Again, you gotta separate the Weeks family vs their MoP operation. Weeks does own the property... he also leased part of it out to others. The property was secured with the MoP in mind, but even once started, they didn't operate the MoP as an independent entity. More like an insulated wholely owned subsidiary.
And Weeks still bought and hoarded stuff like crazy irrespective of any profitability concerns.. because he was doing it with his money for his ambitions. His money.. his stuff... his choices. The guy was already a wealthy guy with a big pile of games before they started the MoP concept. I forget what the family business was in that was the basis of his personal wealth. I'm sure others here know it... I'm too busy to go look it up again.

For whatever reason they have decided to stop their personal hobby and reframe it to something less. Their hobby and spending pre-dates the MoP, and will live on beyond the MoP. One would think selling all your stuff for 3x market value, which is probably mostly 5x+ over what you paid for it a good thing. It's only a loss when you lump in other spending that really is separate from what the MoP itself was. But the mess is the 'image' of what the MoP was is conveniently distorted to suit whatever story is needed.

Re: weed...The guy bought the property... certainly it's an asset and now he's got another tenant that works for his needs. No biggie.

Maybe at the end of the day the idea of a good paying tenant was what tipped the scales? Like I've said multiple times before... the real story has to come from Weeks and his son... because ultimately all of this was their stuff, their spending, and up to them to decide to keep spending or not.

But if it was so money dependent... not sure why you didn't stop spending so readily if expenses was a concern. Sounds more to me like 'just getting out...'

That's just about being polite. Sometimes we need whistleblowers... but I'm not saying that applies here.

I've been watching House of Cards -- that show is a master class on saying "nice" things while slyly including a swipe.

They invented and patented Skyline Chili.

1) Captain is good at his job
2) I'm glad the YUP guy isn't that Storage Wars guy
3) LOL poor guy chose Rocky as his example, but it made for good video footage.
4) 5 million in losses is probably a heavily adjusted balance sheet....

When all is said and done, it's not really any of our business. But what I've been told (by a supposedly reliable source, but who knows . . . ?) runs rather to the contrary. Namely, that there never was any ownership of that property, in whole or in part; that it was leased from the municipality. It had a certain electrical infrastructure that was conducive, and MoP cut a *limited* deal with the relevant power Co., which did not extend to having the facility open for more than a few weekends per year. In the end, the Banning municipality decided that "your time is up", as *they* (not JW) had a much more lucrative deal on tap with the commercial Cannabis entity, and so that was that. This is what I was told. If it is correct, a lot of the speculations and discussion on the subject here turns out to be not applicable and irrelevant.

Weeks sure doesn't sound Greek to me. Besides, if patented, the recipe/formula would be listed in the patent and the patent would be expired since Skyline has been around for 70 years. Maybe Weeks' great-great grandparents did indeed start the Company though and he changed his last name or a name change happened by marriage.

Who would leave Cincinnati for Southern California though?

OK if that is indeed true, it is not only entirely plausible but almost too perfectly explains everything about this entire MoP scenario. And yet it does run counter to what was "common" knowledge, which didn't really seem to add up at all. Interesting.

One can look up the property records and find that the property tax bill goes to the Weeks
https://ca-riverside-ttc.publicaccessnow.com/AccountSearch/AccountSummary.aspx?p=532130006&a=532130006

I can't readily look up the sales records, but there was a transaction in 2013 and 2016..

They already told the story in the past about the electric bill being so high when they open... but I'd bet that simply has to do with the scale of the place. (and articles refer to the 480V hookup the place has... so their class/type of service probably has very high costs.. which is probably what the blurb about negotiations are... a special deal to negotiate electric rates on certain terms.. which is also mentioned in some of the articles below)

"But, that electricity costs a lot of money. Banning has its own power company and Weeks’ son, Johnathan, said Banning has allowed them to negotiate fees for special events. But the cost just to turn on the juice needed for the machines, he said, is $1,500.

