On a rare clear weekend day in February, I strolled through Williamsburg, a neighborhood I have had a hard time getting a handle on as it is ever-changing; when I began FNY in the 1990s, it was shedding its sleepy backwater image and hipping it up quickly. With a major zoning change in 2005, real money began pouring in and it got expensive and forced the hipsters east into places like Bushwick and Ridgewood. New construction commenced and continues apace today.
I look for the ‘good stuff” which for me is the old stuff. Here’s the American Beverage Building, #118 North 11th, which, as its painted sign said, was “famous for purity and excellence.” What kind of beverages were produced here, I haven’t time to delve into records for (help me in Comments). It was longstanding, having been established in 1862, at the beginning years of the Civil War. the year the Civil War broke out.
By some miracle, the AmBev Building (as they’d call it today) has survived mostly intact from that 1940 photo. It has an iron exterior and some of the faded paint on it can still be made out, especially the “office” and #118 signs.
Today, the building is mixed-use, with a legit massage “parlor” on the ground floor. I can’t tell from the 1940 photo, but the interesting window pane arrangement may also be the same from back then.
As always, “comment…as you see fit.” I earn a small payment when you click on any ad on the site. Take a look at the new JOBS link in the red toolbar at the top of the page on the desktop version, as I also get a small payment when you view a job via that link.
6/24/24
10 comments
You could open the windows on that building.Today they would have been welded shut.
You might try to commit suicide or something.Building management cant have that.
I googled the street address and found some history on brownstoner.com. Built in 1896 for Hecla Iron Works, manufacturer of decorative iron and bronze. Sold to American Beverage Company in 1928. Today it is an office building.
If it is of interest to anyone, Hekla (or Hecla) is an active volcano in Iceland [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hekla], most recently erupting in February 2000. An apt name for an iron works.
Just a few blocks away from The Turkey’s Nest on Bedford and N 12th,
Great place to get a few cold ones to go and watch softball in McCarren Park.
Ugly graffiti.
The November 24, 1929 Brooklyn Times-Union has an interesting article discussing the Carl H. Schultz Corp. that’s referenced in the sign. According to the article, Schultz (a former government chemist) was the person who invented the siphon used in dispensing carbonated waters. American Beverage also (as of 1929) owned Shoneberger & Noble, the makers of Dr. Brown’s Cel-Ray Tonic. The article notes that the firm also made a chocolate malted milk product, and was negotiating in some way with Moxie to produce that beverage. The January 4, 1929 Times-Union noted ABC had just been formed to consolidate a number of soft drink firms. The July 8, 1979 Daily News notes that ABC (still making Dr. Brown’s) was based in Queens. Newsday, January 24, 1978 has a history of Dr. Brown’s Cel-Ray, noting its favour in the Jewish community. (There’s apparently another American Beverage Corp., a major Pepsi bottler, that was sold to General Cinema in 1968 but this appears to be a different company.)
American Beverage sold the Dr. Brown’s Cel-Ray brand to the Canada Dry Bottling Company of New York in 1982; I presume that that brand was the major asset of ABC. The February 22, 1984 NYT suggests the brand had about $4 million in sales at the time.
By the way, that 11/14/1929 article says specifically which beverages were made at this location, and one of them was Cel-Ray.
Re “established in 1862, the year the Civil War broke out”:
Confederates fired on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, SC, in April 1861.
The Battle of Bull Run and other unpleasantness followed shortly in that same year.
This building is a designated landmark.