Astoria

Astoria is where you go when you want to eat. It has been a Greek neighborhood for generations, and it still is: tavernas with whole fish on ice, bakeries selling galaktoboureko, and old men arguing over coffee. It is also Egyptian along Steinway Street, Brazilian around 36th Avenue, Bangladeshi, Italian and Mexican, often on the same block.

Astoria Seafood is the local ritual: pick your fish off the ice, they weigh it and grill it, and you bring your own wine. The Bohemian Hall and Beer Garden has been pouring since 1910, under trees, at long communal tables, and it is one of the last real beer gardens in the city.

Astoria Park is the green heart of it and one of the most underrated parks in New York. It runs along the East River under the Hell Gate Bridge, with a huge public pool from 1936, a running track, and a lawn that looks straight across the water at Manhattan. Sunset here is as good as the famous ones and has a fraction of the people. Rainey Park and Ralph DeMarco Park continue along the water if you want to keep walking.

For a rainy day, the Museum of the Moving Image sits on the old Kaufman Astoria studio lot, with a permanent Jim Henson gallery and one of the best screening calendars in the city.