Category: Field Notes

Field Note 2 – Alice Wang

Alice Wang 0 Comment Field Notes, Second Trip

Date: 4/25/16

Sandy and I arrived at Astoria around 11:19AM. The weather was mostly sunny at 64 degrees Fahrenheit. I took the same train as last time but got off at a different stop, Astoria-Ditmars. My first impression of this area is different from what I witnessed last time. There were many more ethnic food restaurants and bars. There were visibly more Greek cuisine than the area we visited last time. The names of these restaurants are also very obviously Greek (ex. Dionysus Restaurant, Manavi Market). Also there were more fast food chain restaurants in the Ditmars area, including BareBurger.

The residential area was similar to what I saw last time. This time, I paid more attention of what type of housing there was. The most prevalent form of housing was two-family and three-family homes. This shows that this area is mostly occupied by middle class working families. When we walked around the residential area, it was extremely quiet except for the areas where passing trains such as the subway and Amtrak can be heard. The noise level is definitely a concern for new residents of this area, according to our research online. For older residents, however, the noise of passing trains are no longer audible because they are so used to it.

We continued walking down the street and went to Astoria Park. Again, the area was really quiet except for the occasional passing of Amtrak. We sat there for a while and enjoyed the weather that day. It was quite a relaxing place for people sit, do exercises or jog. This park is a great asset to this neighborhood as it provides scenery and entertainment for local residents. We observed a woman with her baby sitting on the lawn and toddlers running around. During our time there, I smelled water and grass most strongly, as the park is near East River.
From this trip, what really stood out to me is that Astoria is really a community. It might not seem that way because New Yorker are not particularly known for close personal relationships with their neighbors, but the abundant family stores we observed convinced me otherwise. While walking on Ditmars, we also saw several old men sitting outside a coffee shop smoking and conversing with one another. In my neighborhood, Forest Hills, I don’t see a lot of this happening. Maybe I am not as observant because I’m not doing a project in my own neighborhood, but Astoria really gives me a different feel. We took a lot of pictures and also sound bites during this trip so we can incorporate into sense on our website.

Field Note 1 – Alice Wang

Alice Wang 0 Comment Field Notes, First Trip

Today’s date is March 5, 2016. We are going on our first trip to Astoria today. It’s a bit cold for early spring, as the temperature is only 43 degrees Fahrenheit. The weather was mostly clear and sunny. It’s my first time to Astoria for reasons other than orthodontist visits. During the trip there I quickly realized the convenient location of the neighborhood. It is accessible from Brooklyn and Manhattan because it is the last stop for the Q and N trains. We did not take the train to the last stop, however, as we got off at 30th avenue and started our expedition.

From first glance, the neighborhood didn’t seem that much different from other residential parts of neighborhoods in Queens. The restaurants, supermarkets, and discount stores could easily be found in areas such as Rego Park and Elmhurst. The restaurants I initially saw were mostly Chinese, Italian, and Thai. As we walked down further, we encountered a park/playground known as Athens Square. The first thing I noticed there was the Greek flag next to the American flag. I have always been told that Astoria was a mostly Greek community; this is the first time that I witnessed it myself. In the park, there were statues of Greek philosophers such as Sophocles, Aristotle and Socrates. There was also a statue of Greek goddess Athena. The statues were presumably made of bronze and were very cold to touch due to the cold weather. There were also structures that resemble ruins of ancient Greek architecture. Behind it was a playground that resembles most of NYC public parks. The bathrooms in the park were not open. There were young kids playing on the facilities of the playground.

Next to Athens Square was PS 17Q David Henry Thoreau School. First thing that caught my eye was the various murals on the exterior of the building. There was one that said “welcome to Queens” in the center. The overall theme for the murals was passports to different countries. I saw drawings representing countries in every continent of the world. We took many pictures of this school. Since it’s an elementary school, I think the reason for all of these murals is to promote diversity and acceptance of other cultures at an young age. This shows the open-mindedness of residents of Astoria, at least on a surface level.

After visiting the school, we continued walking into the residential area. I noticed many stores, regardless of its purpose, has “Astoria” in its name. Just from today alone, I saw stores like Astoria pharmacy, Astoria bank, Astoria pediatric center, Astoria funeral home, Astoria accident & injury treatment center, Astoria good, Astoria wireless, and Astoria brewhouse. The inclusion of the neighborhood name in its local stores show that the residents are very proud of this name and want to show it. This gives an overall sense of well-being and contentedness of local residents.
We later went to a restaurant called Duzan because of Melissa’s love for falafels. I cannot tell the difference between different qualities of falafels because of my lack of experience. I’m not quite sure what I expected but I did like the taste of it. This trip was quite enjoyable overall and we look forward to exploring a different area on our next excursion.

