food-forwardparkland

Astoria: the moving image and the great pool

Greek bakeries, the film museum, and the WPA pool with the Hell Gate Bridge arching over it.

Photo: Global Jet / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

Drafted by Claude — the editor hasn’t walked this one yet. We’ll update this notice once it’s been verified on the ground.

Distance

3.5 km

Time

~ 80 min

Difficulty

Easy

Start

30 Av (N/W)

End

Astoria–Ditmars Blvd (N/W)

Best at

afternoon

Right now

23°C· Overcast

Open in Maps for turn-by-turn, or take it offline as GPX.

Astoria is the Greek heart of Queens, and it earns the name on the street — but it's also Egyptian, Balkan, and a dozen other things, and it has a pool the size of a small lake. Three and a half kilometres from the avenue to the river, food at one end and parkland at the other.

Start on 30th Avenue, under the elevated tracks, where the bakeries and fishmongers and frappé stands run block after block. Cut east to the Museum of the Moving Image, built into the old Astoria film studios — the place to understand how pictures learned to move, with a room of arcade games you're allowed to play. Then work north towards Astoria Park, with a stop at Bohemian Hall, the 1910 beer garden that has outlasted every other one in the city. Have one in the shade.

The park is the landing. The 1936 WPA pool is enormous, and the Hell Gate Bridge arches straight over it — pool, steel and river in a single frame. Follow the path to the water, then up through Ditmars to the end of the N/W line and the elevated ride home.

The route

On the map.

A soft dashed line, numbered stops. It’s a suggestion, not a turn-by-turn.

Elevation

↑ 49 m·↓ 43 m·10–24 m ASL

Stops along the way

Things to notice.

01
1
30th Avenue
Start on the avenue under the elevated tracks, the spine of Greek Astoria. Bakeries, fishmongers, coffee places where the order is a frappé. The Egyptian and Balkan blocks fold in a few streets over; this stretch wears its neighbourhood plainly.
01
30th Avenue
Start on the avenue under the elevated tracks, the spine of Greek Astoria. Bakeries, fishmongers, coffee places where the order is a frappé. The Egyptian and Balkan blocks fold in a few streets over; this stretch wears its neighbourhood plainly.
02
2
Museum of the Moving Image
Built into the old Astoria Studios, where the Marx Brothers and early Paramount once filmed. Inside is the history of how the image moves — cameras, costumes, a whole gallery of arcade games you can play. Worth the detour east before you head for the park.
02
Museum of the Moving Image
Built into the old Astoria Studios, where the Marx Brothers and early Paramount once filmed. Inside is the history of how the image moves — cameras, costumes, a whole gallery of arcade games you can play. Worth the detour east before you head for the park.
03
3
The Astoria beer gardens
Bohemian Hall, on 24th Avenue, has poured beer in its garden since 1910 — the last of the old Czech-and-Slovak halls still working. Stop for one in the afternoon shade; you've a park ahead of you.
03
The Astoria beer gardens
Bohemian Hall, on 24th Avenue, has poured beer in its garden since 1910 — the last of the old Czech-and-Slovak halls still working. Stop for one in the afternoon shade; you've a park ahead of you.
04
4
Astoria Park pool
The great WPA pool from 1936, vast enough to have held Olympic trials, with the Hell Gate Bridge arching straight over the deep end. You don't have to swim. The view of the pool, the arch and the river together is the reason to come.
04
Astoria Park pool
The great WPA pool from 1936, vast enough to have held Olympic trials, with the Hell Gate Bridge arching straight over the deep end. You don't have to swim. The view of the pool, the arch and the river together is the reason to come.
05
5
Hell Gate Bridge & the river walk
Follow the path under the great steel arch to the East River edge. The Manhattan skyline sits downstream; the water here is the churning tidal strait that gave the bridge its name. Quietest at the northern end of the park.
05
Hell Gate Bridge & the river walk
Follow the path under the great steel arch to the East River edge. The Manhattan skyline sits downstream; the water here is the churning tidal strait that gave the bridge its name. Quietest at the northern end of the park.
06
6
Astoria–Ditmars Blvd
The end of the N/W line, a short walk up from the park through the Ditmars blocks — more tavernas, more bakeries if you've room. The train runs elevated all the way back into Manhattan.
06
Astoria–Ditmars Blvd
The end of the N/W line, a short walk up from the park through the Ditmars blocks — more tavernas, more bakeries if you've room. The train runs elevated all the way back into Manhattan.

Astoria: the moving image and the great pool

On the map.

Things to notice.

30th Avenue

30th Avenue

Museum of the Moving Image

Museum of the Moving Image

The Astoria beer gardens

The Astoria beer gardens

Astoria Park pool

Astoria Park pool

Hell Gate Bridge & the river walk

Hell Gate Bridge & the river walk

Astoria–Ditmars Blvd

Astoria–Ditmars Blvd

Two more, on similar days.

Central Park: the southern loop

Harlem: the heart of it