WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES SEPTEMBER 7, 2017 21
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: THE WAY IT WAS
Hard work makes for some
classic candy in Woodhaven
PRESENTED BY
THE WOODHAVEN CULTURAL
AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY
It is a remarkable photograph,
capturing a moment in time many
years ago. Beneath the elevated line,
the store’s neon signage promises Soda
and Candy. Look closely in the window
and you’ll see an assortment of boxes
of chocolate and candies on display.
It is an old picture, taken back in the
1940s when cobblestones covered the
street and trolley cars rolled up and
down Jamaica Avenue. If you were
standing across the street the day
that picture was taken, you’d be able to
walk inside and browse the beautiful
display cases loaded with jellies, fudge,
and cremes.
Aft er emigrating from Germany, the
Schmidt family started their shop in
late 1926, using home-grown recipes
for making chocolate and hard candies.
The chocolate was hand dipped
and made on-premises by Grandpa
Schmidt in the basement of the store
at 94-15 Jamaica Avenue.
And if you were to walk into that
basement, you would fi nd Grandpa
Schmidt hard at work making caramels
and dipping chocolates and
mixing hot candy on his big marble
table, readying it to be pulled into candy
canes or ribbons or other delicate
shapes.
Grandpa Schmidt wasn’t alone on
Jamaica Avenue – Buck & Edebohls,
The Muller Brothers, Meyer’s, Neuenburg’s,
Grader’s – all were popular
confectionery stores in Woodhaven at
the same time. But one by one, for one
reason or another, the old-fashioned
candy stores and soda shops began to
disappear.
If you stand near where that picture
was taken on Jamaica Avenue today,
you won’t see the cobblestones or the
trolley cars, but you will see Schmidt’s
Candy, still looking very much the
same and still going strong 90 years
aft er it opened.
Walk inside Schmidt’s Candy today
and you’ll fi nd the same display cases,
now antiques, and arranged inside the
cases you’ll fi nd the same impressive
selection of hand-dipped and homemade
candies.
Nearly 90 years later, the tradition is
carried on proudly by Margie Schmidt,
who not only uses some of the very
same recipes that her grandfather
used, she actually still has some of his
original utensils, including the same
marble table that Grandpa Schmidt
used to make the hard candies. It
is this adherence to tradition and
the ‘good old days’ that residents of
Woodhaven are so proud of.
And it is not just the luscious chocolate
packages for Valentine’s Day or
Easter that residents are proud of, nor
is it the homemade and hand-pulled
candy canes they buy each Christmas.
Though Schmidt’s Candy’s endurance
can be attributed to the quality of their
product, what makes Schmidt’s truly
unique is the feeling you get when you
walk through the front door.
It’s like walking back in time – the
beautiful tile fl oor, the metal scales,
the display cases – these features
of Schmidt’s Candy aren’t merely
old-fashioned – they’re old, they’re
original, and they’re beautifully
preserved.
Margie Schmidt grew up around
the store, and gladly talks about the
old days, sharing tales of tasting
freshly made candies and learning
the trade. Her father had other hopes
for Margie and encouraged her to
become a Pharmacist, but aft er a year
in St. John’s University she decided it
wasn’t for her and sought a diff erent
destiny.
When her father passed away at
the young age of 64, her mother still
had bills to pay and since Margie
knew how to make the chocolate and
the candies, she stepped in to fi ll the
void. Over thirty years later, she’s still
making the chocolates and the candies,
now the owner of Schmidt’s Candy, the
third generation Schmidt to make and
sell chocolate and candy on Jamaica
Avenue.
Woodhaven has quite a few businesses
with a number of years under
their belt. Manor Delicatessen, which
sits directly across the street, is about
as old as Schmidt’s. Popp’s Restaurant
opened in 1906. Walker Funeral home
goes back to the late 1800s, as does
Ohlert-Ruggiere. And Neir’s Tavern
stretches back all the way to 1829.
But Schmidt’s is unique in that there
is a direct line of ownership over so
many decades within the same family,
from Grandpa Schmidt, to his son
Frank Schmidt, to his granddaughter
Margie, who carries on the tradition
that says hard work makes for great
candy.