I love Astoria

With the weather getting warmer I've been exploring my neighborhood more.
I love Astoria. New York is not my favorite city ever, but I am slowly growing to love Astoria despite myself. It is safe, close to Manhattan (a lot of times I can get places quicker from Astoria than from a different location in Manhattan), full of good food and interesting shops. the trains in Astoria run above ground! It's hard to me to explain what I love so much about it, but here are a few things.

Pictures don't quite capture it, but just wandering around the neighborhoods are cute, clean, and full of trees.

This is one of the most diverse neighborhoods in NY. Besides a large Greek population it also has a lot of Italians, Mid-Eastern, Hispanic, and Eastern European. The grocery stores (of which there are almost one on every block, unheard of in other parts of NY) cater towards these groups, which means I have certain stores I go to when I want Mexican ingredients, and ones I go to when I want brands I haven't seen since I lived in Vienna.

There are actual houses in Astoria, and some of them are really cute!

The food is amazing. Almost every nationality you can think of has a restaurant. I stood on a corner the other day with 4 restaurants and they were sushi, Mediteranean Greek, Indian, and an Italian bakery. You should not walk down the street on a nice day if you're hungry because of the smell of food everywhere. Lots of fresh produce places, bakeries, butcher shops, street vendors, not to mention every restaurant and coffee shop has those window walls that they remove as soon as it hits 60 deg. Plus, the smell of hooka drifts down from Little Egypt.

Apart from the main streets, it's secluded enough that it doesn't sound like you're in a city. I have never heard so many birds in my life.

The taco truck AKA El Rey de Taco. Like an ice cream man, but with tacos.

Above ground trains. Especially at sunset, there is no better view of the city than riding on the train. I'm convinced at least.

I love these fallout shelter signs that are on most of the buildings.

I loved these birdhouses.

Typical shops in Astoria.

The street where I live (you can't see my apt.)

Views from my window. Have I mentioned I love my window?


A local shop sells these necklaces.

There is so much to love about this neighborhood. I went outside the other night and sat on my curb to talk on the phone, thinking nothing of it. Even though it was midnight my neighbors were out doing the same. I'm not sure I would do that in any other part of New York. I know a lot of my neighbors and talk to them, or at least say hi. There are so many interesting shops around all run by people who love living here too and want to make it a great place to be. And there's so much to do, I found a tea shop the other day and I want to check out, and there's a famous Czech Beer Garden that I'm pretty excited to go to, and those are just the things I know of. So far, my biggest complaint about Astoria is that I wish there were more parks.

Manhattan is nice enough in places, and there is a lot to do, but I just can't imagine living there. Astoria feels much more like a home.