LICProperties

10/25/2024

Candela is not dead, she just moved.

10/21/2024

New mural on 5th Street by a Thai artist.

08/26/2024

And it's gone. After 60 years the office finally has a majestic ocean view (if you squint real hard).

08/25/2024

changes

08/23/2024

Go Culture Lab LIC

Music lovers can keep the spirit of summer going deep into the fall at Culture Lab LIC, where bands perform steps from the East River every weekend through October.The range

04/20/2024

Couple people at Culture Lab LIC Friday night

03/07/2024

https://www.formandflow.co/ Yoga Studio coming to our block

Find inner peace at Form + Flow. The Best Yoga Studio NYC offers a variety of classes. From yoga classes, breathwork, and reiki to sound meditations.

06/16/2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv0DQ9RBYfw

Meet the Boss was a series broadcast on the DuMont Television Network from June 10, 1952, to May 12, 1953. ...The series was hosted by Bill Cunningham and Ro...

12/21/2022

Rooftop views from the Plaxall Gallery ❄️ Happy Winter!

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12/15/2022

PART III of Plaxall’s History 💙

Louis Pfohl looked around Hunter’s Point and saw more than just an industrial neighborhood. He loved the waterfront and always saw the potential of Long Island City. What if there were more than just factories here? He wondered. What if he designed an office building? In the remaining years of his life, Louis Pfohl dedicated his time and efforts to building Hunters Point Plaza, an impressive office building located on 21st Street. Pfohl died in 1986, and his three children - Ann, Jim and Lynn - took over the business. Eventually, members of the third generation joined as well and are now managing the businesses in Long Island City and Dubuque.

By the time Plaxall’s Plastic Factory ran its last shipment, there were only 15 remaining
employees, many of whom were ready to retire. The board spent the factory’s final year making a concerted effort to consider the staff and customers: helping employees relocate and assisting clients w Thfinding new suppliers. The family also had the mammoth task of emptying the factory. Paula reached out to MIT to ask if their engineering department would be interested in any of the tooling machines. Ultimately, MIT took many of Plaxall’s machines, weighing over 15,000 pounds in total. 

The closing of the plastics factory was bittersweet, but the Plaxall family is looking ahead with optimism. 

Images:

1. Louis Pfohl in front of the NYC skyline in Hunter’s Point.

2. Hunters Point Plaza when it was being built, 1981.

3. Louis Pfohl’s portrait

4. Louis’s words of advice to his grandchildren.

5. The Plaxall factory emptied, source: LIC Talk

6. Paula and Matthew, Pfohl’s grandchildren, carrying on the family business.

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12/11/2022

Part II of the history of Plaxall Plastics!

Pfohl’s original factory was in Flushing, Queens. Shortly after it opened, however, the
area was claimed by Robert Moses via eminent domain for the Bland Housing Project. Pfohl quickly relocated his factory to 46th Avenue in Long Island City. While creating a display unit for one of his clients, Pfohl made an important discovery: he challenged himself to create clear domes for the display and was leaning towards plastic as an alternative to glass. He made a wooden mold with a base and cap, heated the plexiglass in a gas fire, placed it on the wooden dome with the cap on top and then had some factory workmen jump on top. It was a success! Thus, the process of thermoforming was born.

The thermoforming process took off and gradually became more refined. The company used pressure molding, extrusion, and thermoforming presses, designed by Pfohl. Plaxall was able to custom-design plastic packaging for their clients, all the way down to the use of custom dyes. At the height of its production, the factory employed 200 people. As business soared, Louis turned his attention to real estate, investing in Long Island City properties near the factory. The real estate business began to outshine the thermoforming as the dynamics of the plastics industry began to change. (Much of Plaxall’s business relied on the packaging of products due to a law requiring a higher tariff on pre-packaged goods. Once the government lifted the packaging tax in the 1980s, business slowed.)
But Pfohl had already set his mind on a new form of innovation. He looked around Hunter’s Point and saw more than just an industrial neighborhood. ✨

To be continued…

Photo 3:

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12/07/2022

On July 14th, 2022, Plaxall Plastics fulfilled its last order. The family and board made the difficult decision in March of 2021 to close the thermoforming portion of the business and shift their focus entirely to their real estate endeavors. As an adjunct social media manager for Plaxall, I was curious about the company’s history, so I sat down with Paula Kirby (a Managing Director at Plaxall and granddaughter of Plaxall’s founder, Louis Pfohl) to ask her some questions. Here’s what I learned… ✨

Louis Pfohl and his wife, Pauline Mathis Pfohl, grew up in Dubuque, Iowa, on the Mississippi River and married in 1925. Louis studied architecture and engineering and eventually worked for the Chicago architectural firm, Holabird & Roche/Root, involved with the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair. During his time at the Chicago firm, Pfohl met the president of Otis Elevators (which was involved with the design and manufacturing of some of the rides at the Fair). Pfohl made an impression on the president of Otis and was eventually offered a position running the Otis design studio at their headquarters in Manhattan.

Louis and Pauline relocated to Jackson Heights in 1932, and Louis commuted into Manhattan via subway for work. After six years of heading the Otis design department, Louis began dreaming of his own industrial design firm. In 1938, he went to the president of Otis and told his boss what he wanted to do. Pfohl not only received the president’s blessing but a guarantee of 50% of his current salary in business from Otis for the next two years!

To be continued…

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