In This Astoria Insider Issue…
🚲 35-4: CB1 Gives Astoria's Biggest-Ever Street Redesign the Green Light
🏙 NYC Just Had Its Safest Quarter in Recorded History — Queens Included
🎬 A Beloved Indie Cinema Finds Its New Home in LIC
🎨 MoMA PS1 Turns 50 — and the Party Is Just Getting Started
Astoria Area Events
Wednesday · April 29
Q.E.D. Astoria — Check the calendar for tonight's comedy show and events at Astoria's Time Out–ranked #1 NYC comedy venue.
Thursday · April 30
Bohemian Hall & Beer Garden — The Czech beer garden kicks off another spring night on the oldest outdoor beer garden in NYC. Check their schedule for live programming.
Friday · May 1 · 🌸 May Day
Q.E.D. Astoria — Friday night comedy and events lineup. Check the calendar for tonight's show.
Socrates Sculpture Park — Free admission, 9 am to sunset. The park's 40th anniversary season is underway — stroll the waterfront and take in the current sculpture installations.
Saturday · May 2
MoMA PS1: Greater New York Performance Program — The first of three special performance Saturdays tied to Greater New York 2026, the museum's landmark 50th anniversary exhibition. Free with admission ($10 suggested). 22-25 Jackson Ave, LIC.
31st Avenue Open Street — The weekend open street is back for its 2026 season (every Sat & Sun through Dec 14) — maker markets, live music, outdoor dining, and community events along 31st Ave.
Sunday · May 3
Drag Brunch Fundraiser at KWEEN Astoria — 3:30 pm. A fabulous afternoon benefiting the LI Pride Lions Club. Tickets via Eventbrite — search 'KWEEN Astoria May 3.'
31st Avenue Open Street — Another Sunday on Astoria's car-free corridor.
🗓 Coming Up
Astoria Spring Festival · Saturday, May 17 — Annual neighborhood celebration. Mark your calendar.
Astoria Film Festival Opening Night · Thursday, May 28, 7–11 pm at Heart of Gold in Astoria. Youth festival, workshops, and the main festival weekend to follow.
GOT AN EVENT YOU WANT US TO PROMOTE?
🚲 35-4: CB1 Just Gave Astoria's Biggest-Ever Street Redesign the Green Light
It was standing-room only. More than 200 people packed Queens Community Board 1's April 22 meeting — and after four hours of testimony, the board voted 35-4 to support Mayor Zohran Mamdani's sweeping redesign of 31st Street.
The plan: curbside protected bike lanes running the full 2.5-mile length of 31st Street, from Northern Boulevard all the way to 20th Avenue. That's double the scope of the original project a Queens court blocked last December. This time, the DOT spent months in community outreach — engaging 150 businesses along the corridor, 84% of which provided feedback folded into the redesign.
At least 33 speakers came out in favor; 15 spoke against. The 31st Street corridor logged 502 traffic injuries between 2021 and 2025, including 23 severe injuries and three fatalities. Council Member Tiffany Cabán called the vote "a turning point." The endorsement is advisory — final approval rests with the DOT — but after this margin, momentum is firmly on the side of change.
🏙 NYC Just Had Its Safest Quarter in Recorded History — Queens Included
New York City recorded just 54 murders in the first three months of 2026 — the fewest since the city began keeping records. That's down 28% from the same period last year, breaking the previous record of 60 set back in 2018. Shooting incidents are also at an all-time low for a first quarter.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch made the announcement earlier this month. Citywide major crime fell 5% in Q1, with drops across all five boroughs. Queens saw major crime fall more than 2%.
It's a striking datapoint for a city that's felt anxious about public safety for years. Mamdani's administration has attributed the declines to precision policing focused on gun seizures and targeted deployment — but the numbers speak for themselves. For Astoria neighbors heading out for that first spring evening walk: the city is safer than it's ever been on record.
🎬 A Beloved Indie Cinema Finds Its New Home in Long Island City
Stuart Cinema & Cafe — New York's first Black Latina-owned movie theater — has opened a new chapter in Long Island City, and western Queens is lucky to have it.
Founded in Greenpoint in 2018 by owner Amber Marisa Cook, Stuart Cinema became a true community anchor: a place for indie films, community screenings, and programming that centered underrepresented voices. Then the block's developer issued sudden lease terminations, displacing multiple tenants. Rather than close, Cook relocated — and LIC stepped up.
The new location at 37-18 Northern Boulevard features two auditoriums, upgraded luxury seating, bigger screens, and a full restaurant with an expanded menu. It's open now. If you care about keeping independent arts alive in western Queens, this is a place worth visiting and supporting — soon.
🎨 MoMA PS1 Turns 50 — and the Party Is Just Getting Started
One of the most important contemporary art institutions in the world is right in our backyard — and this year, it's celebrating a milestone half-century.
MoMA PS1 launched its 50th anniversary with Greater New York 2026, a sweeping group exhibition featuring over 50 multidisciplinary artists in the early years of their careers. The show opens a window into the next generation of New York art — on view through August 19. The 50th anniversary block party on April 18 drew thousands to the LIC courtyard.
But there's more on the way. The museum has scheduled three special performance Saturdays as part of the exhibition programming: May 2, May 30, and June 30. This Saturday is the first — and if you haven't made it out to PS1 yet this season, that's your cue. Admission is $10 suggested. The museum is at 22-25 Jackson Ave in Long Island City.
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