Astoria, Queens

Aerial view of the Triborough Bridge (left) and the Hell Gate Bridge (right) spanning Astoria Park and the Astoria Pool

Night view of the Triborough Bridge and Manhattan from Astoria Park.

Astoria is a neighborhood in the northwestern corner of the borough of Queens in New York City. Located in Community Board 1, Astoria is bounded by the East River and is adjacent to three other Queens neighborhoods: Long Island City (bordering at Broadway), Sunnyside (bordering at Northern Boulevard), and Woodside (bordering at 50th Street).

Origin of the name

Originally, Astoria was known as Hallet's Cove, but was renamed after John Jacob Astor in order to persuade him to invest $2,000 in the neighborhood. He contributed only $500 to the neighborhood, but the name stayed. It has been said that Astoria was named for a man who never set foot in it. A bitter battle over naming the village was finally won by supporters and friends of Astor who had become the wealthiest man in America by 1840 with a net worth of over $40 million. Astor did live in "Astoria" (his summer home), built in Manhattan on what is now East 87th Street near York Avenue, from which he could see across the river the new Long Island village named in his honor.

Ethnic heritage

Fruit market on Broadway, a major neighborhood thoroughfare and retail area.

Astoria was first settled by the Dutch and Germans in the first half of the 17th century. The next wave of immigration came in the 1890s when Czech, Irish and Italian immigrants moved to Astoria. By the 1920s, Irish immigrants founded many of the neighborhood's Catholic parishes – Our Lady of Mount Carmel, St. Patrick's, St. Mary's, Immaculate Conception, Most Precious Blood, and St. Joseph's. Most of these churches continue to serve the Catholic community, which now includes recent immigrants from Latin America and Eastern Europe. Astoria also contains a large number of people who claim Maltese ancestry.

The 1960s saw a large number of ethnic Greeks from Greece, Albania and Cyprus. The Greek cultural imprint can be seen in the numerous Greek restaurants, bakeries, taverns and cafes, as well as several Greek Orthodox churches. Astoria has the largest number of people outside Greece with Greek heritage. Approximately 30-35% of Astoria's 140,000+ residents claim Greek ethnicity.

Beginning in the mid-1970s, the neighborhood's Arab population grew from earlier Lebanese immigrants, to include peoples from Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen and Morocco. Eventually, Steinway Street between 27th Avenue and Astoria Boulevard saw the establishment of many Arabic shops, restaurants and cafes, and has accordingly become known as "Little Cairo."

Astoria's Latino population has seen significant growth since the early 1990s.

Geography

There is some debate as to what constitutes the geographic boundaries of Astoria. The neighborhood was part of Long Island City (LIC) prior to the latter's incorporation into the City of New York in 1898, and much of it is still classified as LIC by the USPS.

The area south of Astoria was called Ravenswood, and traditionally, Broadway was the considered the border between the two. Today, however, many residents and businesses south of Broadway identify themselves as Astorians for convenience or status, since Long Island City has historically been considered an industrial area, and Ravenswood is now mostly a low-income neighborhood. The eastern section of Astoria, with Steinway Street as its main thoroughfare, is sometimes referred to as "Steinway" and considered to be a separate neighborhood.

Astoria is served by the N and W subway lines – formerly called the BMT – which run along an elevated track above 31st Street. Subway stops are located at several east-west avenues, with the terminus at Ditmars Boulevard, which extends roughly eastward from Astoria Park to the Marine Air Terminal at LaGuardia Airport. The next major avenue south of Ditmars with a subway stop is Astoria Boulevard, which flanks the Grand Central Parkway and the Triborough Bridge. Below that is the 30th Avenue stop, then Broadway.

Farthest south is 36th Avenue, a minor commercial strip which is a prominent Bengali area with traditional restaurants and shops. The primary streets running north-south are Vernon Boulevard along the East River; 21st Street, a major traffic artery with a mix of residential, commercial and industrial areas; 31st Street; and Steinway Street (named for Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg, founder of the Steinway & Sons piano factory), a major commercial street with many retail stores, and a very prominent Middle Eastern section between Astoria Boulevard and 28th Avenue referred to as "Little Egypt".

Places of interest

The historic Eagle Electric company warehouse in Astoria (left). Once abandoned, now being turned into a condominium development.

• Attractions in Astoria include the Kaufman Astoria Studios' Museum of the Moving Image, Isamu Noguchi Museum, and Socrates Sculpture Park. Astoria Park, along the East River, is Astoria's largest park and also contains the largest of New York City's public pools which was also the former site of the U.S. Olympic trials.
• The Hell Gate Bridge and New York Connecting Railroad viaduct rise high above Astoria.
• The oldest beer garden in New York City, Bohemian Hall, dating from October 1, 1910, when, before the first wave of Greek immigration, Astoria was largely Irish, Italian and Bohemian (Czech), and Slovak.

