Entry No. 42 — the San Diego file — filed under: private-collection

J.A. Cooley Museum

Owners Jim and Carmen Cooley built this one-man cabinet of curiosities across roughly three dozen collecting categories — automobiles from 1886 to 1933 parked alongside nickelodeons, phonographs, cast-iron toys, telegraphs, and Kodak cameras — a private collection filling about 10,000 sq ft a mile north of Balboa Park, open daily.

The move: Self-guided browse through 130+ years of everyday gadgets, crank a working antique phonograph together, then argue over which of the two-dozen pre-1934 cars you'd have actually dared to drive.

• 📍 University Heights, San Diego
• 💸 $
• ⚡ Up for anything
• 🌗 Indoors

Where: 4233 Park Blvd, San Diego, CA 92103

Hours: Added 2026-07-19 — confirm current hours before you go.

Plan a visit & invite your people →

Further reading: Official site · Wikipedia

last checked: 2026-07-19