San Francisco’s MOMA Now Home to Sightglass Coffee
With over 29,000 works of 20th-century art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) has been a popular venue for both natives and tourists of the Bay Area– while it is open, that is. SFMOMA shut down for renovations in June 2013, and is not expected to open again until early 2016. The $610 million, 35,000-square-foot project is notable for many reasons, but one has been commonly overlooked: it will play host to the popular San Francisco-based coffee company, Sightglass Coffee.
Sightglass Coffee, an establishment run by two siblings, Justin and Jerad Morrison, will be on the third floor of the museum. It appears as if it will be the fourth location for the chain– a third is coming later this year at Page and Divisadero– all of which are based in San Francisco. This Sightglass location within SFMOMA consists of only 300 square feet, which is compounded by the fact that it’s hidden within a nook inside SFMOMA’s new Photography Interpretive Center, which itself is a part of the larger John and Lisa Pritzker Center for Photography. The Pritzker Center for Photography has been said to be the largest museum exhibition space for photography in the country.
This development is big as Blue Bottle, another popular coffee shop, was rumored to be part of SFMOMA before an agreement was struck with Sightglass. Blue Bottle has demonstrated a penchant for creating unique desserts based on modern art, which would seem to provide a seamless fit with SFMOMA. Therefore, this is an interesting development, to say the least.
At Sightglass’ SFMOMA location, pour-over coffee service, espresso service, and a small selection baked goods, will be offered. These are standard fare at other of the chain’s locations. They also plan to offer an exclusive SFMOMA espresso blend.
The food industry has grown and changed tremendously in the past few years, and for a relatively new, boutique coffee shop to be making such noise in a museum is somewhat unprecedented. Historically, one either didn’t want to eat at a museum, or if they decided to do such, they had to resort to plastic trays in cafeteria lines. (Or buffets with bland tasting food).
Hopefully, the addition of critically acclaimed, modern establishments, such as Sightglass, to more modern museums, is a sign of things to come. Food trucks were thought of as seedy years ago; look where they are now. We can only hope.
Jonah Engler is a financial expert and an avid coffee lover from New York City.