The Museum of Ice Cream exists just for people to take pictures

We’re not complaining

Los Angeles scooped up the hottest – scratch that – coldest museum of the summer. The Museum of Ice Cream, which debuted last summer in New York City, found a new home cross-country in downtown’s arts district.

Learning from experience, I purchased tickets the minute they went on sale. Tickets sold out within 14 hours, thanks to the viral frenzy of boomerangs in the sprinkle pool.

Upon purchase, the museum promised samples from local creameries. Upon arrival, I only received two bites of ice cream, but took two months worth of Instagram-able photos.

We rolled up to the museum at our designated time to find an all-pink building (aka the perfect backdrop for your next profile pic) that looked almost identical to the Paul Smith pink wall on Melrose.

We were greeted by a museum worker who guided us through the entrance and immediately pointed us to a wall decorated with jewels, candy, and ice cream – another perfect backdrop.

After throwing handfuls of Dove chocolate samples in my bag (no shame), we continued on. In the third room, the Hollywood walk of fame was replicated with ice cream puns of famous people’s names. Think “Strawberry Shortdrake” and “Jimmies Fallon.”

We took this as an opportunity to make fun of our friend who just got eye surgery and made her pose with the “Funfetti Wap” star. #1738

It was in this room that we found our first ice cream sample. It was approximately two bites of an earl grey flavor. They served it with a tiny sample spoon so it felt like you were eating more than you were given. You can’t fool me, MOIC.

Then we found the banana split exhibit. Visitors waited in line to swing on a pair of swings before entering a room with dozens of yellow and pink bananas hanging from the ceiling. No banana splits, but an easy Snapchat to your seventy closest friends.

The next room featured a “mint farm.” We were asked to whisper words of encouragement to the mint leaves in exchange for half of a bite-sized mint chocolate chip mochi ice cream. Half.

We wandered into the next two rooms to find life-sized popsicles and gummy bears. A museum worker scooped us some gummies and coached us on how to pose next to the installations. He clearly mastered the photo-aesthetic of the museum.

Then, the sprinkle pool. Ground rules were set, and we were banned from aggressively jumping into the pool. Only “Instagram-sized jumps” were allowed. I’m not making this up, people.

We were informed that we had exactly two minutes in the sprinkle pool to take as many pictures as possible. The “lifeguard” warned us of our time and told us to “get your last photo” when time expired.

No ice cream was eaten pool-side, but our sprinkle-throwing technique was mastered in under one minute.

The museum concluded in the gift shop that had a neapolitan ice cream sandwich bench-swing and a final ice cream sample – a fist-sized pancake ice cream sandwich.

We snapped our last pictures and headed to Whole Foods for a pint of McConnell’s chocolate peanut butter chip, because you know, the museum of ice cream was missing … ice cream.

More
University of Southern California ice cream los angeles museum