✨ Business Spotlight: 🥙 King Souvlaki: 45 Years of Building This Neighborhood One Gyro at a Time

🎨 Five Giant Murals Transform 31st Avenue — Local Artists, Local Stories

🌍 Astoria Celebrates 12th International Cultural Festival on Steinway

🏥 Fear of ICE Is Keeping Queens' Immigrant Families Away from Healthcare

🎵 Gov Ball Is Coming to Queens: June 5–7 at Flushing Meadows

Tuesday, May 26

8:30pm  🎤 Unpacking the Punchline — Comedy Night

📍 Q.E.D. Astoria

QED's popular recurring comedy night returns. Expect sharp sets, weird takes, and good vibes.

Thursday, May 28

7–11pm  🎬 Astoria Film Festival: Opening Night Party

📍 Heart of Gold, Astoria

Kick off the festival with a party before the screenings begin at Kaufman Studios.

Friday, May 29

4–9pm  🎬 Astoria Film Festival: Youth Festival

📍 Zukor Theater, Kaufman Astoria Studios

Films by and for young creators, screened at the historic Zukor Theater.

Saturday, May 30

9am–6:30pm  🎬 Astoria Film Festival: Student Showcase

📍 Zukor Theater, Kaufman Astoria Studios

A full day of student films before the evening program.

12pm–11pm  🌺 Carna Moove 2026 — Brazilian Music & Dance

📍 Bohemian Hall & Beer Garden

Live Brazilian music, DJs, dancing, and al fresco fun at Astoria's iconic beer garden.

Sunday, May 31

12–7pm  🎬 Astoria Film Festival: Main Festival & Awards

📍 Zukor Theater, Kaufman Astoria Studios

The main event: screenings, workshops, and the awards ceremony to close out the festival.

3–5pm  🎨 Paint Outside the Box — Abstract Painting Workshop

📍 Bohemian Hall & Beer Garden

A guided abstract painting session with Alice Lipping Art Studio. Tickets required.

There's a food truck on the corner of 31st Street and 31st Avenue that has been in the same spot since 1979. Forty-five years. The neighborhood has changed around it. The city has changed around it. And people are still lining up for the same thing that brought them there the first time. That is not an accident.

King Souvlaki is a family business, started by Lampros's father, who immigrated from Greece and landed in Astoria. He began with a small cart, selling souvlaki sticks. Just that. Over time, the cart became a truck, the truck became several trucks, and the family grew into the operation together. Lampros, his brother, and his two cousins now run the whole thing. His father and uncle are still involved. Lampros was born in Greece, raised right here in Astoria, spent his summers as a kid helping out at the cart, and now runs the social media, manages the crew, and shows up every day to the business his father built. That's not a job. That's a life's work passed down.

There are now four trucks across the city: the original location on 31st and 31st, another on Ditmars and Steinway, one in Bayside, and one in Forest Hills. There's also a sit-down restaurant in Bay Ridge. Every truck is a fixed spot. You'll find them in the same place every time. The menu is built around authentic Greek street food: handmade gyros, souvlaki, pita sandwiches, bowls, and fries. The chicken and pork gyros are the traditional Greek versions, not the lamb and beef shawarma style that often gets confused with them. Even the ingredients are sourced from Greece when possible. Feta, yogurt, olive oil, pita, olives. Imported. Because the point is authenticity, and that means paying attention to every detail.

King Souvlaki doesn't run promotions in the traditional sense. No coupons, no flash deals. The value proposition is the food and the consistency. Lampros talks about customers he grew up watching his father serve, who now bring their own kids and grandkids to the same truck. That's the review that matters most to him. The city has noticed too. King Souvlaki has been a Vendy Award finalist twice, recognized among the best street food vendors in New York. A family business earning a city-wide honor. That's not nothing.

Then there's the part Lampros's father would never bring up himself. Every Thanksgiving and through the holidays, they donate food to shelters, nonprofits, and local organizations. During COVID, they donated thousands of meals to hospitals, first responders, and community organizations across the city. Every year they contribute to an event hosted by the Ronald McDonald House. And to this day, the standing instruction to every person working at every truck is the same: never deny a homeless person food. Lampros wanted people to know this. His father is a humble man who doesn't talk about it. But as a proud son, he wanted it said. When you understand that, the 45 years start to make a lot more sense.

They also have a private events truck available for bookings, worth knowing if you've got a birthday, block party, or gathering coming up this summer. It's a legitimate way to bring something genuinely good to a group of people.

Find King Souvlaki on Instagram at instagram.com/kingsouvlaki, check out all their locations at kingsouvlakinyc.com, or just walk over to 31st and 31st. They'll be there.

