The Unknown Museum

Mickey McGowan played a huge role in finding "stuff" for ROCKIN'. For many years he ran The Unknown Museum in Mill Valley, north of the Golden Gate Bridge, but it grew so big (literally, hundreds of thousands of treasures) that he had to move it to a warehouse. Movie studios and people with archivally-based projects now rely on Mickey for assistance, although he plays it "low-profile."

Case in point. I was having some difficulty rounding up rare album covers--dragster albums in particular. I called up Mickey. He said, "sure, come on over." By the time I arrived, he'd loaded up his bookshelves (see photo) with everything I was dreaming about. And when you eyeball one of the rarest of the rare--the "Transfusion" sheet music on page 69--you can thank Mickey too.