A Visit to Jack Mendenhall’s Museum

I only started collecting Petro stuff about a year and a half ago and even before that I had heard rumors of the “Mendenhall” collection. It really wasn’t until I started collecting that I paid more attention to what was almost literally in my backyard. Jack’s place is only about 3-4 miles from my house and yet I had never had a tour.

I finally made a connection that could arrange a private tour for me and last Saturday we got that tour. I’m actually glad I waited, because I had a much greater appreciation for what I was seeing than I would have had when I first started collecting.

I know that many of you have seen or heard of Jacks collection, either in person, online or in magazines. I thought that I’d share my experience with you on Oldgas, both for the record and for those of you that might not get the opportunity to see it.

Thank goodness I brought along a photographer, because I was too busy looking to get many photos of my own. Due to the sheer number of photos I will post them over the next couple of weeks and tell you as much about them as I can, as well as share some of the history behind Jack’s collection.

If you have specific questions about signs, globes or cars, you can post them or email them to me and if I don’t know the answer I can call over there and find out.


What Jack Collects

I knew that Jack was an avid sign collector, but I didn’t know that he also collected a lot of globes. I make jokes about collecting globes in California, but after seeing wall of lit up globes, I was impressed.

Here are some overall shots of some of the buildings covered with signs.








C Cragg