I’d say just about all my friends are smokers from “smoke two packs a day” to the casual/social kind. I find it pretty gross, besides the fact that it’s freakin’ expensive. But that doesn’t mean I’m not intrigued by the Lantrip Ashtray Museum in Oroville, California. The local Postmaster, Dean Lantrip, collected ashtrays of every conceivable color, shape, and design from all over the world. His collection eventually grew to more than 10,000 items, with ashtrays from the offices of Vice President Lyndon Johnson as well as President Ronald Reagan. Before he died, one of Lantrip’s last wishes was that his massive collection be donated to the Centennial Cultural Center. As his family began identifying, cataloging and photographing the collection, the city voted to accept it although they had no intention of spending $100,000 on an ashtray collection. They also didn’t want to promote smoking. As a sort of a compromise, the city ended up using the display cases from the family’s own museum, adding wheels and installing Plexiglass fronts. The cases could display the collection securely as well as be rolled into the front room of the cultural center from storage and be displayed on a rotating basis.
Lantrip Ashtray Museum in Oroville, California
