Only remaining remnant of Fishbein’s, which was either a convenience or hardware store at Astoria Boulevard and 21st Street in Queens.
FISHBEIN’S
previous post
Only remaining remnant of Fishbein’s, which was either a convenience or hardware store at Astoria Boulevard and 21st Street in Queens.
21 comments
Fishbeins was a convenience store along with a seperate liquor store. originally some parts of it had apts above it. it was, i believe, seperate buildings that were made into one. also was a family business handed down from father to son. last time i went thru there it was still a mosque or a hindu temple or some such house of worship. has it changed???? had a major fire in 71 or 72
Fishbiens was a deli back in the 70s&80s. We went there for cold beer on hot summer nights. After the 80s I dont know what became of it.
Convenience store – it was very much a going concern in the early 1970s, with the bus stops at the intersection. The hardware store was at the corner of 14th St, catty-corner to the library, running through about four of the shop fronts there. Don’t remember the name offhand, but it was one of those old-school establishments where if they didn’t have what you wanted on the shelves the owner or one of his sons would vanish into the basement and come back with it, however obscure or impossible the request.
The hardware store at the corner of 14th Street & Astoria Blvd. was Reichman’s. (I’m not sure of the correct spelling).
As a young teenager, I was raised in Astoria in the early 1950’s and remember Fishbein’s well! It started out as a humble newspaper/magazine/candy stand – a literal hole in the wall! Max Fishbein, a wonderful, gentle man, was the proprietor and was always receiving continuous comments and instructions from his wife upstairs by way of a 2-way speaker system. The Fishbeins had two children, Leon and Barbara (“Babs”). Leon was in the Army during the Korean War and eventually returned to help run the store, as his father’s health declined. Leon began the gradual expansion of the store into a full-service convenience facility. The liquor and deli operations must have come later after my family moved from Astoria. Leon also found time to own and manage the small Square movie theatre a few blocks away on Newtown Avenue. These were “golden” years for me!
Information from Fishbein descendant: The information above is partly correct.The proprietors were actually Jack and Rose Fishbein. The children were Leon and Yvette. Leon was not in the army but was exempt from service due a 4F classification. It started out as a small candy store in the 1940’s and grew as Rose and Jack bought up the land on either side of the store to expand it. When Yvette graduated from Columbia School of Pharmacy, a pharmacy was added. Rose and Jack Fishbein lived above the store until the fire in the early 70’s. It was then rebuilt as a liquor store on the corner and a general store next to it.
I used to know the Fishbein family that owned the convenience store.
You can see Fishbeins in the movie “Crazy Joe” about gangster Joe Gallo. I lived across the street at a young age and my cousins continue to live there today on 21st street across from the Irish famine cemetary.
The time 1967 1969; a cross the street from Fishbein’s
north-west corner there was a burger place with huge packing lot call
“Yankee Burger”. Afterward, it was a Exxon Gas Station, now a apartment complex.
Now for some historic trivia: the triangle building near Fishbein; where Astoria Blvd emerge with 27th Avenue is a landmark. This building is well over 100 years old. Check an historic Queens New York book to verify it.
Yankee Burger. I will tell my mom I was hungry at about 10:00 PM at night. We’ll walk on Astoria Blvd., to Yankee Burger. P.S. 7 was right across the street way back when. It was a frightening red gothic building. I dreaded going to school and having to have Mrs. Mirakee as a teacher. She was a bully with some of the students, especially me.
I to went to PS 7 lived on 23rd street on the other side of the school yard. i had Miss Mirakee as well as Mrs. Bever in the 3rd grade.
What years were you there ?
I believe it was Ethan allen
That building became an after hours night club after Ethan Allen’s left. Can’t remember the name but it was a blast.
Anyone remember Dilberts before Fishbeins? Same location
My mother Maria worked at Fishbien 1040s thru 1960s. Across the street was gacobies a candy store and soda fountain. Next door to Fishbiens was Birdies a variety store , next was a small vegetable store, across the street was a Bakery, further down was the Libery , up the block was St. George Church with a small cemetery at the corner of 14th street was a hardware store.
I get up on 14th street and 30th rd in the 40s thru 60s my old friends were Fat Mike, Little Tony, Joe Nicolette, John Fay, Ronny Reinzi just to mention a few. I still look back at a wonderful nieborhood and the Italian Fiest during those hot summer nights.
I grew up in Astoria in the 60’s and remember Fishbein’s very well.. Across the street and further west on Astoria boulevard was the Ethan Allan furniture store, selling high end furniture that I don’t think anyone in the neighborhood could afford. Yankee Burger, cross the street to the north and facing 21st st was a great place for burgers and especially French fries . I attended PS7 from 1963-65, which was literally 5 minutes walking distance form where we lived on 25th road just off 21st St….and then for some reason was transferred to PS5, which was over a mile away on 30th avenue and east close to the RR.
For a short time, right next door to Fishbeins was a slot car place that was very popular and we raced our cars there….HO for us young kids and 1/24 scale for the big guys. Not sure why they closed…the place was always packed. Lots of gambling going on so maybe that is why it shut down.
I have been away a long time, but whenever I get back to the east coast, usually for family events, I almost always do tour of my old neighborhood….and my wife has had to endure many times as I always drag her along
P.S 5 had a fire in the 1960’s I think it was 1966. I remember the fire bells going off and when we got out the building was ablaze. I also remember my mother shopping at Fishbein’s . Yes I loved going to that slot car place to purchase my HO cars. Not far away went to the Astoria Pool during the summer. Those were the days.
Didn’t PS 7 also was destroyed by a fire in the 1960’s. I went to PS 5 when that caught fire. I believe 1967
I went to PS 7, I lived on 25th Road, moved there in 1950 moved in 62, went to 126 then LIC, Astoria back then was a wonderful place to live, I have the best memories and still keep in touch with the “little” kids I played with, great stores and little shops there, butchers, bakery, fruit and vegetable stores and Fishbein, we would stop there every Sunday after church at Mt. Carmel for my comic book and the Daily News for daddy, a great little store, what wonderful memories. I now live for over 40 years in NC, was an adjustment but I love it here too.
There was also a drug store run by a pharmacist named Alioto. The vegetable store was run by Mary and Victor SCHIFFINI.
Across from Mt. Carmel was a funeral home named Dowdell’s..
I’m confused. I was born in 1995 & I definitely used to go to this store. There is no way that lt closed down in 1991.