We’re told that the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory in Flushing has closed, and a call to a neighboring business confirms it. Though this is a blow to durian ice cream (then again, not too much of one, with so many Baoguettes popping up), it should finally put to rest any lingering confusion over the store’s affiliation with the original Chinatown Ice Cream Factory on Bayard Street in Manhattan. The original was opened in 1978 by Philip Seid and his brothers. One of them, Henry, later opened the Flushing location along with a now-defunct Nolita one; however, Philip insisted from the beginning that the Flushing and Nolita spinoffs never had his blessing and were inferior imposters. (To add to all the confusion, the Original Chinatown Ice Cream Factory was once threatened with legal action by a neighbor, the Carvel Ice Cream Factory, which is now a Häagen-Dazs.) Anyway, sad news as we head into summer.
