The day before yesterday I was in Greenpoint for a bit when I spotted something new-to-me. A B62 bus with the headline of “ASTORIA.” I knew of this change, having followed the year-long Queens bus route redesign somewhat closely. But I had not encountered this new twist. There is now a direct link from Downtown Brooklyn and all points in between and 21st Street in Astoria. It is the controversial result of a small group of extremely vocal people who dominated the public hearings. THey also succeeded in removing all accessible transit along 31st Street from 26th Avenue to Astoria Boulevard, instructing the wheelchair bound and elderly to schlep it the half mile over to 21st Street, where the buses may or may not even be going where you need to be.
But it is there, the new B62, and whatever process got it there is in the past. It got me thinking about neighborhoods and designations of place. Historically it was said that Long Island City ended at 34th Avenue and that is where Astoria began, to the north. Some people still honor that designation but I feel things have changed. My Astoria starts around 39th Avenue, with Queens Plaza now, for better or worse, has become its own distinct place. All the high rises and such make it unrecognizable from 10-15 years ago, and I have no real sense of “community” among those towers. But From Queens Plaza North all the new towers along Crescent Street is, I believe, it’s own area. From the old Citi Building on down to Vernon is LIC, to me at least.