California

World's Largest Star Wars Collection Isn't in a Galaxy Far, Far Away, It's On Former California Chicken Ranch

The world's largest star Wars collection is not in a galaxy far, far away.

It's in Petaluma, Calif. on a former chicken ranch, about 45 minutes north of San Francisco.

And all 350,000 pieces of Chewbacca and Princess Leia merchandise merchandise and memorabilia are owned by Steve Sansweet, a former Wall Street Journal reporter and director of Content Management and head of Fan Relations at Lucasfilm Ltd., who now is grand overseer of the 9,000-square foot "Rancho Obi-Wan."

"I'm 70 years old," Sansweet said early this month ahead of the "Force Awakens" on Friday in movie theaters across the country. "I still feel like I'm 12 when I play with this stuff."

He actually estimates he owns 500,000 pieces of Star Wars gadgets, but hasn't been able to fully audit and catalogue them, according to the Guinness World Records website, which honored him with the "world's largest collection of Star Wars memorabilia" in 2013.

The collection boasts costumes, props, action figures, plus an arcade full of Star Wars video games and pinball machines.

They live in his nonprofit museum he started in 1998, open to tours for all to see his evergrowing collection.

"I love the sense of community it engenders," Sansweet said. "Iā€™m hoping that someday this will outlive me and Rancho Obi-Wan will have a long and bright future."

NBC Bay Area's Lisa Fernandez contributed to this report.

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