Some businesses are part of the neighborhood. King Souvlaki helped build it, and has been giving back to it ever since.

If you've walked 31st Avenue between 32nd and 35th Streets recently and felt like something was different, look down. The 31st Avenue Open Street Collective has completed five sweeping asphalt murals, covering more than 10,000 square feet of pavement — a canvas larger than Manhattan's Union Square mural. The project, officially titled "Drawn from Astoria," features five local artists whose work was shaped directly by the community.

The murals came together through a $25,000 grant from the NYC Department of Small Business Services. Before brushes hit asphalt, the Collective partnered with Isto Barton and QNS Collaborative to run four community tabling sessions last fall, asking neighbors one simple question: "What makes Astoria home?" The responses were compiled into a digital book and handed to the artists as their creative brief. The result is art that literally grew out of this block.

It's the latest milestone for an Open Street that has become one of Astoria's most distinctive public spaces — a car-free corridor that hosts markets, events, and now a permanent gallery of neighborhood-made street art. The Collective won nonprofit status in 2024, giving it a more stable foundation to keep building on what it's created. If you haven't walked it since the murals were completed, it's worth the trip.

👉 Read more: QNS

On a sunny Saturday in late April, Steinway Street transformed. Central Astoria LDC hosted its 12th annual International Cultural Festival on April 25, filling two blocks starting from 31-28 Steinway St. with music, dance, food, and the full spectrum of cultures that make this neighborhood what it is. Executive Director Marie Torniali put it simply: "We couldn't be more thrilled with the turnout and the amazing energy on stage and in the audience."

The festival is made possible through public funds from the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, and this year's event was partnered with City Council and Council Member Tiffany Caban through the Cultural Immigrant Initiative — a grant specifically designed to fund projects that support immigrant communities. In a neighborhood where dozens of languages are spoken within a few square blocks, events like this aren't just celebrations. They're affirmations.

Central Astoria LDC has been running this festival for over a decade, and it has become one of the neighborhood's signature annual events. If you missed it this year, mark your calendar for next April — the festival keeps growing, and so does the energy around it.

👉 Read more: QNS

In one of New York City's most diverse boroughs, a troubling pattern is emerging: immigrant residents are skipping doctor's appointments, canceling medical procedures, and avoiding clinics out of fear of immigration enforcement. Local health advocates say enrollment in city healthcare programs is falling, and some patients are staying home entirely when apps alert them that ICE is in the neighborhood.

Enrollment in NYC Care — the city's program for uninsured and underinsured New Yorkers — dropped for the first time in years in the third quarter of FY 2025, down to 141,129 members from a peak of 143,503. Public health experts say the decline mirrors a citywide pattern driven by the Trump administration's expanded deportation dragnet and a new federal policy of sharing Medicaid enrollee data with ICE.

For a neighborhood like Astoria — home to enormous Greek, Latin American, Middle Eastern, South Asian, and East Asian immigrant communities — the stakes are high. Community health workers and local leaders are stepping up outreach to remind residents of their rights, but say the chilling effect of federal enforcement is real. "Fear erodes trust, separates families, and makes communities less safe for everyone," said a Queens representative.

👉 Read more: Patch NYC

Governors Ball is returning to Queens, and the lineup is stacked. New York's biggest outdoor music festival rolls back into Flushing Meadows Corona Park on June 5–7, with headliners A$AP Rocky (Saturday), Lorde (Friday), and Stray Kids (Sunday) leading a roster of 60+ artists across three stages. Baby Keem, Kali Uchis, Jennie, Major Lazer, Pierce the Veil, and Wet Leg are also on the bill.

For Queens residents, Gov Ball is a rare chance to have a world-class festival in your own borough — and this year's setting at Flushing Meadows puts it within easy reach by subway. The festival runs Friday through Sunday, with single-day and multi-day passes available at varying price points, from general admission to premium Cabana packages.

Organizers are leaning into the Queens connection, encouraging attendees to explore the borough's legendary dining scene before and after shows. The timing is also notable: Gov Ball kicks off just a week before the FIFA World Cup begins at MetLife Stadium, setting up what's shaping up to be the biggest summer for Queens in a long time.

👉 Read more: QNS  |  Gov Ball Official

Astoria Insider is inviting local businesses and organizations to be featured in its growing community newsletter.

The platform highlights local news, events and community stories, providing businesses with an opportunity to reach a highly engaged local audience and showcase what they offer.

From restaurants and shops to services and community groups, all are encouraged to participate and share their story with readers across the Astoria and surrounding areas. Don’t own a business? That’s ok… Know of one that should be featured?

Those interested in being featured can reach out to learn more about available opportunities and upcoming editions. Click the button below to feature your business or send an email to [email protected] with your business details and we’ll reach out!