Wax Museum Goes Online To Pick New Residents!
It’s election year, so what better way to wax eloquent about democracy than asking the public who they would like to see preserved for posterity? That’s exactly what San Francisco's internationally-acclaimed Wax Museum at Fisherman's Wharf – celebrating 45 years at the City’s number one tourist destination – did today by announcing an online poll to select their new resident for 2009. The poll, available online at www.waxmuseum.com, asks members of the public – local, national and international – to select a new addition from the following names: Dale Earnhardt, Justin Timberlake and Tupac Shakur. At a luncheon at the City’s Boudin Restaurant yesterday, two additions for later this year were also announced: a new “age-accurate” Queen Elizabeth and the teen TV sensation, Miley “Hannah Montana” Cyrus. A team of Bay Area Celebrity Judges, led by “Mr. San Francisco Nightlife,” Harry Denton of “Starlight Room” fame, voted to include Mother Theresa, Prince William and Mariah Carey who will join the winner of the Online Poll as permanent Museum residents in 2009.
“We think our collection is really the bee’s knees, and literally it’s the bees that do most of the work” quipped Wax Museum owner Rodney Fong, noting that his grandfather, Thomas Fong, got the idea for the Museum having seen the wax figures at the Seattle World's Fair. “Everyday people visit the Wax Museum at Fisherman’s Wharf and say ‘how about adding this person’ so we’ve taken them up on the offer and are asking them to decide who will be our star attraction for 2009.”
The museum started with 150 life-sized figures in front of black curtains on the first floor and opened as one of the largest wax museum in North America. Now the exhibit incluces over 200 figures in elaborately staged scenes, with costumes, props and lighting, carefully constructed to authenticate people at the peak of their fame. Many scenes were designed and sculpted by Thomas Fong's son Ronald, who co-directed the family business in partnership with his father from its inception. Over the years, the Fong family has added a collection of gift shops and attractions adjoining the museum to form the Wax Museum Entertainment Complex. The Haunted Gold Mine fun house opened in 1979, and the Medieval Dungeon, a museum of ancient European history, opened in 1989. These attractions were closed in 1998, when the old building was demolished to make way for the construction of the all new, 100,000 square foot, state-of-the-art building to replace the century old Fisherman’s Wharf structure and house a bigger and better than ever Wax Museum.
As one of the world's largest wax museums, the Wax Museum at Fisherman’s Wharf continues to show all aspects of life from the ignoble Chamber of Horrors to the inspiring Hall of Religion, including the historic Library of U.S. Presidents, the spectacular Recreation of King Tut's Tomb and the unique Palace of Living Art, where the world's most famous masters, and their masterpieces come to life through the magic of wax artistry. Among both foreign and domestic visitors, the most popular part of the wax museum tour is The Gallery of Stars. Artisans are busy continually producing a galaxy of brand new stars, such as Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, who will join such classics as Humphrey Bogart, Marilyn Monroe and John Wayne.
For more information to go www.waxmuseum.com