Massive ice cream cones, giant popsicles, pools of sprinkles. What was originally intended to be an interactive museum to spark creativity and imagination has now become a popular location to take photos for social media.

The Museum of Ice Cream was originally founded by Maryellis Bunn in 2016. According to an article by Guadalupe Gonzalez from Inc.com, Bunn was inspired by her experiences visiting ice cream shops and wanted to create a space that could bring people together using one of her favorite things, ice cream. After only having temporary pop-ups in New York City, Miami and Los Angeles, the first permanent establishment opened in San Francisco in September 2017.

Sophomore Fernanda Alfaro learned about the Museum of Ice Cream through Instagram. Before the shelter-in-place mandate due to the coronavirus outbreak, Alfaro decided to check out the location after seeing many students posting about it.

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“I mainly went to take cute pictures for Instagram,” Alfaro said. “Plus, the Museum of Ice Cream is different from other museums, and everybody likes ice cream, so it catches people’s eye.”

Sophomore Agelie Rivera also went with the intention of taking photos. According to Rivera, visiting the museum was worthwhile because of its unique ice cream theme appeal.

“You don’t really see too many attractions like the Museum of Ice Cream very much,” Rivera said. “It makes you feel like a kid again, and the attractions are very flamboyant and colorful. There are these life-sized models of food that are really cool.”

Although she enjoyed her visit, Rivera feels that the majority of people would not find the experience valuable unless they go to take photos.

“I feel like you wouldn’t enjoy it if you don’t even like taking photos because all you are gonna be doing is waiting in line watching other people take photos,” Rivera said. “You can eat ice cream of course, but if you want ice cream, you can just go to the supermarket.”

Sophomore Blake Levins visited the Museum of Ice Cream to see what it was all about, but he also went knowing he would end up taking photos.

“There are staff members that guide you along the journey, so it’s a little corny,” Levins said. “They gave samples, and I ended up buying ice cream afterward, but I think seeing it once was enough, so I wouldn’t go back again.”

According to Levins, even though the Museum of Ice Cream does not advertise itself for social media, it has quickly become an Instagram photography location.

“If you take the picture aspect away from it, it becomes a swing, a slide, and a pool of sprinkles,” Levins said. “So it doesn’t make much sense if there isn’t a way to share it and capture the moment.”