Northern Tip of Queens

This month’s edition of Culturally Inclined focuses on Astoria, located across the East River at the northern tip of Queens.  Astoria, a community whose boundaries are constantly changing and debated throughout history.  There are three distinct neighborhoods:  Ravenswood, Ditmas, and Astoria Heights.  An Astoria landmark, the Riker-Lent Homestead built-in 1655 by Abraham Riker Nieuw, Nederland’s last governor, Peter Stuyvesant, is the oldest remaining dwelling in New York City still used as a residence.

Old Astoria

Old Astoria Neighborhood Association captures the architecture glory of Old Astoria.  And, in 2012, Rafael Herrin-Ferri artist/architect began systematically photographing the houses of Queens and has captured the variety of housing tracts in Astoria.  “Astoria is among the most gentrified neighborhoods in Queens and is constantly updating its housing stock leading to many jarring juxtapositions both in scale and building styles”. Astoria has a large warehouse district and a hodgepodge of architectural styles.  Rafael Herrin-Ferri attributes this to: “When so many people from so many cultures with so many different aesthetic preferences co-exist in a tight urban fabric it seems only natural that the streetscape should look like this. For me, these houses represent an “urbanism of tolerance” and to shifting gridded street patterns and topography. Astorians are experiencing a real estate expansion and many new buildings are rising on the waterfront and in the commercial districts.  Developers and architects are redeveloping older industrial sites and homes and building new modern high-tech residential rentals and condos (Graffiti House | The Nordic | Ispica |10 Halletts Point | 23-09 Broadway | 12-22 Astoria Blvd. | 25-28 30th Drive | 28-57 45th Street | 37-01 37th Street | 13-81 13th Street | 31-09 31st Drive | 21-12 30th Road | 28-06 21st Street | 11-07 Wellington Court etc.).  The development includes park improvements, the Hallet’s Point temporary outdoor arts venue, big-box retail shops, restaurants, supermarkets, and even a new Astoria Food Hall.  On the horizon, as reported in the NYTimes, Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Brooklyn-to-Queens inter-borough streetcar project comprising of twenty-six stops along an 11-mile route running from Gowanus in Brooklyn to Astoria.  Under the new timetable, construction on the streetcar, formally known as the Brooklyn-Queens Connector or BQX, will not begin until 2024.

Take an excursion along the promenade of Shore Boulevard and Astoria Park and be enveloped by magnificent views of the Hells Gate Bridge, Triborough Bridge (aka Robert F. Kennedy Bridge), Roosevelt Island and Manhattan Midtown skyline.  Astoria Park, formerly a Native American site, boasts one of the oldest and largest public swimming pools in the city with a diving pool under construction set to be unveiled next summer.  Past locals gathered on Wednesdays to watch the antics of the Aquazanies, a troupe of intrepid swimmers who wore fancy bathing outfits and presented a water show.  Astoria Park offers visitors hiking trails, events at the bandstand, tennis, basketball, and playgrounds.

Steinway Family

The Steinway Family has deep roots in Astoria since the nineteenth century and brought commercial and economic growth to the area.  At that time many German furniture and cabinet makers settled in Astoria including the famous piano maker Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg, patriarch of the Steinway family.  For over 160 years, Steinway & Sons have been known for making the finest pianos in the world.  They set the uncompromised standard for sound, touch, beauty, and investment value.  The Steinway family motto for the business and their house was taken from the “Wanderbuch“, German travel book for apprentices who would travel in search of a Master to learn their trade:  “He who knows his trade is a Journeyman, A Master is he that invents the plan, an Apprentice is an each and every man.”  The Steinway’s built a sawmill and foundry, the Steinway Tunnels, an interurban trolley tunnel street-car line in Astoria as well as established Steinway Village for their workers, a company town that provided school instruction in German and English.  You can visit the Astoria Steinway factory on Tuesday’s from 9:30 a.m. until Noon from June until September, however, plan your tour in advance – the maximum group is 16 people.

Perhaps you have been reading about JDS Development and Property Markets Group reinvented luxurious full amenity Manhattan tower and landmark building peering over Central Park – 111 West 57^th Street on billionaire row.  The project combines the original landmarked Steinway building designed in 1925 by Warren & Wetmore, and a new terra-cotta and bronze-clad tower addition designed by collaborators SHoP Architects on the adjacent site with interior design by Studio Sofield.

Motion Picture Studios

Astoria has played a prominent role in early American film-making, preserved by the Museum of the Moving Image and Kaufman Astoria Studios. The legendary film mogul Adolph Zuckor, a Hungarian filmmaker originally opened Astoria Studios in 1920 for the Famous Players Film Company, which evolved into Famous Players-Lasky and then Paramount Pictures and now Kaufman Astoria Studios and produced over 100 Silent Films in its sound stage.  Today, the top film, television, and digital on-demand series are made at the studio.  The studio site has a restaurant and the former Astor Room steeped in Hollywood mystic showcases a jazz venue.  New York’s Film Tax Credit Program has made the state one of the most popular spots to shoot in North America.

