Cartoon Art Museum
Cartoon and comic art museum at 781 Beach Street in Fisherman’s Wharf. Collection of about 7,000 original pieces; rotating exhibitions. $10 adults, free first Tuesdays.
Activity Type: Museum
Institute of Illegal Images
Mark McCloud’s private collection of LSD blotter art, housed in his Mission District home. Generally considered the largest collection of its kind. Visits by appointment only.
Isotope Comics Toilet Museum
Hayes Valley comic shop at 326 Fell Street with original artwork painted on toilet seats by working comic artists. Free to view; comics for sale.
Three Gems (James Turrell Skyspace)
James Turrell skyspace inside a grassy mound in the de Young Museum’s Osher Sculpture Garden. Free to visit. LED lights around the oculus shift how the sky color appears.
Letterform Archive
A hands-on typography and design archive in Dogpatch with over 100,000 items, from medieval manuscripts to punk zines. Staff pull pieces for you to examine. Free visits by appointment.
Sutro Egyptian Collection
About 700 ancient Egyptian artifacts (including two intact mummies) collected by former SF mayor Adolph Sutro in the 1880s. Housed in the free Global Museum at San Francisco State University.
Cal Academy Herpetology Collection
The California Academy of Sciences houses the sixth-largest herpetology collection in the world with over 315,000 reptile and amphibian specimens. Behind-the-scenes tours occasionally give access to the research storage.
