Year after year, fans, collectors, and media members make the pilgrimage to a former hen house in Petaluma. Inside sits the Guinness World Record holder for the largest collection of Star Wars memorabilia in the world. Most know it simply as Rancho Obi-Wan (ROW). I have been a supporter of ROW for more than a decade, a proud member contributing in my own small way. Yet I had never set foot inside the famed museum, a collection many fans regard with the same awe reserved for the private gallery aboard Dryden Vos’s yacht.
Somehow, I had always wanted my first visit to be of some significance.
THE SCAVENGER’S JOURNEY
Growing up in Manila, Star Wars for me was defined by scarcity. I played with my cousin’s action figures and treasured the only two that I owned. My early “collection” consisted mostly of Topps bubble gum cards bought near school with unspent lunch money (shh… don’t tell my mom), magazine pages clipped from my uncle’s stack of subscriptions (shh… don’t tell my uncle!), and Star Wars comic strips cut from the newspaper. These kept Star Wars alive in my head, along with the adventures my young mind imagined.
When I started working, the collecting bug finally took hold. With what I could afford at the time, I began picking up action figures, vehicles, vinyl sculptures, and other collectible odds and ends. Nonfiction Star Wars books soon became a favorite. Around that time I came to know the name Steve Sansweet through a couple of his books and a handful of issues of Star Wars Insider. I read his regular column again and again. Steve became one of my Star Wars heroes beyond the screen.
A couple of months after my family migrated to the Bay Area, one of the first geek events I attended was a talk by Steve Sansweet at the Tech Museum in San Jose. I finally met my idol. That first meeting would be followed by many others, and with each encounter my respect for Steve grew, along with my sense of awe.
Years later, my professional life and my Star Wars passion would intersect in an unexpected way. As the marketing and events lead at George Mark Children’s House (GMCH), a pediatric palliative care center in the Bay Area, I help organize celebrations for the families we serve. Last year that included a May the 4th event where Rancho Obi-Wan graciously shared pieces of the collection with our community.
In true ROW fashion, that generosity did not stop there. ROW President Anne Neumann later invited George Mark families for a private tour of the museum. The opportunity came through Rancho docent Dwayne Smith (happy 10th ROW anniversary, Dwayne!), a fellow member of the Golden Gate Garrison who had helped bring the exhibit to our May the 4th celebration.
The tour for the families was a heartwarming activity, one that deserves its own story in a future article. It also gave me and my buddy Sam, a huge Star Wars fan and GMCH’s volunteer videographer and photographer, the chance to finally walk the famous aisles of ROW.
After all those years, my first visit had finally found its significance.
TRAVELING THE HYPERBARN
The day began outside the main museum in a way that felt very Rancho Obi-Wan. Anne was feeding the chickens and quail in their fenced corner of the property while telling the story of the museum’s humble beginnings as a working hen house. (And by the end of the day, Anne even sent me home with some of their eggs!)
Soon the tour moved indoors, where Dwayne was joined by another docent and good friend from the 501st Legion, fellow trooper Jon Nagel, to guide us through the collection.
Experiencing the massive collection for the first time, a few things immediately made my jaw drop. One was seeing Steve’s very first collectible: a Fox/Lucasfilm marketing brochure sent to theater film bookers and the media in early 1977, “rescued” from a trash can (as Steve once put it, his first Star Wars dumpster dive, with many more to follow). Then there was one of the famed pieces from Gary Kurtz’s personal collection, the wireframe model of the Millennium Falcon. And of course, seeing up close the legendary rocket-firing Boba Fett prototypes, artifacts many fans know only through photos and stories.
Soaking it all in, the museum is a kind of time machine. It takes you back to every era of your Star Wars life. You remember where you were, the toys you once owned or never got to own, the one that got away, the pieces that meant so much to you. In that way, the collection becomes a gallery of memories as much as it is a museum of artifacts.
Anne signed my copy of a Rancho Obi-Wan book, a fitting memento from the visit. Reflecting on her words from earlier that day, “I’m glad you finally made it to Rancho Obi-Wan after all these years,” I could only think: the honor was mine, Anne.
As the tour wound down, Steve himself appeared to greet guests, as gracious and welcoming as ever.
After the George Mark families had departed and the day was settling down, I finally had the chance to present something I had been holding onto for years: two pairs of Star Wars sneakers from a Filipino brand that once licensed the franchise. They had been sitting in my collection for a long time, quietly waiting for the day they could find their way to Rancho Obi-Wan.
Before we left, Anne and Dwayne treated me and Sam to a brief peek behind the curtain. We stepped inside Anne’s and Steve’s offices, spaces that felt like extensions of the museum itself, filled with items most collectors would consider crown jewels. The tour even continued to the back barn, where some of the larger and some curious pieces are stored.
It felt like a fitting epilogue to a day that had already been unforgettable.
NO VISIT IS EVER REALLY THE LAST
I would argue that every visit to Rancho Obi-Wan feels like a first visit. Every time.
Within the first few minutes of stepping inside the collection, one truth hit me quickly and unmistakably: I will need to come back. Many times. It is simply impossible to fully appreciate the density of items surrounding you. A single visit only lets you absorb what your senses can take in, guided by the stories your docent shares and whatever objects happen to catch your eye along the way.
I sincerely look forward to the next opportunity to return to this treasure trove of Star Wars memories. There will always be something new to discover. A detail missed the first time. A corner of the collection still waiting to be explored.
As the collection continues to grow and momentum builds for the dream of the Saga Museum, Steve left us with a small, cryptic hint about what may lie ahead.
“If you want a clue,” he said with a smile, “remember this: salt the guava.”
At Rancho Obi-Wan, mysteries like that are just another reason to return.
