Astoria Heights, Queens
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Astoria Heights is a district in the New York City borough of Queens. It is bounded by Hazen Street and Astoria to the West, La Guardia Airport to the East, Bowery Bay to the North, and Astoria Boulevard and the Grand Central Parkway to the South. It is largely a quiet neighborhood of private homes to the extent that anything that close to an airport can be quiet.
Before Prohibition, there were dance halls, picnic areas and amusement park rides at North Beach, near what is now the airport.
Ragtime composer Scott Joplin is buried across the Grand Central Parkway at St. Michael's Cemetery which occasionally holds ragtime concerts.
The bridge to NYC's main prison, Riker's Island, runs from the north end of Hazen Street. Technically, Riker's Island is in the Bronx since New York City took it over from Long Island City in 1884, after it had annexed the South Bronx but before it consolidated Queens. However, like Astoria Heights, Riker's Island gets its mail from the East Elmhurst (11370) station of the Flushing Post Office.
If you walk or drive from Astoria along Ditmars Boulevard., you will notice that the street numbers suddenly jump 25 or so blocks. This is because the streets in Astoria within the former city of Long Island City lean east of north whereas Astoria Heights streets, in the former town of Newtown, lean west of north.