Astoria in popular culture

The neighborhood has often been featured in television and film, either as Astoria or as a setting for another location in New York City. In the 1970s television sitcom All in the Family, Archie Bunker and his family lived at the fictional address 704 Hauser Street in Astoria.

The block of 37th Street between Ditmars Boulevard and 23rd Avenue is sometimes referred to as "the Seinfeld Street." In the Seinfeld television show, this street is occasionally seen in external establishing shots as the block where George Costanza's parents live.

The television series Cosby, starring Bill Cosby, Phylicia Rashad and Madeleine Kahn (not to be confused with the earlier series The Cosby Show) was set in Astoria and was filmed there, at the Kaufman Astoria Studios on 35th Avenue.

Two notable Robert De Niro films were filmed on location in Astoria – Goodfellas and A Bronx Tale. While the latter was obviously set in the Bronx, most of the exterior scenes were filmed in Astoria as well as the nearby neighborhood of Woodside. The high school featured in the film is William Cullen Bryant High School on 31st Avenue and the church used in the in the film is St Joseph's on 30th Avenue.

Astoria was the setting for the book, A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, later made into a film starring Robert Downey Jr. and Rosario Dawson, about the filmmaker's experiences growing up in the neighborhood during the 1980s. The 2006 movie was filmed at various locations around Astoria.

Astoria is also the final resting place of New York City mobster Frank Costello as well as ragtime composer and musician Scott Joplin, both Costello and Joplin are interred at St. Michael's Cemetery. The church hosts annual public events and concerts to celebrate Joplin's musical legacy, including a Joplin retrospective.

Much of the infamous Civil Defense short Duck and Cover was filmed in Astoria, with local schoolchildren as the actors.

Education

Schools

New York City Department of Education operates Astoria's public schools.

Libraries

Queens Borough Public Library operates the Astoria Branch, the Broadway Branch, and the Steinway Branch.

Notable people from Astoria

Born and raised in Astoria

• JoAnn Falletta, orchestra conductor, Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, and Artistic Advisor to the Honolulu Symphony
• Whitey Ford, star pitcher of the New York Yankees
• George Maharis, actor and performer
• Christopher Walken, film actor.

Born in Astoria

• Alvey A. Adee, United States State Department official and chief U.S. diplomat during the Spanish-American War.
• Tony Bennett, singer.
• John Frusciante, guitarist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers
• George Gibbs, 19th century geologist who greatly contributed to the study of the languages of the indigenous peoples of Washington Territory, was born in Astoria.
• Jack Kelly, actor, 1957 TV series Maverick
• Nick Kenny, poet and newspaper columnist
• Patrick McGoohan, an Irish actor, best known for starring in The Prisoner
• Ethel Merman, a Broadway actress and singer.
• Al Oerter, Olympic discus throw champion
• David Schwimmer, actor (best known as Ross on Friends)

Other past and present residents

• Ted Alexandro, comedian
• Dan Allen, comedian
• Albert R. Broccoli, producer of the James Bond films (childhood)
• Adrien Brody (actor) Academy award winning actor
• Maria Callas, opera singer (childhood)
• Chester Carlson invented xerography at his Astoria laboratory in 1938
• Christian Finnegan, comedian
• Cindy Lauper, singer, songwriter & actress best known for the 1983 hit "Girls Just Want to Have Fun"
• Sam Lipsyte, writer (current resident)
• Dito Montiel, author and filmmaker who wrote and directed the film A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, based on his memoir of the same name, about growing up in Astoria
• William Steinway, son of the founder and owner of Steinway & Sons, influential in building much of Astoria

External links

General information

• Map of Astoria from Yahoo.com
• Map of neighborhood boundaries in Queens

Articles and news

• Article from the Greater Astoria Historical Society explaining the Queens street numbering system
• Listing and schedule of community board meetings in Queens
• Astoria Times newspaper online
• Western Queens Gazette newspaper online

Local cultural organizations

• Astoria Center of Israel
• Astoria Performing Arts Center
• The Astoria Music Society and Astoria Symphony
• Central Astoria Local Development Coalition
• Church of the Immaculate Conception
• Greater Astoria Historical Society
• Long Island City Alliance Community Organization
• St. Demetrios, Greek Orthodox Cathedral of Astoria

Government resources

• 114th Precinct of the New York Police Department
• NYC Board of Education assessment of Astoria public schools

Community interest sites

• Astorians.com, a community website and Internet forum with calendar, events, bulletin board and other information.
• Astoria NYC, neighborhood blog maintained by Astoria residents.
• Wikipages Astoria, a wiki-based business directory for Astoria.

Pictures

• New York Photography - Astoria, contemporary black-and-white and color photographs.
• Astoria, Queens in Pictures, vintage and historical photographs of the neighborhood.