Rent spike forces cartoon museum from San Francisco space

Cartoon Art Museum executive director Summerlea Kashar, left, and curator Andrew Farago pose for photos outside of the museum in San Francisco, Wednesday, April 22, 2015. The Cartoon Art Museum will be leaving its home in downtown San Francisco at the end of June, but staff doesn't know where it will go next. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu) Cartoon Art Museum executive director Summerlea Kashar, left, and curator Andrew Farago pose for photos outside of the museum in San Francisco, Wednesday, April 22, 2015. The Cartoon Art Museum will be leaving its home in downtown San Francisco at the end of June, but staff doesn't know where it will go next. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

By Associated Press April 22, 2015 2 min read

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – There’s nothing funny about the uncertain transition of the Cartoon Art Museum.

The San Francisco facility bills itself as the only museum in the West dedicated to preserving and sharing “cartoon art in all its forms.”

Over the past 30 years, it has exhibited editorial cartoons, comic books, graphic novels, anime, Sunday funnies, Saturday morning cartoons and other works. It also boasts a research library (what’s Porky Pig’s signature slogan again?) and a 7,000-piece permanent collection.

But the museum faces a sad tale: Monthly rent has doubled in its space south of Market. It is forced to find a new permanent home in the next two months.

“We’ve been through this before with the dot-com boom. This time it’s called the tech boom,” curator Andrew Farago said. “We do have a plan of attack, which is we are packing up and going to put things in storage during the transition period.”