damnlines.comdamnlines.comFamily-run Chinatown ice cream shop scooping Asian-inspired flavors — black sesame, ube, lychee — under a green-dragon sign since the late 1970s.
Time Out titled its review "Chinatown Ice Cream Factory is Still Drawing Lines Nearly 50 Years Later," which tells you the line is the default state here, not an event. The shop opened on Bayard Street in the late 1970s (1977 per Wikipedia; amNewYork says 1978) and the counter is small. Time Out describes ordering as "a one-in-and-one-out kind of situation," with customers queuing at the door.
The Infatuation calls the narrow Bayard Street shop "still worthy of the line" and says the line "moves quickly." Because the space is tight, Time Out advises that sampling flavors is fine but to "keep it speedy to keep the line moving." Time Out lists it as cash only, around $4 a scoop, open daily 11am to 10pm.
The draw is the flavor list: black sesame, ube, lychee, pandan, taro, almond cookie, red bean, and "zen butter," a sesame-peanut-butter scoop. The Infatuation's staff single out green tea oreo and black sesame. If the Bayard Street line looks long, The Infatuation notes the newer Lower East Side (Essex Market) and Flushing locations "tend to be less busy" than the original.
No camera here yet — but these lines are on camera right now:
Golden Diner · 7 min walkclosedBreakfast by Salt's Cure · 23 min walkclosedLucinda's · 23 min walkclosedWe don't run a camera at this shop, so there's no live count. Time Out describes ordering as "a one-in-and-one-out" line at the door, and The Infatuation says the line "moves quickly." No source we found publishes a reliable minute-by-minute wait, so treat it as a queue that turns over fast rather than a fixed number.
The Infatuation calls the narrow Bayard Street shop "still worthy of the line" and the kind of place where "you should try new flavors every time you're there." Time Out has covered it for nearly 50 years. The pull is the Asian-inspired flavors — black sesame, ube, lychee, pandan.
Time Out lists Chinatown Ice Cream Factory as open daily 11am to 10pm, cash only, around $4 a scoop, at 65 Bayard Street. Hours can change, so confirm before a trip.
No source we found publishes exact quiet hours. The Infatuation notes the Bayard line "moves quickly," and that the Lower East Side (Essex Market) and Flushing locations "tend to be less busy" if you want to skip the original's crowd. Weekends and warm afternoons bring more foot traffic to Chinatown generally.
65 Bayard Street, between Elizabeth and Mott, in Chinatown, Manhattan, per Time Out. It's the original of three locations; a second sits at Essex Market on the Lower East Side and a third in Flushing, Queens, per Wikipedia.