Giant Ice Cream Cone

Fullerton, California, United States

Public art

✓

Current

Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

This Big Thing is recorded as still being here.

Double Scoop Ice Cream Cone is a 138-inch fibreglass sculpture installed at Cal State Fullerton's Visual Arts Center in February 1973. Cal State Fullerton says it is the second of two such cones; the university's sculpture map, last published in April 2026, lists it with the Visual Arts complex sculptures.

Private to your Passport.

PLAN YOUR VISIT

No recommended arrival yet

We have not checked a recommended place to arrive or stop here yet.

This takes you to the Big Thing itself. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.

Giant Ice Cream Cone

This pin marks the Big Thing itself. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.

Site-level location · 33.8825° N, 117.8862° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

Cal State Fullerton's sculpture collection page tells of two giant ice cream cones. As legend has it, the first was rescued in the late 1960s from the roof of the demolished Brookdale Ice Cream store at Chapman and State College. It stood for years at the entrance to the art department's first temporary quarters until it was stolen; the university says the top scoop bounced off the thieves' truck and was left behind.

In 1973 gallery director Dextra Frankel found an identical cone while searching for salvaged signs for the exhibition "Neon Signs & Symbols", and had it brought to campus and installed at the Visual Arts Center. The university lists the maker as unknown, the material as fibreglass, and the size as 138 inches tall by 38 inches in diameter.

The scoops were first painted strawberry and mint and later chocolate and vanilla, and the page said the cone was repainted each spring as part of ArtsWeek, with the flavours chosen by the dean of the College of the Arts. A university page archived in May 2023 marked its location as "Not currently on view", but the university's sculpture map, last published in April 2026, lists it with the Visual Arts complex sculptures and names other works separately as not on view.

Add a photo

PRACTICAL

Plan your stop

WHAT TO EXPECT

A giant fibreglass cone catalogued by Cal State Fullerton at the Visual Arts Center. The university's sculpture map (last published April 2026) lists it with the Visual Arts complex sculptures; a page archived in May 2023 called it not currently on view, so check with the College of the Arts before a trip.

ACCESS

Listed by Cal State Fullerton at the Visual Arts Center on campus. Check with the College of the Arts before making a trip.

COMMUNITY