The Museum of Ice Cream vowed to stay open until infinity — four years later it was gone

The Museum of Ice Cream came to San Francisco in 2017 as a five-month pop-up in the old Savings Union Bank building at 1 Grant Avenue: selfie rooms, a sprinkle pool, and $38 tickets that sold out in 18 minutes. Half a million visitors from 65 countries came through by late 2018, and the museum declared it would keep its doors open 'until infinity.'

The permanence frayed before the shutdown. In April 2019 city supervisors denied its application for a liquor licence and bar. Then the pandemic arrived, and the sprinkle pool — the signature photo op — was exactly the kind of attraction that could not operate under distancing.

In July 2021 the signage came down and the San Francisco page left the company's website; the permanent closure was confirmed on 23 July 2021. The company's expansion went elsewhere instead: new locations opened in Austin and Singapore, and the New York museum stayed open.