The International Banana Museum in Mecca, California, grew from Kenneth Bannister’s banana-themed joke at a 1972 manufacturers’ conference into a museum devoted entirely to banana culture. After founding the International Banana Club and opening the museum in 1976, Bannister built a collection that eventually surpassed 20,000 banana-related objects and earned Guinness recognition in 1999 as the largest museum devoted to a single fruit. The club once drew 35,000 members in 17 countries, including Ronald Reagan. After moves from Altadena to Hesperia and then Mecca under curator Fred Garbutt in 2010, the museum later closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, remaining a distinctive part of California roadside culture.