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Marty Garrett and Salumeh Eslamieh have given up the garage in their San Francisco home for a permanent showroom for their vast Hello Kitty collection.
Museum-style glass cases hold hundreds of rare and vintage Kitty items, including a rotary phone from 1976 and a gumball machine from 1983. A 120cm tall statue of the Sanrio character, which Garrett calls "the holy grail of our Hello Kitty collection", stands in the corner.
The couple met and bonded over the little white cat and will be travelling to Los Angeles this week to celebrate the character's 40th birthday at Hello Kitty Con, a four-day festival dedicated to all things Kitty.
"This is the first time there has ever been a fan convention of this kind," Sanrio spokesman Dave Marchi said. "It's the only one happening anywhere in the world."
And it's already sold out. More than 25,000 fans are expected.

Garrett and Eslamieh, both 32, were already Hello Kitty fans before they met, and their union has only fuelled their ardour.
The couple keep a mini Hello Kitty kitchen inside their real kitchen, and they hand-painted a skylight above their dinner table with Sanrio characters.
"It's a pretty substantial part of our interests together," said Garrett, a lanky man with an arm of tattoos. "It does sort of guide and direct the things we do."
They visit Sanrio stores where they find them. They made a special trip to Japan to visit PuroLand, Tokyo's Sanrio theme park, and went to Honolulu's Sanrio Cafe on their honeymoon.
"I always wanted more Sanrio," said Eslamieh, who has a Hello Kitty tattoo on her shoulder and a Sanrio symbol on her wrist.
The college professor confessed that her mother once called a radio psychiatrist for advice about her daughter's obsession with Kitty and characters.
"You have to like cute things, and that's just not some people's personality."
Eslamieh, however, keeps her love of the Hello Kitty world separate from her professional life.
Garrett, an elementary school teacher, has always been a collector. He came to Hello Kitty through comic books and anime, inspired by the breadth of characters and products available.
He has integrated his love of Sanrio stuff into his work, with some of the couple's collection kept in his fourth-grade classroom at Lawton Alternative School.
Seasonal Sanrio banners hang outside the door, a giant acrylic Hello Kitty face greets students inside, and a pile of plush toys sit on the bookcase.
Garrett will participate in a panel at the convention called "Guys love Hello Kitty too!"
And not to be outdone, Eslamieh will also appear on a panel with other collectors, which is entitled "For the Love of the Red bow - Super Fans Unite!"
Tattoo artists will be on hand to ink guests with Hello Kitty. Temporary tattoos and nail art stations will also be available, along with plenty of shopping opportunities, with new Hello Kitty merchandise that includes everything from limited editions Beats by Dre headphones to Jeffrey Campbell custom platform shoes.
"She's world-renowned and beloved everywhere," Marchi said of the character that first appeared on a coin purse from Japan's Sanrio in 1974. "From that humble coin purse, she has helped spawn an US$8 billion enterprise."


Hello Kitty Con being staged in Los Angeles to celebrate 40th birthday

'Super Space Titan Kitty', a fibreglass sculpture, is displayed ahead of the Hello Kitty exhibition to be held in Los Angeles. Photo: AFP

The vintage 1976 Hello Kitty telephone. Photo: AP

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Marty Garrett and Salumeh Eslamieh have given up the garage in their San Francisco home for a permanent showroom for their vast Hello Kitty collection.


Hello Kitty Con being staged in Los Angeles to celebrate 40th birthday

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Marty Garrett and Salumeh Eslamieh have given up the garage in their San Francisco home for a permanent showroom for their vast Hello Kitty collection.

Marty Garrett and Salumeh Eslamieh have given up the garage in their San Francisco home for a permanent showroom for their vast Hello Kitty collection.