Astoria Pretty

Welcome to Astoria. (Mural under the Hell Gate Bridge on Steinway Street and 23rd Road)

Pretty, pretty Turkish lamps for sale on Steinway Street. (09.11, Grand Bazaar on Steinway Street near 28th Ave.)

The last days of the eco-friendly car shelter, also known as the grape arbor. (09.11, Near 23rd Ave. on Steinway St.)

A historic house near the Steinway Mansion displays lingering evidence of Astoria’s original street names: Winthrop Av (now 20th Ave.) and Albert St., named for a Steinway (as in Steinway Piano Factory) son (now 41st St.). (08.11, 20th Ave. and 41st St.)

A long vacant building — with perhaps one of my favorite Astoria rooftops — now welcomes what looks like yet another hookah lounge to Steinway St., Mijana. Though Little Egypt and its environs are certainly not lacking Hookah lounges, this stretch of Steinway could stand to be livened up. Anyone checked out Mijana yet? It has practically no Internet trail. Just a bare-bones Facebook page for checking in. (8.5.11, Steinway St. near Astoria Blvd.)

Since the 1870s, Steinway & Sons has been shaping Astoria’s history. (6.27.11, 1 Steinway Place, near 19th Ave.)

From New York Magazine:

The old Steinway Village surrounding the factory once featured schools, post offices, and shops. Many of these buildings are still standing; the original workers’ rowhouses can be seen on 20th Ave., between 41st and 42nd Streets. The Steinway Mansion is on the corner of 42nd Street and 19th Avenue.

Links That Are Worth a Read:

• A nine-part series from the New York Times on Steinway the company and the neighborhood
• Steinway Piano Factory Tour

Designated as a landmark in 1981, the Steinway Street Clock has been in Astoria since 1922.

From the Landmarks Preservation Commission:

One of the most important and essential parts of New York’s historical fabric is its “street furniture” – lamp posts, street clocks, sign posts, and benches that enhance and maintain the … neighborhood blocks. Perhaps the most striking of these street amenities are the oversize[d] cast-iron post or sidewalk clocks that proudly dominate city sidewalks. These clocks proliferated in American cities well after the turn of the twentieth century but … only a few exist in New York today, one of which is the No. 30-78 Steinway Street Clock in Queens. Introduced in the 1860s, cast-iron street clocks were…readily available from catalogs for about 600 dollars…

(5.30.11, 31st Ave. and Steinway St.)

Summer-shoe shopping on Steinway. (5.29.11, Steinway and 31st Ave.)