Field Note 2 – Sandy Mui

Sandy Mui 0 Comment Field Notes, Second Trip

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!

Field Note 1 – Sandy Mui

Sandy Mui 0 Comment Field Notes, First Trip

Time: around 3:40 PM

Date: 3/5/201

 

Melissa, Alice, and I arrived in Astoria around 3:40 PM. We got off the N train at the 30th Avenue station, and began walking around the neighborhood. We were originally going to eat falafel (not a surprise) at Duzan, but none of us were hungry after eating a late brunch. Our first concern was finding a business with a bathroom, because Melissa needed one after our long trip. After stumbling into many businesses to no avail, we found one in a Chinese restaurant.

While we wandering the neighborhood, I noticed many things about Astoria. The people out and about on the streets and sidewalks were mostly the elderly or people in their 20s or 30s. There were many people carrying groceries, which makes sense since we arrived in the late afternoon. We appeared to be the only teenagers in the area. Additionally, there were fewer kids on the streets, but there were more children in the playground and basketball court, as we later explored P.S. 17 and the playground surrounding the school.

I also noticed how many of the businesses had “Astoria” in their names – Astoria Bank, Astoria Pediatric Center, Astoria Funeral Home, Astoria Accident & Injury Treatment Center, Astoria Good, Astoria Wireless, Astoria Brewhouse, and many others. I found this interesting because in my neighborhood, Bensonhurst, you won’t see many businesses with “Bensonhurst” in their names. When I’m out in Bensonhurst, I notice more businesses that have “Bath Beach” in their names, which is a neighborhood bordering Bensonhurst. This contrast with Astoria businesses having the neighborhood in their names shows a greater sense of community, and perhaps even that Astoria might be a more popular neighborhood, since it wasn’t just one or two businesses with Astoria in their names.

The diversity of Astoria was well-represented in our first trip. In Athens Square Park (adjacent to P.S. 17), we saw many Greek statues and both the American and Greek national flags. Astoria is known to be a prominently Greek neighborhood, and this shows just that. However, there were also many murals painted on the walls of the school, showing maps of the world and flags of different countries. As a result, diversity seemed to be a common theme of the park and the neighboring area of the school, which I thought was pretty neat.

Overall, our first trip in the neighborhood was relatively quiet. Of course, there were the sounds of trains passing by, as the terminal stops of the N and Q trains are located in Astoria. When we first arrived in Astoria, we also heard contemporary pop music from a neighborhood market. The sounds we heard were mainly cars passing by, which were much louder towards the end of our trip when we reached the Grand Central Parkway, where there was heavier traffic. We also sometimes heard phone conversations of people passing by, which were in different languages, including Arabic and Russian. This relates back to Astoria being a very diverse neighborhood.

The smells we detected changed as we wandered from place to place in the neighborhood. When we first got off the train and walked underneath the train passage, the smells from halal carts were very distinct, but that changed as we progressed into the areas with more businesses. In Athens Square Park, we smelled like something was being grilled, which seemed like a mix between halal meats and barbecue (to me at least). After we left the park, we wandered the streets with businesses once again, and we smelled the laundry from a couple taking their laundry to a laundromat across the street.

Field Note 2-Melissa Duchan

Melissa Duchan 0 Comment Field Notes, Second Trip

Time: 3pm

Location: off the Grand Central Parkway

The street near the highway has a more rundown appearance as opposed to the well-maintained facades on 30th by the NQ station. There was a drive-through McDonald’s with a crumbling parking lot surrounded by other semi-dilapidated buildings. The fact that most businesses were shuttered for the weekend contributed to the impression of “deadness” in contrast to the liveliness of our previous visit. A furniture store sported beautiful handmade woodwork in its windows but it was unclear whether it was defunct or not. Ironically, a karate studio sporting self-defense classes was located quite close to the 114th police precinct.