The production incentive, in place through 2022, has created thousands of jobs and added billions of dollars to the New York economy. But being a production hotbed has led to a space crunch. The city’s four major studios—Kaufman Astoria, Silvercup, Steiner, and Broadway Stages—are overbooked. Kaufman Astoria Studios is beginning a 100,000 square foot campus expansion. Non-qualified facilities, including warehouses, hangars, and decommissioned factories are making up for the capacity constraints until other space solutions are derived.

Recently, I took a trip to Astoria and rambled down Steinway Street and historically known as Steinway Village to see the first historical landmark of Queens, the Steinway Mansion, built-in 1858 atop a one-acre hill in the Italianate Villa style.  There is a commercial expansion of warehouses in the Steinway Village area and Friends of Steinway Mansion are trying to preserve this historic area from the developers.  As reported by the Real Deal in June:  Silverstein Properties acquired the ground lease on a seven-parcel Astoria Dairy development site in what marks its first major outer-borough expansion.  The site stretches two blocks between Steinway Street and 42nd Street in the most southeastern part of the Queens neighborhood. The properties, which stretch across 390,906 square feet on the ground and house the dairy plant owned by Queensboro Farm Products, but carry more than 1.5 million square feet in commercial development rights, according to real estate data service Reonomy.  Near the area, there is a craft brewery called Single-Cut Beersmiths.  They have events and serve up a lite fare of dumplings, buns, nachos, and tacos.  They even have these nifty blue glowing phone chargers under the bar. 

I proceeded to head to Ditmas Blvd to check out the restaurants and delicious bakeries and to name a few:  Boulis Café – 30-15 31s Avenue | Chip Bakery – 30-06 34^th Street | Gianpiero Bakery – 4417 30^th Avenue | Entenmann’s Bakery Outlet – 4011 34^th Avenue | Güllüoglu – 30-92 31^st Street | Il Fornaio Bakery Café – 29-14 30^th Avenue | La Guli Pastry Shop – 29-15 Ditmas Blvd | Leli’s Bakery & Pastry Shop | Martha’s Country Bakery – 36-21 Ditmars Blvd | Parisi Bakery – 3017 Broadway| Rose & Joe’s Italian Bakery – 2240 31^st Street | Yaya’s Bakery – 28-46 31^st Street.  After dessert, head to the oldest beer garden in New York At Bohemian Hall located 29-19 24th Avenue, a great place to bring a large group of friends.  

For dinner, stroll to Agnanti, directly across Astoria Park on Ditmas Blvd.  A charming spot with delicious food.  A Greek salad, octopus, and Bronzino, along with a crisp bottle of white wine make for the perfect Greek meal. After dinner, walk along the promenade and take in the panoramic views. By the Hells Gate Bridge and Ravenswood, there is amazing street art.  Nearby is the Socrates Sculpture Park by the Hallet’s Cove Ferry Stop.  The Ferry ride is $2.75 and worth every penny.  The first stop of the high-speed ferry is Roosevelt Island, then Long Island City, 34th Street, and final stop Wall Street.  Watching the light simmer on the water, flights of seagulls, ships of commerce and pleasure brings about a quiet joyfulness.  The East River ferries are changing the fabric of the city’s industrial waterfront and commuters similar to the one Walt Whitman took and wrote about in his “Sun-Down” poem are connected to nature’s rhythms and beauty. Take your own special trip, and if you choose to go this weekend check-out the Annual Astoria Shore Fest celebrating the first day of FALL.

Supplementary Digests

Fall has is own special kaleidoscope of colors to behold and special treats to enjoy.  Here come the pumpkins, apple cider donuts, and roaring fireplaces.  Connect with me this fall via Instagram, my website: www.KarenKostiw.com, Email, the old fashioned telephone or let’s meet in person for a tête-à-tête.  Tell me what’s on your mind, and let me know if I can ever be of service to you. I am always available to provide real estate guidance, discuss market conditions and trends to you or someone you know.  Have a happy Autumn taking in the magic and splendor of this beautiful season.

 

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Quotes

The cup of tea on arrival at a country house is a thing which, as a rule, I particularly enjoy. I like the crackling logs, the shaded lights, the scent of buttered toast, the general atmosphere of leisured cosiness. ~P.G. Wodehouse

Back when I was young and just starting out in New York, one of my favorite places to bring a date was the Staten Island Ferry. You can’t beat the views—or the price! See the skyline, the Statue of Liberty and all the harbor lights—it’s a great way to spend a night, and it’s all for free. —Michael R. Bloomberg, former mayor