Marching through Astoria, again, or Piano Piano
WHERE: The Astoria section of Queens
START/FINISH: Ditmars Boulevard subway station (N train)
DISTANCE: 3.4 miles (5.5 kilometers)
Photographs by Michael Cairl except as noted. Map courtesy Apple Maps.
“Astoria” covers a number of neighborhoods. This walk started and finished in Astoria proper, long home to people of Italian and Greek background, now home to a lot of young professionals. The walk also traversed the Steinway neighborhood, where a lot of people from Egypt and other countries have settled. But the theme, such as it was, of this walk was pianos.
We started out near the end of the N subway line, at 31 Street and Ditmars Boulevard, a busy commercial area, and walked toward our first stop, the Steinway and Sons piano factory. Steinway grand pianos are found all over the world in concert halls and other music venues, and they have been built right here in Queens for 150 years. From the Steinway website:
This area of New York was once known as “Steinway Village,” a community formed at the end of the 19th century, when Steinway moved its small Manhattan factory to Astoria and began to drive surrounding economic development.
At the northern end of this village is the historic Steinway factory. Each piano built here has been carefully crafted for at least 9 months, and eighty percent of the production process is completed by hand by meticulously trained Steinway craftsmen. A tour of the factory reveals the time-honored processes that have made the name of Steinway an iconic part of American musical history since 1853.
Just west of the Steinway factory is a hulking gray cube called Wildflower Studios. From its website:
Wildflower Studios is New York’s only high-performance TV and film production facility, purpose-built for the unique needs of 21st-century storytelling.
Wildflower Studios is developed by lifelong New Yorker and film industry veteran Robert De Niro and real-estate visionary Adam I Gordon, Raphael De Niro, and designed by the groundbreaking architectural firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG).
Our vision is a comprehensive 21st-century tool for storytellers—a village of collaboration, creativity, efficiency, and innovation—finally in New York City.
Wildflower Studios.
From there we walked a few short blocks to the Steinway Mansion. Built in 1857 - 1858 by Benjamin Pike, Jr., William Steinway purchased the house in 1870. It was designated a New York City Landmark in 1967 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. From Wikipedia:
The Steinway Mansion is a grand Italianate and Renaissance Revival villa-style dwelling, although its architect remains unknown. It is constructed of granite and bluestone with cast-iron ornamentation and has a two-story, T-shaped central section gable roof. Another prominent feature is the four-story tower crowned with an octagonal cupola that was previously surrounded by balustrades.
The mansion was put up for sale … in 2010, but the high price, protected status, and poor condition deterred potential buyers from buying the property. A diverse group of Astoria historians, elected officials, and business leaders formed The Friends of Steinway Mansion in an effort to purchase the mansion out of fears of future mishandling. They were then joined by The Artisans Guild of America, Steinway & Sons, and State Assemblywomen Marge Markey and Aravella Simotas. They were unsuccessful in their attempt to raise $5 million and acquire the house.
After years on the market, as well as numerous price reductions, Sal Lucchese and Philip Loria paid $2.65 million for the property in 2014. Parts of the surrounding land were then developed into commercial warehouses, leaving the mansion on just more than a quarter acre of property. By this time, the nearly 150-year-old mansion was in a state of significant deterioration, and hence, the new owners undertook an ambitious restoration project, which included reconstructing the grand balcony.
In 2022, the Steinway Mansion hosted the annual gala of the Variety Boys and Girls Club of Queens, a fundraising event attended by local public officials and community leaders.
The Steinway Mansion.
In 2006, a documentary titled The Steinway Mansion was produced, featuring extensive interviews with Michael Halberian and Henry Z. Steinway, as well as rare archival photographs. A link to the documentary follows.
From there we walked a few more blocks to the Paul Raimonda Playground, named for an outspoken community leader in Long Island City, Queens. Raimonda attended P.S. 126 and Bryant High School, and served for four years in the Army Air Corps during World War II. Both during his youth, when he was an active member in the Long Island Seneca Club, and in his later years, Raimonda was committed to his community. The Steinway piano is the inspiration for the centerpiece of this reconstruction: a spray shower in the shape of a baby grand piano with four octaves of keys and a replica of the signature Steinway iron plate inside the piano.
The fountain in Paul Raimonda Playground. Photograph by Lewis.
By the piano fountain: Lewis, Yours Truly, Michael, Jennifer, Tessie. Photograph by PJ.
On the way to the playground we passed by some intriguing street art.
Photographs by Lewis.
We continued to lunch at Jackson Hole, formerly (and still signed as) the Air Line Diner. It appears to have been built around 1940, and the old sign includes an image of a trans-Atlantic passenger seaplane for which La Guardia Airport’s spectacular Marine Air Terminal was built nearby.
This was a fine walk on a beautiful day with good company, once again exploring interesting places in out-of-the-way parts of the city.