The area was dominated by the constant overwhelming audio of cars rushing down the Grand Central Parkway. It seemed like an uncrossable distance lay between sides of the highway. The Spiderman mural on the other side of the expansive highway seemed to be miles away. The area was rife with gas stations and car repair shops, giving it a more generic and industrial feel in contrast to the communal feel of our prior visit. Next to the gas station there was a Starbucks. An Indian bakery across the street was the only vestige of local businesses. However, on the street that lay in the shadow of the train overpass there were many Greek bakeries. These bakeries provided samples of sticky baklava, oozing with honey and nuts. There was also a very expensive gourmet Greek supermarket. It had an extensive selection of cheeses and olive oils, which was rather overwhelming to a less selective shopper like me.

 

Time: 6pm

Location: Astoria Blvd and Steinway St

This area restored the community feel we felt on our first visit. There were people having cell phone conversations in Russian and Arabic and couples walking with baby strollers.

Steinway was dotted with benches which weary mothers sat on to rest. There were all kinds of businesses: clubs, liquor stores, discount stores, Islamic clothing stores. The odor of hookah emerged from nightclubs such as Fayrooz. Hookah comes in various fruity flavors like apple; the sweet aroma of apples and tobacco wafted through the air. Again there was the smell of grilling food from the kebab truck called Farid’s grill.

Although Astoria is a large neighborhood in a huge and populous city, there was an everybody-knows-everybody vibe in some places. Random passersby often stopped suddenly upon recognition of old friends and began exchanging greetings in Arabic. This gave me the perception that the individual communities within the diverse area are very tight-knit. Many people are immigrants and may find solace in being with people who know their culture and speak their language.

There were many places to sit and just chill. Many cafes advertised featured singers. People reclined in backyards of restaurants and sat on comfortable couches in a frozen yogurt place. People also filed in and out of banks, depositing and withdrawing money. Bodega cashiers sat at their posts, bored and waiting for customers. Some children cried while their parents attended to them.

Field Note 1-Melissa Duchan

Melissa Duchan 0 Comment Field Notes, First Trip

Time: 4pm near 30 av station, 3/5/2016

Trains rumble by. One heads deeper into Astoria, towards the terminal at Ditmars Blvd, while the other heads towards Manhattan, where it will eventually reach the terminal in Coney Island. There is a lot of traffic in and out of the area. The neighborhood is accessible by car on either the Grand Central or BQE, by train the N and Q (Q only on weekdays) or 7 at Queensboro Plz, by bus M60 SBS from Harlem, Q19 from Flushing. Cars and trucks also come over the Queensboro Bridge from 59th St in the Upper East Side.

I had to use the bathroom since we arrived from brunch in Crown Heights so I began frantically scanning local businesses trying to discern which one might have a bathroom. I entered the Trade Fair supermarket in the hopes that they might have one but they did not. The children playing basketball in the park informed me that the park bathroom was locked and that it was gross anyway. I struck gold at the Chinese restaurant down the block, although the owners did not seem happy at my failure to purchase food (sorry, I was stuffed from Tom’s Diner in Brooklyn). The mirror in the bathroom was covered in old campaign stickers dating back to the first Bush presidency and other strange paraphernalia.

It was cold outside but not to the point of extreme discomfort. Athens Sq Park across the street from the Chinese restaurant seemed like a good place to observe people. The smells of frying or grilled food from the restaurants and of exhaust from the cars emanated towards the park. The park was ringed in statues donated by various mayors of Greek cities to Mayor Bloomberg, evidence of cultural cooperation. This was also the city’s way of honoring and recognizing the Greek population of Astoria. Diversity appeared to be a major theme of the park in general as evidenced by the walls of the neighboring public school. They sported maps, geographic facts and images of passports.

Middle-school aged kids hung out in the basketball courts to shoot hoops while the younger children used the play structures. Their cries of glee were evidence of the joy they took in repeatedly going up and down slides. Parents cast a careful eye on the kids using riskier structures like monkey bars as opposed to the tamer slides.

The cold weather did not deter the constant flow of pedestrians on the streets surrounding the park. There were people everywhere-streaming in and out of the pharmacies, the 7/11 and the supermarkets. However, some people clearly did not feel like going outside; an Asian delivery man appeared to be rather busy. We watched him unchain and mount his moped on a mission to deliver take-out. Walls of local businesses were largely free of any graffiti but the Chinese restaurant had some small icons on its outer wall. One of them read “REBEL.”

The side streets were mostly residential, featuring modest one or two-family houses. There were also many laundromats, ostensibly catering to nearby apartment buildings. On the corner of a residential street there was a hospital being constructed. It was the Queens branch of Mount Sinai’s cancer center. This structure was a stark reminder of disease and mortality amidst the liveliness of the nearby streets.