PFEFFERMINZ

You would never guess that on a quiet street in the industrial section of Hayward, California in an unassuming factory building is one of the world’s largest collections of candy dispensers and an assortment of rare and banned toys. The only clue that something unusual is inside are the twenty-foot-tall fiberglass Muffler Man and Western Cowpoke standing guard outside.

 Originally sold as peppermint lozenge drops in 1927 by Austrian Edward Haas as PEZ (short for the German name pfefferminz for peppermint) the sweet product evolved into a compressed brick shape breath mint containing sugar, corn syrup, plant-based fat, flavoring and coloring was sold as an alternative to tobacco and packaged in a cigarette shaped dispenser. PEZ candy mints were first introduced to the United States in1955 in packages of twelve and marketed to children in manual plastic dispensers with the heads of Santa Claus, Popeye, Mickey Mouse, and Donald Duck. The PEZ company built a factory in Orange, Connecticut in 1973 to handle the increasing demand for their mint products while having the highly desirable collectable dispensers produced in Hungary and China. Billions of PEZ candies are consumed annually in nineteen flavors and through the years have been packaged in several thousand different highly sought after dispenser designs.

 One of the world’s largest private PEZ dispenser collections, outside of the company’s Visitor Center in Orange, Connecticut, is located in The Hayward Toy Museum. More than world’s 2400 unique and rare dispensers dating from the 1950’s are on display along with the original Mr. Potato Head, first Barbie Doll and first Comic Book, as well as an assortment of “banned” toys. Remember Lawn Darts?

 The Hayward Toy Museum is the passion of the owner of Bell Plastics and takes up a small portion of his National Avenue factory location. His private PEZ and toy collections along with a display of giant fiberglass figures are open to the public. Check the Hayward Toy Museum website for more information.     

How have your childhood memories of things you enjoyed and games you played, influenced what you do and who you are today?