In the 1985 film classic “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure,” our titular hero has some interesting ways of getting around.
There are his stylish platform loafers, the whimsical white shoes he wears while dancing in the “Tequila” scene, and there’s his spooky ride in the cab of Large Marge’s truck.
But certainly, and without quibble, Pee-wee Herman’s red bicycle is the ride we remember the most.
If you’re besotted with this cherry-bright bicycle, you may want to pedal by Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue one day soon, for one of the bikes seen on-screen in the film has been acquired by the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures as part of its Academy Collection.
Not on view just yet, the bicycle is expected to be on display at the mid-city museum down the road.
This wheel-y cool acquisition has been in the works for some time: Alison Berry made the donation to the museum, on the behalf of the Paul Reubens estate, in the summer of 2025.
The bike is not the only new treasure in the incredibly impressive Academy Collection, which includes over 52 million cinema-related artifacts; some “rare scripts” once belonging to Orson Welles, an Oscar ceremony gown worn by Cicely Tyson in 1991, life casts of Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, and Al Pacino, and “film materials focused on Chinese representation and filmmakers in Hollywood” are also some of the recent acquisitions.
Due to the seriously huge number of items in the Academy Collection, not everything is on view at the museum at any given time.
Your best bet is to watch the institution’s social pages for upcoming exhibits and special events, and opportunities to view some of these iconic wonders in person (including Pee-wee’s bike).
You can also check out the colossal collection at this site.
One just-added acquisition to the collection, “Jaws” set photos from the collection of boom operator Frank Meadows, is perfectly timed: A large-scale “Jaws” exhibition is on view at the Academy Museum through July 26.