large collections – but he counters that it’s just one piece at a time collected over decades, and mostly on his travels across the country.
When you walk into the top floor of the museum you are warned by Mr. Hollis that what you are about to see could be a wife (or husband’s) worst nightmare! When the door opens you are greeted with an explosion of color and faces from cartoon friends and toys of the past! Hundreds of vintage lunchboxes, thousands upon thousands of cartoon character books, puzzles, board games, sticker books, and play sets greet you. A display of vintage Soaky bottles (remember the vintage bubble bath bottles shaped like characters?), vintage Peanuts toys, a huge collection of early Hanna-Barbera play sets, banks, and figures with our old pals The Flintstones, Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, and more are at every turn. Massive amounts of vintage Mickey Mouse Club and Mickey’s other friends fill the room, and so much more. It is pop culture overload! And we haven’t even gotten downstairs yet…
Going downstairs the theme changes a bit, as you start to see things grouped by holidays, vintage home décor, vintage foods from the kitchen and vintage restaurants, and finally a large area dedicated to long gone roadside attractions, theme parks, and gardens. Tim has a great collection of vintage Ben Cooper and Collegeville Halloween masks and Halloween decorations eerily glowing under black lights to check out. Turn the corner and you see a large Christmas displays from years gone by ranging from blow molds, Christmas records and books, glass ornaments, melted plastic popcorn decorations, and topped off with a giant working animatronic moose that was originally in a Christmas display in the long gone Pizitz department store in downtown Birmingham, Alabama!
If you were born in the 50’s through the 70’s, or have great admiration of toys and merchandise from that era, the Hollis Museum of Popular Culture is a must see place for you to visit! You are going to be saying, "I had that!" and "I remember that!" or the worst "I wanted that SO bad!" while walking through this endless collection!
About twice a year Tim Hollis opens his doors for tours for a small $5 donation for animal charities, and you can call in advance to make private tours by contacting him if you will be in the area. You can call 205-648-6110 or email him at [email protected] to book your visit to this truly unique place and find out when his next open house will be!
