I wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into for this project. I’ve never been to Astoria and wasn’t familiar with the neighborhood at all coming into this project. However, I feel I actually learned a lot from the visits to Astoria, researching about Astoria, and completing the project as a whole by analyzing our observations to shape much deeper conclusions.
I really knew nothing about Astoria before doing this project. I only knew that the neighborhood was in Queens, and I always assumed that it was actually a long commute to get there from Bensonhurst, but it actually isn’t (it takes 1 hour 30 minutes). I thought it was interesting how Astoria is defined by a variety of different streets (Steinway, Ditmars Blvd, Astoria Blvd, etc.), which is really different than any other neighborhoods I’ve been to.
My group chose Astoria because Melissa wanted us to try the falafel there (which is amazing). This wasn’t my first time having falafel, but it was definitely the best falafel I ever had. I’ve had falafel from areas in Brooklyn – some from halal carts, and others from restaurants in the Barclays/Nevins Street area. In Duzan, the restaurant we went to in Astoria, I had the crunchiest falafel ever!
Visiting Astoria also opened my eyes to the different cultures that are represented in each neighborhood. Astoria, in particular, is known to be largely Greek, but residents consist of many other races as well. During our visits, we often passed people who were speaking in other languages, including Russian, Spanish, and Arabic. The food options were representative of all the cultures that exist in the neighborhood as well, as the restaurants ranged from Italian, to Mexican, Thai, and of course Greek/Mediterranean. When I visit a new neighborhood, it’s usually to try out a new restaurant or food, and I wouldn’t pay attention to the demographics of the neighborhood. I wouldn’t say I’m completely oblivious to the races and cultures in a neighborhood, but it’s just not something that comes to me firsthand. Oddly, Astoria reminded me a lot of Bensonhurst, just in terms of all the cultures represented in the neighborhood. In Bensonhurst, there are different food options as well, and I’d often pass by people of many different races.
Continuing on with actually paying attention to demographics, this project also forced me to be more aware of my surroundings. When I’m outside, I’d rarely use my five senses (aside from sight to actually see where I’m going and taste when I’m eating). Even then, my sense of sight wouldn’t be that great, as I’m often on my phone. During my visits to Astoria, I only used my phone to take notes, which helped me observe more of the neighborhood and notice patterns when walking around different parts of the neighborhood. For instance, I noticed how many of the shops had “Astoria” in their names, which I attributed to a sense of community in the neighborhood. I also utilized my other senses more often than I would – smell was one of the more difficult senses to incorporate, so I often tried to detect more smells in the area (although the smells ended up mostly being smells of meats being grilled on halal carts and car exhaust). For sound, we heard a lot of languages other than English being spoken by passerby, which highly represented the culture of Astoria.
It was also interesting to see how all the senses came together. I originally thought smell, sound, and touch would be difficult to convey for the project, but it was much clearer after our meeting with Alexis and looking at the resources we had. Alexis suggested we collect sound bites for sound (duh!), and when Alice and I went back for the second trip, we recorded sound bites for contrasting parts of Astoria – the loudness (from passing trains) and serenity (from Astoria Park, which I consider a parallel to the quiet area with residential homes). For smell, we decided to just write out our observations, but relate them to deeper-rooted problems, such as air pollution. The number one reason a child under 14 in Astoria goes to the hospital is asthma, which is due to the pollution effects of the power plants in the area. During our visits, smoke and smells of car exhaust were common. These health concerns are also seen in the fact that the air quality in Astoria (83.3) is much lower than that of the United States (93.9), with 100 being the best.
Lastly, for touch, we ended up thinking outside the box and looked at the resources we had. We noticed that we had a lot of photos from the places we visited, but felt that to represent sight in Astoria, it would largely be represented by the diversity (seen in the different countries’ flags on the walls of P.S. 17) and the murals (as Astoria is largely known for its street art). We were left with our photos of Athens Square Park, Astoria Park, and residential homes. To consolidate all of these photos, we decided to use structures (the statues in Athens Square Park, the Hell Gate Bridge, and residential homes). This dwells from the fact that all of these structures were constructed by hand, which we connected to “touching,” essentially. It was interesting that touch ended up relating back to the sense of sight, which now makes me think that all of our senses relate back to sight in some way, as you see food before you eat it, see something before you touch something, see what you smelled, and seeing and hearing are often associated together. Of course, this is assuming you aren’t blind or deaf.
Overall, this project helped me gain more knowledge about a new neighborhood, become more aware of my senses and surroundings, and appreciate diversity and cultures more. Astoria isn’t just “Greektown” now or some neighborhood in Queens, but it’s known for its diversity, falafel, and lovely street art. I’d definitely like to visit the neighborhood again to explore further than the parts we visited (we only explored the 30th Avenue and Ditmars Boulevard areas) to see how Astoria varies block by block. And I really want some more falafel!
