East Astoria, a Small Town Remnant

Beers atlas, 1873

East Astoria was a very small community located on Astoria’s eastern edge, about where Astoria Boulevard between Steinway Street and 43rd Street are now. It was developed earlier than the surrounding area, and when more streets were finally cut through, much of East Astoria’s small street grid actually survived. North -south streets were Planet Avenue and Sound Street, while east-west streets were Bremen Avenue, Frankfort Avenue (both signs of Astoria’s German population during the 19th and early 20th centuries) as well as Nassau and Flushing Avenues. Flushing Avenue became Astoria Boulevard, and Nassau Avenue was demolished when the Grand Central Parkway was constructed. Planet and Bremen Avenues have disappeared.

Bromley atlas, 1909. The “ghosts” of East Astoria are still on the map.

Over the decades, surrounding development swallowed up East Astoria, and its death knell as a separate community came when Robert Moses rammed through the Grand Central Parkway connection to the Triborough Bridge in 1936.

23rd Avenue and Sound Street, left

And yet…East Astoria hasn’t been killed completely. Two streets defy the grid to this day, 23rd Street and Sound Street, which today leads to a bridge crossing the Grand Central Parkway.

Frankfort Avenue, now 23rd Road, crosses 42nd Street in the former East Astoria.

Frankfort Avenue, later Frankfort Place, survives still, as 23rd Road between Steinway and Sound Streets. 23rd Road, which has no sidewalk in spots, is reminiscent of what of what East Astoria was probably like.