That’s the main reason the Weeks family won’t open the museum to the general public on a regular basis. Located off the beaten path, they figure they might get just 30 or 40 people a day."
https://www.desertsun.com/story/life/entertainment/events/modernism/2016/02/04/king-pinball-museums-massive-facility-banning/79799656/

"John Weeks, Jonathan’s father, will retain ownership of the property in Banning, which is in an area that the city has rezoned for cannabis cultivation, manufacturing and testing."
https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/2021/06/20/pinball-museum-cancels-plan-move-banning-palm-springs/7758137002/

"Irvine-based Hathaway Diamondfly, LLC is listed as the applicant, and Palm Springs-based Weeks Investment Group, run by former Museum of Pinball site owner John Weeks, still owns the property."
https://www.recordgazette.net/news/game-over-for-pinball-museum-which-will-cultivate-pot-instead/article_54b9a3e6-d5ea-11eb-846f-a765d305fa1c.html

I thought it was Chili John’s in Burbank?

I just sold my TSPP to a guy who bought 4 or 5 things from the Banning Auction. They had some things he wanted, he didn’t mind paying what he paid to get what he wanted. Perfectly nice guy who I now consider a friend in the hobby!

As a fourth generation Californian, I thank my great grandparents for leaving the old country and moving directly to the Golden state.
I'll never leave.

Message from the Freeeek Kingdom.

dupe

My grandpa went from Italy to Detroit, then me to California at 21. Now 54.

Fully agree on the never leave part!

44764B73-65DF-4784-B9D0-1ABDF8EE17BD (resized).jpeg

I keep running into people who have by now fled or are fleeing the state for cost-of-living reasons (which I can at least understand), and in some cases people who are leaving due to the whole Blue State -- Red State thing -- or, believe it or not -- over ridiculous issues like Calif. vax policy. While I'm mostly not sorry to have departed L.A. several years ago, I have to say that this is probably the best place I've ever lived, and barring some truly terrible developments I have no interest in leaving either.

Chalk another one up for San Diego. Came out from NYC 34 years ago.

The only place worse than Banning might be Bakersfield,
where I left Calif for the PNW some 7 yrs ago; have not regretted it
wish I had made the move sooner.

No "they are all fleeing CA" run of posts is complete without "poop on the sidewalk!"

So...you know....POOP ON THE SIDEWALK!!!!

That seems to be particularly reported for San Fran, and is quite a blemish on their rep . . . but can you *really* point to that, hailing from NYC ?

I'm sure I've been to places notably worse than Banning.

Sorry, but the area of Oakland and Emeryville on the south side of I-580 is much worse. It's like something out of the Walking Dead.
In contrast, on the opposite side of the freeway, Emeryville is quite nice (and Pixar is located there).

There a lots of places as bad or worse than Banning. And lots of them are in or around many major cities.

All I know is that every god**mn day here it is 75 degrees F and sunny.

75° and gorgeous today.

20211021_121517 (resized).jpg

Your hummingbird feeder needs to be refilled

Both of them.

In leaving Bakersfield, I was more referring to the terrible weather.
90-100'F plus for almost 5 months out of the year, dry, dusty and dirty with polluted air.

Done.

Happy Hummingbirds, Happy life.
My house is the Hummingbird party house.

20211021_133011 (resized).jpg

Awesome... We have the same feeders hanging. Tons of hummers where I live also.
Enjoy the perfect day!

I thought the red stuff was banned in Cali cuz it’s bad for the birds? I can only find clear now aka sugar water

You shouldnt use the red mix stuff, they have trouble digesting the food dye. It can kill them. Make your own sugar water, it works just as well

Knxwledge too slow

We posted it at the same time, lets call it a draw. For the sake of the birds

Edit: nvm 3 min difference, on my phone they loaded at the exact same time. Guess you win lol

The red food dye is worse that the pounds of refined sugar they drink???

First world Hummingbird problems.

I do make my own, and add a drop of red food dye.

I'll nix the dye next round of refills.
At least I'll stop getting red stains on my fingers, counter, wooden spoon..........

The more you know...

Red dye is extremely harmful. It should not even be on the market.

