Continuing the trend of "installations" that aren't exactly art but that you have to pay to get into so that you can Instagram yourself there, The Museum Of Ice Cream is arriving downtown next month, building off of a wildly successful run in Los Angeles. Much like the still running and sold-out Color Factory, the Museum of Ice Cream isn't really a museum and it's not going to teach you anything about ice cream it's just going to provide ten interactive, selfie-friendly installations that are "driven by the wondrous joy ice cream evokes," according to a press release.
We first brought you news of the Museum of Ice Cream a few weeks back, and now tickets go on sale to the public Friday, August 25, with pre-sale tickets for Amex Platinum cardholders tomorrow, Thursday, August 24. It opens fully on September 17 and will be open Wednesday to Monday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
The space is the former Savings Union Bank at One Grant Avenue, better known to most as the former Emporio Armani store that looks like a miniature Roman Pantheon, and the crew behind the Museum of Ice Cream says that there will be "several modern installations built around (decades-old) structures that have been hidden from public view," and that the temporary "museum" "truly enhances the building's unique character at every turn."
Also there will be "a magical candy garden, psychedelic rainbow unicorns, a push pop installation, [and] a cherry on top sky." And, yes, there will be ice cream tastings, including a "scoop of the week" from a local purveyor, like Bi-Rite Creamery, IT'S-IT, or Salt & Straw.
The building is more than just decades old as 7x7 discusses, the one-time bank is 107 years old, having been built in 1910 by architects Walter Danforth Bliss and William Baker Faville, who were influenced by the work of McKim, Mead and White. And we're promised a new incarnation of the signature Sprinkle Pool under the domed ceiling in the center like the one that Beyonce sat in with Blue Ivy back in May, at the LA museum.
The Museum of Ice Cream kicked off its first run in New York's Meatpacking District last summer, and basically it had New Yorkers at "swimmable sprinkle pool." The thing quickly sold out, and led to subsequent releases of $18 tickets which ended up getting resold on Craigslist in some cases for as much as $100.
The creative director and co-founder is 25-year-old Laguna Beach native Maryellis Bunn, and along with co-founder and boyfriend Manish Vora she created the museum because, as she told Forbes a few months ago, she was feeling like "there's nothing to do in New York." And by that she meant that to connect with a Millennial audience, you needed something new that wasn't a staid institution.
She says she was inspired by her love of ice cream and a childhood fantasy of swimming in an ocean of sprinkles, and she and Vora invested their own money in the project, in addition to getting corporate sponsorships from the likes of Tinder and American Express.
That then led to a second pop-up incarnation of the museum in LA earlier this year, charging $29 a ticket, which is still ongoing and was just extended through October. As of May, the Museum of Ice Cream had topped $6 million in revenue from ticket sales, and they were charging $180,000 for a one-day event rental in NY.
Bunn told Forbes she's planning a Miami museum in addition to the one in SF, and she hopes to open "a permanent flagship in New York with a restaurant and spa," as well as possibly a Las Vegas hotel.
LAist took some photos of the LA museum, a few of which you can see in the gallery above.
The Museum of Ice Cream - One Grant Avenue - Opening September 17, find tickets here
Previously: Stop Everything! An Ice Cream Museum Is Coming To SF
