National Yo-Yo Museum

Tucked inside the Bird in Hand store on Broadway, the National Yo-Yo Museum is a genuinely peculiar Chico institution. The collection traces the history of the yo-yo from its origins (which the museum will debate for you) through the golden age of yo-yo contests in the mid-20th century to the modern string-trick era. Display cases hold hundreds of yo-yos from different manufacturers and eras, from cheap plastic toys to collector-grade wooden and titanium models.

The centrepiece is the world's largest working wooden yo-yo — a 256-pound, 50-inch-diameter monster built by Tom Kuhn, which can only be deployed by crane and demonstrated on special occasions. The museum is free, small, and takes about 20 minutes to see properly. It is the kind of place that Chico does well: odd, specific, and entirely genuine.

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Chico is also home to the National Yo-Yo Contest, held each October and attracting competitors from around the world — the most serious yo-yo competition in the United States. The toy that most people associate with childhood play has, at its highest levels, become an athletic and artistic discipline involving complex string tricks, multiple yo-yos, and performances set to music. The world's largest working wooden yo-yo, which lives in the museum, can only be operated by crane: it weighs 256 pounds and needs a forklift to get it spinning.