Time: around 11:15
Date: 4/25/2016
I arrived around 11:15, getting off the N train at the last stop, Astoria-Ditmars Boulevard. I met Alice in front of BareBurger, which was two blocks away. It was still quite early, but the restaurant was just opening when I arrived. We weren’t hungry yet, so we decided to wander around the neighborhood, and began walking down Ditmars Boulevard.
For the first half of Ditmars Boulevard that we walked down (22nd Ave & 23rd Ave areas), it was much more populated and noisy, since there were many restaurants. I noticed many Greek stores as well – even some grocery stores were Greek, correlating with the fact that Astoria is known as a Greek neighborhood. However, there were still many diverse food options, including Italian (there were many pizzerias), Latin, and Thai food. The people we walked by also showed the diversity of the neighborhood; there were people of many different races. Overall, the first half of our trip down Ditmars was similar to our first trip to Astoria with Melissa, because of how well diversity was represented in the neighborhood.
The second half of Ditmars Boulevard was much quieter. because there were mostly residential homes in the area. I first noticed this change in noise when we reached 27th Street. These residential homes looked like townhouses for the most part – these huge buildings that looked like family homes. This corresponds to the fact that the average household size in Astoria is 2.3 people. I also noticed how there were little to no restaurants in this area and that many businesses as we walked further down catered to body care. For instance, between 26th and 27th Street, there was a business for family and body care, and adjacent to that was a business with orthopedics. These businesses are conveniently located in this area of Ditmars so that the people living in the homes will have easier access to them.
After Alice and I felt we saw enough of the residential area of Astoria, we made our way to Astoria Park. It was pretty quiet in the park, which felt similar to the residential area. There were the occasional noises of birds chirping and airplanes passing by. In the park, there were mostly families – parents and their children sitting on the grass. Alice and I sat down on a bench to rest for most of our time in the park, and I recorded sound bites as we rested (only one of them came out well).
As we walked deeper into the park, we saw a playground, and an area that was gated and locked. It looked like there was an ice rink in that area. I was surprised that an ice rink would be here, since the only ice rink I know of that’s in a park is in Bryant Park, which is more well-known than Astoria Park. We passed by children who were running around in the playground, and I noticed the dolphin and turtle metal statues in the playground. I thought it was pretty cool that the kids got to draw on the animals – the animals were covered in crayon marks.
The last thing I saw in the park was the Hell Gate Bridge, which Amtrak runs on. It looks much nicer in pictures other people take though (mostly at night), and I couldn’t capture that great of a picture because of the trees that got in the way. However, I thought it’s cool Astoria residents have a big structure in their neighborhood – I wish Bensonhurst had something like this!
