RIP Franchises of our youths

[Drunk Monk]

SF Cartoon Art Museum closes weeks after former curator's arrest
Madilynne Medina
Mon, August 3, 2026 at 4:14 PM PDT
2 min read


The San Francisco Cartoon Art Museum. (Screenshot via Google Streetview)
A longtime San Francisco museum has abruptly closed after citing a slow, difficult recovery from the pandemic, opting not to renew its lease. 
The Cartoon Art Museum, located in Fisherman's Wharf, officially closed on Sunday, saying the closure may not be permanent but it will give the organization time to determine its next move. 
"So while our lease may be ending, our story will continue," museum staff said in a Friday news release announcing the closure. 

Summerlea Kashar, the museum's executive director, said the museum faced "significant challenges" after moving to its most recent location in 2016 on Beach Street in an 8,000-square-foot, historic brick building near Ghirardelli Square. Before the move, the museum was displaced from its longtime home at 655 Mission St. after the building's rent doubled, SFGATE previously reported.
Museum staff also decided to close its doors because of the "slow recovery" from the pandemic, according to the news release. 
"After navigating the pandemic and the difficult recovery that followed, it is time to close this chapter," Summerlea Kashar, the museum's executive director said in the release. "We are not disappearing. We will take this time to recharge, reset and consider what comes next. We hope our community will continue to follow and support us as those plans take shape."
The museum has been open for 42 years and the most recent location had more than 80,000 visitors, including school tours and cartooning classes, staff said in the news release. The gallery's permanent collection includes about 9,000 original works, ranging from comic books and comic strips to magazine cartoons and concept sketches, according to the museum's website.

The closure also comes after a curator was arrested in June after he was accused of secretly filming people in his bathroom while hosting a birthday party. The curator, Andrew Farago, is also an author and historian, but he is no longer employed by the museum. 
Kashar previously told SFGATE that when the "situation became known" to museum staff, Farago was placed on administrative leave and eventually fired. Kashar did not respond to SFGATE's questions on Monday about the museum's closure. 

I never went there...

[thatguy]

It was on my list...one less thing to do now :-(

--tg

[Drunk Monk]

Mtn View Surplus...everything must go!



--tg

Stopped by and picked up a nice pair of EMT pants for a steal of a price. Thanks for the tip tg!

They still have a lot of stuff and this is probably their last week. There’s also a True Value hardware store next door that’s having a closing sale but I didn’t have the time to check that out. These two stores share a building which is going to be demolished. 

D00M recommended but asap.

[Drunk Monk]

Newpark mall

I went by on Tuesday on my way to Tiger Claw for lunch. I used to hit it about once a week for most of my 20 year watch working there. This is the mall off 880 at Mowry in Fremont. After the pendemic (and me not being at TC in person, the big anchor stores left: Sears, JC Penny, Burlington & Macys. An IMAX theater came in and Costco relocated from two exits south.
But on Tuesday, there were a few restaurants what had access from outside the mall, a bar and a ramen place (I ate there but it was sad and pricey after Japan). Inside everything was shut down except one lone Hot Topic. It was a ghost town.
Allegedly there’s some major development planned for next year. It was pretty surreal after having gone there so much from 2000-2020. It was my pop culture barometer, a cheap place to get stuff like socks, and there was a place in the food court that made a decent teriyaki salmon that was reasonably priced.

[thatguy]

Shakey's Pizza building on Steven's Creek Blvd in Cupertino is now a pile of rubble. The surrounding buildings which were newer, Staples, etc, were demolished weeks ago, but the old, empty, abandoned(?) Shakey's Pizza building was holding out. Shakey's was operational when we first moved to Cupertino in '72(?). I remember they would always have B/W films showing: stooges, laurel and hardy, cartoons...They also had a coin-op horse ride that I think was free, or cost a penny. I was still of an age that I appreciated that.

The building was empty for so long, I wondered what was up with it. 

--tg

[Greg]

I think you mean Straw Hat. Shakey's was over on Saratoga-Sunnyvale.

[thatguy]

I think you mean Straw Hat. Shakey's was over on Saratoga-Sunnyvale.

It was definitely a Shakey's when we moved to town. My memory is infallible.

--tg

[Drunk Monk]

I think you mean Straw Hat. Shakey's was over on Saratoga-Sunnyvale.

It was definitely a Shakey's when we moved to town. My memory is infallible.

--tg

Dominos!
FTW!

[Greg]

That was Pacifica.

[Drunk Monk]

That was Pacifica.

I did see a Dominos

when I was in Japan

Thot of u

[Greg]

That was Pacifica.

I did see a Dominos

when I was in Japan

Thot of u

I call BS. No thought of me was given. Rightfully so.

[Drunk Monk]

That was Pacifica.

I did see a Dominos

when I was in Japan

Thot of u

I call BS. No thought of me was given. Rightfully so.

Not true at all. At some point, I thought about all the D00Mbros when I was in Japan. Mostly I thought about how fun it would be to brag about it here on the D00M4M.

As for you specifically, I was reminded of the Star Trek: TOS episode 'The Immunity Syndrome' when Spock tells McCoy "You would not have survived it." It was so freakin hot and humid. Tara and I are built for heat, genetically as all my blood has tropical roots as does half of Tara's, and we were struggling. Your genetics are set for foggy green pastures and chilly winds. You would not have survived it. 

If not for Pocari Sweat, we would not have made it either. 

[Greg]

I live in Raymond. Summer time temps average the triple digits every day. I am not some weak Cruz denizen inconvenienced by moisture in the air. Bring it.

I was amused you drank so much sweat while you were away.

[Drunk Monk]

So you say but I've seen you sweat more than any other human I know, including people I trained with in the Shaolin summer heat.

The other thing that made me think of all you D00MBros is how short most Japanese are. Tara commented how it made her feel tall being there. The guesthouse AirBnB that we stayed in had low beams that were thankfully and thoughtfully padded because I hit my head on so many of those. Japan, especially Tokyo, has such an huge population that everything is tighter and smaller. It's not built for people my height and I'm one of the shortest D00Mbros. Just me and Eric, and maybe Gary. 

Pocari Sweat FTW!