Formerly: Jahn's Family Restaurant and Ice Cream Parlor
Jackson Heights, New York · Founded 1897
The last known Jahn's from a 1897 Bronx ice-cream chain, preserved in Jackson Heights as a Moukas-family diner and soda fountain.
Jahn's Ice Cream Parlor operates at 81-04 37th Avenue in Jackson Heights, Queens. John Jahn founded the original Jahn's ice-cream shop in the Bronx in 1897, and the chain later expanded across New York, New Jersey, and Florida. The Jackson Heights branch is a later franchise location, operated by the Moukas family since Tom Moukas purchased it in 1970 and now widely described as the last remaining Jahn's.
John Jahn opened the first Jahn's ice-cream shop at 138th Street and Alexander Avenue in Mott Haven, Bronx.
Source: The New York Times, "At Last Jahn's Standing, Ice Cream Isn't King"; Jahn's chain histories
The Jackson Heights Jahn's was operating by the late 1950s and is described in later reporting as a franchised location by 1959. The exact opening date requires a primary occupancy, lease, permit, or newspaper source.
Source: Resy, "The Queens Diner That Has Provided Six Decades of Nostalgia"; This Is Forest Hills, "Reflections of Jahn's Ice Cream Parlor"
Tom Moukas began working at the Jackson Heights Jahn's as a waiter.
Source: Resy, "The Queens Diner That Has Provided Six Decades of Nostalgia"
Tom Moukas purchased the franchised Jackson Heights Jahn's location.
Source: Resy, "The Queens Diner That Has Provided Six Decades of Nostalgia"; This Is Forest Hills, "Reflections of Jahn's Ice Cream Parlor"
A fire destroyed approximately half of the Jackson Heights restaurant, reducing much of its earlier nostalgic décor.
Source: The New York Times, "At Last Jahn's Standing, Ice Cream Isn't King"
The Richmond Hill Jahn's, one of the last two remaining locations, closed in November 2007 according to The New York Times. Other local accounts place the closure in 2008.
Source: The New York Times, "At Last Jahn's Standing, Ice Cream Isn't King"; This Is Forest Hills, "Reflections of Jahn's Ice Cream Parlor"
Jahn's continues to operate at 81-04 37th Avenue in Jackson Heights with diner meals, ice cream, online ordering, and its historic dessert menu.
Source: Jahn's official website; NYC Tourism; current Jackson Heights restaurant listings
Every claim gets rated. A business's own website can never earn "documented."
The New York Times identifies John Jahn's 1897 opening at 138th Street and Alexander Avenue in Mott Haven as the origin of the Jahn's chain. The present Jackson Heights store is a later franchise/outpost rather than the original location.
The 1897 store was in Mott Haven, Bronx. The Jackson Heights branch was a later franchise, described in later sources as operating by 1959, and it cannot be presented as the original shop.
Jahn's is strongly associated with the Kitchen Sink, an oversized shared sundae reported as containing up to 30 scoops and many toppings. The sources reviewed establish the dessert as a Jahn's signature item but do not establish that the chain invented it.
The New York Times described Jahn's Kitchen Sink as containing as many as 30 scoops, while current tourism material markets a large group-serving version. Portion size may vary by era and menu, so the historical maximum is retained as a reported description rather than a fixed current specification.
The New York Times, Resy, NYC Tourism, and recent local coverage all describe Jackson Heights as the only remaining or last known Jahn's from the historic chain. A complete corporate-record search would be needed to make a universal global claim, but the local-chain conclusion is strongly supported.
The New York Times reported that the brothers took over the Jackson Heights location from their father, Tom Moukas, and Resy identified them as owners in 2020. A current New York corporate filing would be needed to verify the present formal entity and ownership shares.
The Jackson Heights Jahn's is the original 1897 Jahn's ice-cream shop.
John Jahn opened the original Jahn's in 1897 in Mott Haven, Bronx. The Jackson Heights location is a later franchise/outpost, operating by the late 1950s.
Source: The New York Times, "At Last Jahn's Standing, Ice Cream Isn't King"; Resy, "The Queens Diner That Has Provided Six Decades of Nostalgia"
Jahn's is proven to have invented the Kitchen Sink sundae.
Jahn's is strongly associated with the Kitchen Sink and helped make it famous, but this review did not locate a primary record proving that the chain invented it.
Source: The New York Times, "At Last Jahn's Standing, Ice Cream Isn't King"; NYC Tourism, "Jahn's"
Jahn's Jackson Heights can be reached at (718) 651-6706.
The restaurant's official website and current listings identify the phone number as (718) 651-0700.
Source: Jahn's official website; NYC Tourism
Jahn's survived because the Moukas family adapted a soda-fountain legacy into a neighborhood diner with breakfast, lunch, dinner, takeout, and signature sundaes. That broader menu became especially important after most Jahn's locations closed and after a 1987 fire removed much of the Jackson Heights restaurant's earlier nostalgia-driven interior.
Jahn's Ice Cream Parlor in Jackson Heights, New York, is a later branch of a chain John Jahn founded in Mott Haven, Bronx, in 1897. The Queens location was operating by the late 1950s, and Tom Moukas bought the franchise in 1970 after beginning work there as a waiter in 1960. His sons Peter and Nick later took over, and the shop is now widely described as the last remaining Jahn's from the old New York chain.
The last known remaining Jahn's Ice Cream Parlor is at 81-04 37th Avenue in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York. It operates as both an old-school ice-cream parlor and a full-service neighborhood diner.
Jahn's is famous for the Kitchen Sink sundae, an oversized dessert historically described as having up to 30 scoops of ice cream and numerous toppings. The sources reviewed establish it as a signature Jahn's creation in popular memory, but they do not prove that Jahn's invented the dessert concept.
No verified oldest-ice-cream-parlor title can be assigned to the Jackson Heights Jahn's. The Jahn's chain began in the Bronx in 1897, but the surviving Jackson Heights store is a later franchise location that appears to date to the late 1950s. The shop is historically important as the last known surviving Jahn's, not as a verified oldest New York ice-cream-parlor claimant.
81-04 37th Ave, Jackson Heights, NY 11372
(718) 651-0700
Jahn's is a diner and ice-cream parlor in Jackson Heights with daily service and online ordering; check the official site before visiting for current hours and Kitchen Sink availability.