After losing 60,000 rabbit-related items in the Eaton Fire, The Bunny Museum vows to reopen

On a recent morning, Steve Lubanski was cleaning and sorting out items of what remained of The Bunny Museum on Lake Avenue.

Most of the building is gone, although the front gray wall remains. It's along that wall where Lubanksi placed pieces that survived the fire. His goal: to signal to passersby where the museum once stood, and where it will return.

“ It's not structural anymore,” he said of the remaining wall. “You can't build with it, but I want to leave it up and it'll be an homage to the previous building.”

The Eaton Fire destroyed the world’s largest bunny collection — more than 60,000 items — housed at the Altadena museum. But Lubanski and his wife Candace Frazee are already planning its comeback.

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Collecting thousands of bunnies

Lubanski and Frazee still light up when they tell the story of how they began their collection.

When they were dating, Frazee began calling her now-husband “honey bunny.” The couple later began gifting each other bunny items as a token of their love. The exchange became a daily ritual, amassing into an assortment of thousands and thousands of items. Their gifts to each other, together with donated pieces, made up the museum's extensive collection.

Steve Lubansky and his wife Candace Frazee are the cofounders of The Bunny Museum. They also lived on the property that was burned down by the Eaton Fire.

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Brandon Killman

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LAist

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They first put bunny items on display at an exhibit held in 1998 at the home where they lived in Pasadena. Nearly a decade later, their collection had outgrown that space and they moved to the Altadena location that was destroyed in the Eaton Fire. Over the years, the museum garnered recognition from the Guinness World Records, The Smithsonian and the Los Angeles Almanac.

On the museum’s Instagram, the couple photographed visitors with their bunny swag or their own collectibles — from tattoos to plush toys. Frazee also shows me what they call the "bunny bump," a Bunny Museum greeting that involves a peace sign or bunny ears and a fist bump.

The "bunny bump" is the official greeting of the museum.

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Courtesy of The Bunny Museum.

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The couple aimed to create a fun, unique experience with a salon-style display — curated exhibits that spanned top to floor. A Christmas tree with bunny ornaments, keychains, plates, paintings, parade floats were all housed there. They also kept bunnies — real living, breathing ones — that made it out during the fire.

When they open again the couple say they’ll have an area of the museum permanently dedicated to the fire.

“ We can't forget about what happened,” Lubanski said.

Trying to save The Bunny Museum

The duo were glued to the news on Jan. 7 as Altadena went up in flames. The fire didn’t seem all that close for most of the evening. Then the power went out.

Frazee began packing up their most important items, including the live bunnies. They tried to save as much as they could — the phrase “would’ve, could’ve, should’ve” pops into Lubanski’s mind, he said.

The couple said they never received an emergency alert. Still, after midnight, as neighbors evacuated, they said the neighborhood was empty.

There was a fire hydrant next to the museum, which was also their home, but Lubanski said when firefighters came by it was dry.

So he grabbed a household hose and tried to wash down the area ahead of the fire arriving. The smoke and the wind was so bad that the couple could barely see anything in front of them, but they remained for as long as they could.

He gave up in the morning and believes the building likely went up in flames shortly after.

The museum was destroyed, the apartment building next door was seemingly untouched.

The next steps

The day I visited Lubanski and Frazee, a woman and her young daughter were dropping off bunny items, including Easter decor. Frazee showed them what was left of the collection, away from the dangerous parts of the rubble.

 ”The love has been incredible,” she said. “We'll come up to the debris and in the morning find a (toy) bunny sitting right there in the driveway. Like somebody cared enough to come up and donate.”

Museum cofounder Steve Lubansky cleans the remaining front wall where they plan to rebuild The Bunny Museum.

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Brandon Killman

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LAist

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They have a storage container sitting on the side of the lot, where they’re packing anything from the debris that they can.

The couple is also receiving personal donations. Frazee said that anything donated to the museum, the couple cannot use for themselves. Amazon and other stores’ gift cards have gone a long way, she said.

“It's just so weird how you lose everything,” Frazee said. “It's like we're shopping every day.”

At the museum, they’re trying to prevent enormous destruction again.

When the museum doors reopen — they hope in about three years — the structure will look different. The couple is planning to build with fire resistant materials and remove vegetation around the building.

“Nothing that could burn,” Lubanski said, “we’re over that.”

They hope to have a soft opening as soon as the building is rebuilt to showcase the new space to the public and supporters. Later, they’ll start designing their bunny exhibitions and everything that comes curating and running a space.

Lubanski and Frazee, who have yet to find permanent housing, are grateful to have the aid they’ve been given, but “it’s never enough,” she said.

Watch the video

Temporary mailing address to send bunny items:

The Bunny Museum
2335 E Colorado Blvd.
Suite 115 PMB 350
Pasadena, CA 91107