Marvin Yagoda never chased the spotlight – instead, he curated it himself – one flicker, one jingle, one gear-grind at a time.

He was that mysterious genius you couldn’t make up if you tried:

A trained pharmacist by occupation but a showman in spirit.

He didn’t just sell nostalgia – he engineered it in a world that was turning increasingly digital, preserving the soul of American joy.

Marvin attended the University of Michigan’s College of Pharmacy in Detroit before going on to run Sam’s Drugs on Detroit’s west side, where he filled prescriptions in the front and hoarded vintage pin ball machines in the back – a private hobby that would quickly evolve into something far more miraculous.

By the 1980s, Marvin had opened his permanent tribute to childhood wonder:

Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum in Farmington Hills.

Much more than a mere museum, it was a sensory overload of flashing lights, vintage animatronics, fortune tellers, freak show oddities, electro-magnetic jokes, and hand-cranked mayhem.

Walking into Marvin’s was like entering into a time capsule crossed with a carnival sideshow, and Marvin himself was always at the center of it all: fixing, talking, and handing out quarters as he spouted out endless antique amusement park knowledge.

Before long, Marvin became one of the top authorities on coin-operated machines in the United States. 

He was consulted for appraisals, appeared on shows about classic Americana culture, and showed off his collection at exhibits and fairs nationwide.

Yet throughout it all, he was always authentically Marvin: quirky, generous, obsessive.

A man who could make a broken 1930s laugh box giggle again, and a Detroit native who thought fun was something well worth preserving.

The machines kept whirring when Marvin died in 2017 thanks to his son Jeremy Yagoda.

That said, the museum has since relocated to Orchard Mall in West Bloomfield, expanding from its previous 5,300 square feet to an impressive 14,000 square feet. 

Marvin didn’t just collect machines – he collected moments.

He wasn’t just a museum director…he was a mechanical mastermind who revived the spirit of childlike wonder and fun in Detroit through gears and levers, building a palace of play in an engine-based city.

In a time of progress, he peddled backward – and discovered magic there.

Victoria Jackson (Editor In Chief)

Victoria Jackson is a lifelong student and sharp-eyed documentarian of all things Detroit, from its rich musical roots and cultural icons to its shifting neighborhoods, storied architecture, and underground legends. With her finger firmly on the pulse of both the city’s vibrant past and its rapidly unfolding future, she brings a deeply personal, historically grounded lens to every piece she writes.

Published on: June 26, 2025