08/16/2026
💚 Jadite in the City 💚
Fire King Meets Long Island City, New York
Bringing my Fire King Tapered Mug out into the neighborhood today, because this jadeite deserves a backdrop as good as it is… Also, I love to bring small touches of my collection out to flaunt to the public 😂
Nothing beats seeing that classic milk glass green glowing against the LIC skyline and the Manhattan view across the water. It’s beautiful here and has a long standing industrial history. Here’s a little about where I live:
Long Island City was once the terminus of the LIRR, going all the way back to 1854. Before the East River tunnels connected Long Island directly to Manhattan, passengers arriving here had to hop a ferry to finish the trip into the city. Passenger ferry service ended in 1925, but the freight side of the operation kept going strong for decades after.
That’s where the car floats come in. Starting in the 1880s, farmers on Long Island would load their wagons onto flatcars and ship them to LIC, where crews would fit about three wagons per flatcar before the cars were ferried across the East River to markets in Manhattan. The LIRR ran a massive car float operation out of LIC, with two four track car floats and a whole complex of freight yards feeding it. Those float bridges are still visible along the waterfront today, a quiet reminder of how much cargo once moved through this exact spot before it ever reached the city.
Anyways, I think this spot is really cool and the history makes it even more interesting. And while Jadite doesn’t have a lot to do with it, it’s nice to have an appreciation for history.