LA Screams for Ice Cream: Museum of Ice Cream Preview


In a couple weeks, Los Angeles will become the home of an ice cream sandwich swing, a seesaw shaped like an ice cream scooper, a colorful pool of sprinkles, as well as the many other eclectic art installations at the Museum of Ice Cream. The new attraction, which is located in the Arts District, will be a place where fantasy comes to life.

After winning the approval from hundreds of thousands  of people in New York City, the pop-up Museum of Ice Cream is shipping its pool of sprinkles to the West Coast. Beginning April 22, thousands of visitors will flock to the museum to make a splash in the world-renowned, swimmable sprinkle pool.

Photo courtesy of Museum of Ice Cream

The Museum of Ice Cream is not only hopping to the West Coast, but is also expanding and improving its exhibits. The museum will expand to four times the size that it had been in New York City. The larger the museum, the larger and more interactive the exhibits will be. Favorite exhibits venturing out West include a banana split made up of 10,000 bananas, a mint “grow house,” a melted popsicle jungle and, of course, a sprinkle swimming pool filled with 100 million custom-made sprinkles.

Isabel Linder, a freshman majoring in English, spoke about her excitement for the museum’s arrival. Originally from the East Coast, Linder has wanted to go since the pop-up museum opened in New York City.

“I love ice cream, so the idea that I get to give a whole new meaning to playing with my favorite food is really exciting,” Linder said.

Maryellis Bunn, a design strategist who worked as the head of forecasting and innovation at Time Inc., co-founded and directed the Museum of Ice Cream. She channeled her enthusiasm and love for ice cream into an interactive and fun museum. Bunn’s mission for the museum is to constantly design environments that bring people together and provoke their imagination. It is a place where flavors are mysteries, toppings are played with as toys and sprinkles keep the world spinning.

The Museum of Ice Cream is not just a place that will be fun for visitors. Various creameries around Los Angeles will be an important part of the exhibits as well. The museum will have a Scoop of the Week, when creameries such as McConnell’s, Salt & Straw, Coolhaus X Cuisinart and CREAM will be showcasing their ice cream flavors. Every ticket includes two scoops of curated ice cream tastings.

Guests will not just taste ice cream, but they’ll smell it as well. The Museum worked closely with flavor and fragrance scientists at the International Flavors & Fragrances, an American corporation established in 1833 that creates scents and flavors inspired by ice cream flavors and toppings.

In addition to a Scoop of the Week, there will be mochi ice cream tastings from My/Mo and chocolate tastings from DOVE Chocolate. If visitors didn’t already imagine themselves at the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory, swimming in a pool of sprinkles or running around in a jungle of melted popsicles, DOVE Chocolate makes sure these visitors will. In certain chocolates, there is the chance to find a golden chocolate. If they find it, they get to take home a prize, called a “winning promise.”

However, if the golden chocolate isn’t in the cards, visitors can still walk away with a souvenir from the museum. The shop has shirts, patches, pens, ice cream scents and perfumes, an ice cream scooper as well as a variety of other unique items.

The Museum of Ice Cream will make its appearance in Los Angeles from  April 22 to May 29. Doors are open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Wednesdays through Mondays. General admission is $29 per person.