9. College Point used to have a robust brewing scene
In the early 1900s, College Point was a destination for brewing in New York City alongside Ridgewood, both of which had large German populations. The New York Times called College Point “the city’s German-beer-hall capital,” citing places like the Five Corners which opened in 1948 and was known for German brandy and ceramic plaques. Beer gardens, breweries, hotels, and casinos were everywhere in College Point in the early 1900s.
A popular brewery at the time was Karsch Brewery at 14th Road and 120th Street. The Academy Mailbox & Intercom Company building on 15th Avenue, which still stands, used to be an ice house where a nearby brewery would chill its beers. Joseph Witzel’s Point View Island, a popular summer resort, attracted 15,000 visitors a day and sold hundreds of beers in its beer garden. Others from as early as the 1870s included Weber’s Brewery and the straightforwardly named College Point Brewery. Some of these breweries were opened by those employed by Poppenhusen and had German ancestry.