Corona Ice

I grew up about 300 feet from Corona Ice Co. and couldn’t tell you with any confidence exactly what kind of business it is, or what they sell there. When I was very young I never probed the plausibility of an «ice store» very deeply. Though ice was something we could all make for ourselves in reasonably adequate quantities at home, and every bodega had all the ten-​pound bags of the stuff you could carry, Corona Ice. Co existed. Why? By the time I was a teenager I appreciated that ice was something you needed more of on special occasions. And thus the implication became that Corona, Queens had to be a place where there were parties going on all the time. The problem with that, though, was that you never saw anybody walking out with any ice. As a matter of fact, you never saw very much at all of whatever was going on inside. As you can see from the picture I uploaded, it’s rather inscrutable from the outside. I never once set foot inside, nor, even upon extended reflection, can I recall ever speaking with anyone who had. For being a true mystery, and for persisting unchanged through the decades, I salute you, Corona Ice Co, whatever you are.