Ripley’s Believe It or Not Odditorium reopens in San Francisco with Mirror Maze

Ripley’s reopens in San Francisco with Mirror Maze

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Odditorium in San Francisco has reopened at Fisherman’s Wharf after a $5 million renovation.

New additions to the attraction, which reopened Wednesday, include the Marvelous Mirror Maze, a candy shop where visitors can buy candy by the pound, and more than 70 new interactive and hands-on exhibits.

Oddities in the collection include a wedding dress made from toilet paper and a ball of hair weighing 167 pounds. But the Odditorium also has a new emphasis on the Bay Area, with artifacts related to local history and icons, including a replica of the Golden Gate Bridge made from a single toothpick, the restraint chair from the gas chamber of San Quentin Prison, and a car in which an earthquake survivor spent 89 hours under tons of rubble before being rescued following the 1989 quake.

The Mirror Maze challenges visitors to navigate a course that appears to be filled with dead ends amid 200 mirrors in 2,000 square feet.

Ripley’s grew out of a newspaper series called Ripley’s Believe It or Not, compiled by Robert Ripley, who was born in Santa Rosa, Calif. Ripley joined the San Francisco Bulletin as a cartoonist in 1909 and moved to the San Francisco Chronicle until 1912, when he moved to New York.

Ripley’s, located at 175 Jefferson St., opens daily at 9 a.m. It closes at 11 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and at midnight Friday-Saturday through Labor Day. Admission is $18 for ages 13 and up, $10 for 5-12, with additional admission to the Mirror Maze of $10 per person (combination tickets, $23 or $15 for kids).