Yeah I found out and got a lecture from the pet store person. Then when I found out it was just sugar water, we’ll then it’s DIY from here on out. I actually have tobacco plants (not the one you can smoke) and it has hundreds of these long yellow petals, the humming birds prefer that anyway

We use only sugar water for the Humms. No-Mess seeds for the finches, sparrows, etc. Feed corn plus seeds for the larger birds, e.g. doves, quail, etc. As for the hawks, we don't put out feed for them, they mostly feed on the doves. Had another hawk taking a bath / shower in our fountain yesterday.

What any of this has to do with Banning is another matter entirely....

As for where to live, I'd take Banning over NYC or Chicago. Burbs of the latter two might be okay, but not in the cities themselves. Sorry, Levi.

The humms are a gorgeous wonder of nature. (I don't have a feeder, but occasionally see them hovering over a fountain in the back yard.) How they even exist is amazing -- must expend an inordinate amount of energy to remain constantly in motion. Surely they must sleep at some point, but I don't recall ever seeing one perched somewhere, and still. A few years ago, there was a nice one hour stanza of the PBS docu series 'Nature' devoted to them, narrated by Paul Giamatti.

I spy a Museum game at Captains; Reactor
https://bid.captainsauctionwarehouse.com/m/lot-details/index/catalog/84/lot/21233?url=%2Fm%2Fmy-items%2Fwatchlist

Here's what it sold for at the Banning auction
234 Reactor Gottlieb Arcade Game 1863 $ 4,700.00

Nov. 5 CAW catalog w/ MoP entries continues to fill in, somewhat. More pix, a few more pins. My last comment on this still valid. Stay tuned.

Up from 58 pins to 61 now and now all but a handful have photos. Some high-end games like GNR (JJ), AC/DC Luci, Woz, Stranger Things LE, etc. Also some unusual items like Hot Firebirds, a low-run German game by NSM from 1985 (they did Gottlieb-style games); looks like a fun one to me.

Bob ain't gonna like all this hummingbird talk!!!

Levi is just jealous of Westcoast hummingbirds because this is what NY ones look like

33CC0B44-32C4-43D1-8D50-BDD752AC81C7.gif

Actually, we have both hummingbirds AND bats here. They're the good kind of bat (almost all are good, actually) and eat lots of bugs. No issues with mosquitoes lately. We often see the bats if we take an evening walk through the neighborhood.

Hummingbirds go into an almost hibernating state at night to conserve energy.

I have one, maybe two bats here in the neighborhood, I hear them circling at night gobbling up the flying bugs.

Squeaking all the while. Echo location!

Anyway heres are pictures of Banning games to stay on topic.

20211016_162138 (resized).jpg656113252 (resized).jpg

I love the dancing hula girl. I’m glad you guys got Paradise, that was one of my top 3 I would have liked to get from Banning. Also, I was wondering, was it hard to get the machine working? It had been shut down for repairs on my last two visits to the museum before the end, so I missed out playing it, although I did get some time on it during earlier visits.

Also, if there is ever a circumstance where you have the glass off, or her somehow out of there, could you post a closeup photo of her in her entirety (so there won’t be a reflection)? I would like to get her digitized.

There was a chance not long ago to buy a really nice one from a Pinsider in CA and I didn’t do it, so I have no one to blame but myself.

If that Time Machine that's in the next captains auction came from Banning, it's a hot mess. There was some kind of logic board issue I couldn't figure out on that one.

Paradise came with the work logs from the techs at banning.
I'll quote one entry.

"Do not turn on. Lots of Smoke!"

We set it up, and no dice.
No power, nothing.
Checked all fuses, checked the cord, 45 minutes of no joy.
We were stumped.

Then started looking at the coin door.

Idiots!!! Gottliebs won't turn on without CREDITS!!!
EM rookies.

Coined it up, and it works perfectly.
The techs obviously worked on it and dialed it in.
I'll see what I can do about a clear picture of my favorite Pinball gal.

Some games that ended up selling to 1863 and 1959 at the Museum auction are in this auction. Those were 2 absentee bidding at the start of every auction. Probably some accidental buybacks trying to set reserve prices