Monday, December 3, 2007

The last Jahn's left

The family-run Jahn's restaurant on 37th Avenue in Jackson Heights, Queens, has managed to survive for 48 years, while all other Jahn's shops have gone out of business.

Fans of old New York are still reeling from the surprise shuttering of the Jahn's parlor on Hillside Avenue in Richmond Hill, Queens, which scooped its last serving over Thanksgiving weekend after more than 70 years in business.


One scoop left for famed chain

Meanwhile, Nick Moukas, 42, who operates the Jahn's in Jackson Heights with his brother Peter Moukas, figures his franchise is still serving customers because at their shop, ice cream actually comes second.

"Our No. 1 income is food," Nick Moukas said. These days, the Kitchen Sink Sundae and other creamy frozen treats fail to pay the bills, he says, given that Ben & Jerry's, Baskin' Robbins and Cold Stone Creamery have seized the market.


The decor is...yikes...

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

check out the futuristic baby carriage. Looks like something from the Jetsons. (The carriage is only attached to the handle at one place.)

Anonymous said...

Jahn's Ice Cream has been in here forever. In fact the owner & father of the two brothers who run it now, was my waiter back in the 1960 & 1970s. The owner told my son when he was a teenager that he threw me out of the restaurant when I was a kid! Of course I never fessed up to my son that I was a trouble maker back in my youth! Try it you'll like the breakfast, ice cream sodas and egg creams. Michele
http://www.jacksonheightsblog.com/

Anonymous said...

Ugh....the Jackson Heights Jahn's might still have the name but it looks like any tacky generic diner. The Richmond Hill Jahn's had that classic ice cream parlor look. What a shame it's now closed.

I was a regular at the Jahn's parlor on Main Street in downtown Flushing (and have the waistline to prove it). It disappeared just like Gloria Pizza a few doors down - the best damn pizza in the world. All good things come to an end, sadly.

Anonymous said...

This is really just an ersatz Jahn's.
There is no authenticity......just flash and foolishness.

(I'll take some Edy's home
from my grocer's freezer and spoon to my delight)!

The whole point of the Richmond Hill location
was being among the original
antique furnishings while enjoying a "Jahn Burger"
or a banana split. There was a sense of history.

The Jackson Jahn's
has NO REAL ATMOSPHERE !
It's a phony !

(And you can eat a great breakfast anywhere else
in at least a dozen better places that can be named).

Anonymous said...

If the JH Jahn's closes tomorrow.....
it won't be missed because it's like
it was never there to begin with!

Disney could have re-created a better looking place !

Any pooper....oops....I mean ice cream scoopers
looking for a job ?

Anonymous said...

I've wanted to love the Jackson Heights Jahn's ever since I moved to the neighborhood, but repeat experiences of mediocre food and inflated prices finally turned me off to the place. Last time I was there for breakfast, they managed to charge me $5.95 for a scrambled egg and a piece of white toast. So with a dozen other good diners right down the street, I say just let the free market run its course.

Anonymous said...

I was 18-years old back in 1973 and my friends and I would often visit the Jahn's Ice Cream Parlor in Jackson Heights after school (we attended Garden School between 78th and 79th streets, so it was a just a small walk).

I can no longer recall the names of the various ice cream concoctions we used to order back then, but I can tell you that in those days people went to Jahn's for the best ice cream dishes you could find.

I was sorry to read that it is now just a shadow of its former self. I have some very fond memories of that place.

Art said...

I was just at the Jackson Heights Jahn's and thought the food was very good. I regularly visited Jahn's in Brooklyn as a teen and the visit to Jackson Heights really took me back! We rarely ordered ice cream back then ,but on this visit I enjoyed one of their "tummy ticklers" Rainbow Mountain (Looks so purty) A very nice finish to very good and satisfying lunch.

JEFF COSTIGAN said...

NEVER BEEN TO THE JAHNS IN JACKSON HEIGHTS OR THE ONE IN FLUSHING. HAVE TO GO SOON. GREW UP IN RICHMOND HILL, BEEN TO THE ONE THERE WHEN IT WAS STILL OPEN. ALWAYS HAD A SWISS BURGER DELUX FOLLOWED BY A VANILLA SUNDAE WITH PEANUT BUTTER SAUCE, BEST EVER!! HOPE THE BURGERS & ICE CREAM AT THE 2 OTHER SHOPS AREA JUST AS GOOD. MISS THE ONE IN RICHMOND HILL.