Route of yesterday’s walk, courtesy Google Maps.
WHERE: 32 Street between Astoria Boulevard and 24 Avenue, Queens
SUBWAY AT START: Astoria Boulevard (N, W; fully accessible)
SUBWAY AT FINISH: Ditmars Boulevard (N, W)
DISTANCE: 2.1 miles (3.4 kilometers)
Photographs by Michael Cairl
In Queens, the largest of New York City’s five boroughs by area, stair streets are few and far between. I’ll manage only one or two at a time, and these will require some good long walks. For today’s first walk in Queens I decided to start in the Astoria section of northwest Queens. Astoria is a longtime Italian and Greek community, lately become much more diverse, an easy subway ride from midtown Manhattan.
Profile of yesterday’s walk, courtesy Google Maps.
The sole stair street in Astoria, on 32 Street, has just 12 steps. It’s not the shortest stair street in the city but likely the shortest one near the subway. On this first day of Spring, one year into the pandemic and capacity restrictions for restaurants having been relaxed, many people were out and about and the restaurants along Ditmars Boulevard were quite busy.
After a light lunch at the excellent Taverna Kyclades I walked west on Ditmars to Astoria Park, on the East River and in the shadow of the Hell Gate Bridge. This massive railroad bridge opened in 1917 and gets its name from the body of water it crosses, a place of legendarily treacherous currents. Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor trains use this bridge and Metro North commuter trains will in a few years, giving passengers an outstanding view of the city. Before the stroke Astoria Park was a favorite destination of mine for a medium-distance bike ride, and it will be again. From there I walked back to the elevated Ditmars Boulevard subway station and more stairs than I encountered on today’s stair street.
One of the nicer aspects of these stair streets jaunts is exploring on foot, often for the first time, neighborhoods I’ve biked around (or not).
Top row: Two views of the 32 Street stairs. Bottom row: the Hell Gate Bridge and RFK (Triborough) Bridge from Astoria Park, 2016.