Periodically I check on some of my favorite “forgotten” artifacts around town, just to see how they’re doing. Sometimes, I’m disappointed. There was a sign with red and blue plastic letters on a nondescript brick building on 12th Street south of 30th Avenue in Astoria Village for Horstmann Mix & Cream, an ice cream mix company. I know nothing about Horstmann. A daughter was married in 2018 and the notice was in the Times, and elsewhere on the net, a business site said Horstmann Mix & Cream made over $5M annually (if your daughter’s wedding is in the Times, you have money to burn).
Sick transit, Gloria. My most recent pass in November 2020 found the building and the sign gone, with a construction lot in its place.
There is some hope for the sign, though. A story in the LIC Journal back in 2016 stated that developer Nick Fiorentinos is replacing the building with a 44-unit residential building, but “We’re keeping the front sign just like they did at the Pepsi Building.”
We’ll see.
Read more: LIC/Astoria Journal – Astoria Characters The Power Couple
Check out the ForgottenBook, take a look at the gift shop, and as always, “comment…as you see fit.”
1/9/21
5 comments
Im getting tired of murals.They’re really starting to look indistinguishable from regular graffiti.Give me a plain
brick wall anyday.They have way more character,especially the older ones
One thing about those business directory sites is that it’s difficult or impossible to know what’s up to date and what isn’t. About all that can be said about
the company is that it was still around in 2009, as one of sites gave financial information for that year, and defunct by 2015, when there’s an article about a developer buying the site. The daughter’s 2018 wedding annoucement says her father the former CEO was retired. My best guess is that shortly before 2015 Dad got a really good offer for the property from the developer and decided to close the business and sell the property.
I lived at 11-01 Wellinh Court from 1964 through 1974 and we used to ride our bikes and skateboard on the loading ramp on the 30th avenue side. All the my landmarks are rapidly disappearing from the neighborhood I grew up with.
Was your mom’s name Myra by any chance?
Horstmann Mix and Cream opened in the 1960’s by Mr. Horstmann Sr and then was taken over by his son. Horstmann Mix and Cream serviced most of the Mr. Softee. The mix was made on site at 30-11.