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July 2023 by Logan Craine
Great little museum, very informative and interesting. Fun to visit and experience. The man who owned it has a large collection of hand fans and will share a lot of information on them. He also sells hand fans and I bought a Japanese style one.
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January 2023 by GayEllen B.
Enjoyable! Whenever we visit Healdsburg, we look to see that the free hand fan museum is still there. We try to take friends new to the city there as we head on to bakery , dining & little shops. ** If you visit Spain you will see fans displayed almost everywhere you go. Very rare to see fan displays here in the USA!
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November 2022 by Paul G.
We passed by it yesterday with the intention of stopping in today, but it was closed unfortuntaely. Even though there aren't so many displays, this museum gives off a fascinating vibe.
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January 2021 by Ranjan P.
There's a restaurant next door, which we'd ordered from and we're waiting for our order which ETA's gonna take a while, so with time to burn, this little "museum" is next door. First of all, a "FAN" museum? Whaaat?? Seriously??? I'd never heard of such a thing. I mean it honestly has never occurred to me, ever never ... to be interested in or curious about fans--hand fans to be clear. There's something rather poignant and moving about humanity that not only would someone be interested in this as an art form, which it is (in addition to being functional and historically a thing of beauty), but that someone would plunk down money to pay a lease and start a business in the middle of Healdsburg, where the real estate prices are astronomical ... so here's this tiny little place which pays homage to the hand fan! They have a selection of fans in the window and this is honestly not all that inspiring or inviting ... I mean just to see some random collection of fans in a window. The inclination is to walk right on by. But the real treat, if you're at all inclined to wander inside--is the collection of mannequins wearing vintage type garb and posing with said hand fans--these are just divine, as if stepping into another era. They Bill themselves as being the only hand fan museum in the USA, and ummm, yeah, I gotta believe that :-) Btw, they also, unlike most museums, offer some of their fans for sale. It's such a tiny shop that instead of having s separate gift shop, as do many typical museums--this little place doubles as sort of 'two-fer.'
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February 2020 by Ruth F.
If you love fans, you should visit. If they're sort of interesting and you like tiny museums about someone else's passion, why not. Yes, you can probably visit in 15-30 minutes and the hours are very limited. It's a free museum; what do you want? The owner has a collection of 7000 fans, and it's a tiny two room shop. So you're only going to see a few at any given time. Fans from the permanent collection (some with beautiful mother of pearl sticks; many with tiny sequins) are on the walls, mostly in fan-shaped glass display frames (some for sale - warning, they're pricey!). The current exhibit was 2-3 cases of animal-themed fans: there were fans with mice painted on them; fans with a kitten or puppy head on the front (and the back of its head on the back); some lovely butterfly fans; and one case that didn't really fit (a very colorful Chinese fan with a crowd of people with tiny painted ivory faces and glued-on clothes; a gorgeous large gilt-sticked fan with gold cupids). On a narrow table are a variety of modern fans for sale, ranging from plastic spangled Chinese ones for $5 to nicer printed Japanese silk ones ($20) or solid-colored fabric ones from Barcelona for $35. For a quarter, you can buy a copy of "the language of fans" and learn how to hold/point the fan to say "meet me later" or "hey, you're cute". There are postcards /notecards from previous exhibits, and a few thin catalogs. Fan Museum printed shopping bags are $10. The back room includes a large display of American advertising fans (the cardboard giveaway kind on a stick), some of which were surprisingly recent (1980s). Also in the back is a box of vintage fans for sale, in various stages of repair. Many aren't priced. Ask. I was quoted prices that were much less than I expected and was offered the chance to name my own price for a few. These ranged from tiny paper or plastic/celluloid fans to souvenir printed paper fans (Atlanta Olympics!) and some larger ones with bone or wooden sticks and painted leaves. Even a few small feather ones. Some were obviously deaccessioned from the museum and had information noted on a tag. I rented a car and drove an hour to visit. Not sure if I'd do that again; it's a very small museum and there's not much else in Healdsburg. But boy, if I'm ever in the neighborhood again, I'm so there.
