Ackerman Mansion

Forrest J. Ackerman (1916~2008) was an eccentric collector of science fiction books and movie memorabilia as well as a Hugo-award winning novelist, a California-based magazine editor, and an avid science fiction fan. For more than seven decades, he served as a staunch promoter of the science fiction genre.

During his lifetime, Ackerman turned his Hollywood home into what he called the "Acker-mini-mansion." He decorated it with sci-fi posters, busts, costumes, gadgets, gizmos, and furnishings, taking great pride in entertaining guests with stories and tours of his "museum." The library alone contained 50,000 books and more than 125,000 still photographs.

Among the rare items Ackerman collected were actual life-masks of Lon Chaney Jr. ("The Wolfman"), Boris Karloff ("Frankenstein") and Bela Lugosi ("Dracula"). He also owned the original female robotrix (Maria) from the 1926 silent film "Metropolis," King Kong's paw, tribbles from "Star Trek," the Star Child model used in the last scene of "2001: A Space Odyssey," and the golden idol that appeared in "Raiders of the Lost Ark," among many others.

Since the collector's passing in 2008, the Ackerman Mansion has been open to the public only by appointment or at a weekly Open House held on Saturdays from 11am till noon. The address is 2495 Glendower Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90027.