Rooftop Views from 43-10 23rd street, LIC. “7 line factory”

Located in the center of the 7 line route through L.I.C., this old factory rooftop offers surprising views of the neighborhood.

I had my eye on this building for awhile. As the then-tallest building along this portion of the 7 line, I knew the rooftop views would be spectacular. The building, however, is normally either locked up tight or well used by the non-public businesses located inside. Finally one day opportunity came knocking, so I went at it. As I often say, Sunday mornings are the best time to pull of certain kinds of adventures. The photos are always worth the price of not sleeping in.

Building History
I’m still a bit confounded by the original purpose of this factory. This massive structure was built in the late 1920s, directly next to the #7 train route through Queens. The front faces 23rd street and the subway, while the rear contains a narrow alley that leads to a large space for loading trucks.

One tenant of the building was Berje. According to their website: Berjé is a global distributor of Essential Oils and Aromatic Chemicals. The company was founded in SoHo, and later expanded to this location in LIC. Eventually they outgrew the LIC space and moved to Carteret, NJ.

Another resident of this building was the Hashizume food products corp, which was an early producer of Tofu based foods here in the US. The company was originally located in the basement, starting in the early 1970s.

Also in the 1970s, it was home to a photography company that made those silly realistic backgrounds that were so popular in fashion photoshoots back then. Here’s an article from a photography magazine about them:

Today, the factory space is still divided with several tenants on each floor. Artist spaces, woodworking shops, and antique furniture companies are amongst those that call this building home.

The rooftops of some neighboring buildings have also been used in TV and movie shoots. The Netflix ‘Jessica Jones’ series relies heavily on one neighboring rooftop throughout season 2.

Rooftop view
The roof proved as awesome as I expected. The views of passing 7 trains are unmatched. As tall residential towers begin to surround this elevated line, this stretch of track will soon look like it’s in Chicago. The scenes in these photos will look extremely different within the next 5 years.

View of the Freedom Tower

View of the LIC waterfront high rises.

NYC Taxi Garage just south of Queens Plaza

The Factory apartment building under construction.

“Lift”. Construction on Queens Plaza South at the old Eagle Electric factory.

7 train going into Queens Plaza, curving past the old Eagle Electric factory (and new high rise)

Queensboro Bridge

More 7 trains.

7 Train at Court Square.

Empire State and UN buildings

Queensboro Bridge Offramps

Interior stairs

Night view, facing Queens Plaza

Facing the Citibank building

Queensboro Bridge Offramps