In This Astoria Insider Issue…
✌ Business Spotlight: World’s Fair Tattoo — The Neighborhood Tattoo Shop That Won't Make You Nervous
✈️ LGA Sinkhole Chaos — The Runway Is Back Open
⚽ $50 World Cup Tickets: Mamdani's Got You
🏠 Queens Rent = 54% of Your Income (Yikes)
💰 LIRR Strike Refunds: How to Get Yours
Astoria Area Events
SATURDAY, MAY 23
🌸 Woodside Spring Festival
10:00 AM – 6:00 PM | Woodside Ave & 61st St, Woodside | FREE
Woodside on the Move's annual street party returns with food, fashion, live music, and pure community energy. One of Western Queens' best free outdoor events of the spring. Learn more →
🎌 Crunchyroll Anime Awards Watch Party @ MoMI
3:00 AM doors / 5:00 AM ceremony | Museum of the Moving Image, 36-01 35th Ave, Astoria | FREE
Yes, it starts at 3am — but it's free and it's at your local museum! The 10th annual Crunchyroll Anime Awards is happening live in Tokyo, and MoMI is hosting a watch party in the Redstone Theater. Cosplay encouraged. RSVP →
MONDAY, MAY 26 — MEMORIAL DAY
City offices and many businesses closed. Check MTA's holiday schedule for subway and bus changes. MTA Holiday Info →
🗓 COMING UP — MARK YOUR CALENDAR
📽️ Astoria Film Festival Opening Night — Thu, May 28 | Heart of Gold, Astoria
🌊 LIC Springs! Street Festival — Sat, May 30 | Vernon Blvd, 46th–50th Ave, LIC
🎡 Astoria Park Carnival — June 3–7 | Astoria Park
🥂 Socrates Sculpture Park 40th Anniversary Gala — Thu, June 4 | Spacetime CC
GOT AN EVENT YOU WANT US TO PROMOTE?
✨ BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT:
✌World’s Fair Tattoo — The Neighborhood Tattoo Shop That Won't Make You Nervous
You push open the door on Broadway and something stops you. Not the flash on the walls, not the hum of the machines. It's the feeling that you've walked into someone's living room. A very cool living room, with collectibles stacked floor to ceiling, comic books and memorabilia competing for every inch of wall space, and the easy sound of people just talking to each other across an open floor. Nobody looks up with the kind of stare that makes you want to turn around. You're already welcome here. You just didn't know it yet.
This is World's Fair Tattoo, and it has been right here at 45-03 Broadway in Astoria for about three and a half years. The person behind it is Pon, born and raised on the Astoria-Jackson Heights border, right up by Ditmars. He's been tattooing for 26 years. He's also been on national television, twice. You might recognize him from seasons 12 and 14 of Ink Master on Paramount, one of the top-rated shows on the network. He placed in the top five both times. When he finally opened a shop of his own, he wanted something that felt like the neighborhood he grew up in. So that's what he built.
The shop runs four artists, each working in a different style, which means whether you've been thinking about a sleeve for years or you walked in on impulse because you finally decided to do it, there's someone who fits what you're after. Pon leans toward traditional tattooing, but he's clear that "everything" is in his range. Beyond ink, the shop offers piercings and tooth gems. The piercing service has quietly built its own reputation, and it's actually one of the top-rated in Astoria. The whole space doubles as something close to a pop culture museum, a tribute to the 1964 World's Fair that put Queens on the map, with enough to look at that your eyes are never bored while you're in the chair.
Here's the thing about pricing that Pon is pretty direct about: there's a seat for every butt. He said it exactly like that. Some tattoo shops in New York put up an unspoken barrier at the door where the vibe tells you the prices are out of reach before anyone says a word. World's Fair doesn't do that. It's a working class shop, built for working class people, and that's not a tagline. It's just the actual policy. If you've been holding off because you weren't sure if you could afford what you wanted, this is probably the call you should be making.
The shop stays active with the community between appointments. They just wrapped up a month-long Mets promotion, doing affordable Mets-themed tattoos while actual Shea Stadium seats sat out front. They partner with the LGBTQ Center in the area, run giveaways, and stay plugged into what's going on in the neighborhood. And with the weather turning, Pon made one pointed note worth passing along: tattoo season is now. Once it gets hot and beach plans kick in, you're going to want the ink healed before you're stuck waiting out the summer.
To book or see the work, the best place to start is Instagram at @worldsfairtattoo. You can also browse the artists, check out the tooth gems page, and find booking links at worldsfairtattoo.com. They answer DMs and they actually answer them, so don't hesitate to reach out.
World's Fair Tattoo is the kind of place Astoria does well: rooted, unpretentious, and exactly what it says it is. Go before you talk yourself out of it again!
✈️ LGA's Runway Is Back Open — But Wednesday Was A Mess
If you were trying to fly out of LaGuardia yesterday, you already know. A sinkhole — yes, an actual sinkhole — opened up on Runway 4/22 Wednesday morning during a routine Port Authority inspection, immediately shutting down one of the airport's two runways right as Thursday thunderstorms rolled in. The result: nearly 290 cancellations and more than 310 delays, with travelers camping out at baggage claim waiting for luggage from flights that never left.
Emergency crews scrambled through the night, and Port Authority confirmed the runway was expected to reopen by midday Thursday — so by the time you're reading this Friday morning, things should be moving again. The Port Authority stayed in close communication with airlines throughout the closure and encouraged travelers to check directly with their carriers. The cause of the sinkhole is still being investigated.
For your Queens neighbors who fly in and out of LGA regularly, this was a particularly brutal timing — holiday weekend travel season is just heating up, and LGA doesn't have a lot of runway slack. If you've got Memorial Day flights booked, it's worth keeping an eye on your airline app just in case follow-up delays trickle through Friday.
👉 Read more: CBS New York
⚽ $50 World Cup Tickets: Mamdani Just Made Your Summer Way Better
Here's one that actually slaps: Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Wednesday that he's secured 1,000 World Cup tickets for New York City residents — priced at just $50 each. They're being distributed through a lottery, and winners will also get free round-trip bus tickets to MetLife Stadium. That's compared to $553 minimum on resale markets for group stage games, and $7,734 for the cheapest final ticket on secondary markets. Astoria, you've got a shot.
The FIFA World Cup kicks off June 11 at MetLife (a.k.a. the New York/New Jersey Stadium), with the Tri-State Area hosting eight matches in total, including the July 19 final. Queens' own USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center will serve as the Queens Group Stage HQ from June 11–27. Details on the lottery are expected shortly — follow the city's World Cup page to be first in line.
If you're planning to go whether or not you win the lottery, NJ Transit round-trips have been dropped from $150 to $98, and Manhattan buses from $80 to $20. The NYC Ferry is also adding game-day service. Queens is about to become the center of the sports universe for six weeks — now there's an actual path to being in those stands.
👉 Read more: CBS New York
🏠 Queens Renters Are Spending 54% of Their Income on Rent
A new report confirms what a lot of Astoria neighbors already feel in their bank accounts: queens renters who live in one-bedroom apartments are handing over 54.7% of the borough's median household income every month — making Queens the second-highest rent-to-income ratio in the entire country. For context, housing experts consider anything above 30% "cost-burdened." Over 50% is a whole different level of stress.
The data comes from a recent report highlighted by QNS, and it lands just weeks after Mayor Mamdani announced his city-run grocery initiative and a rent freeze push at the Rent Guidelines Board. If you're a renter renewing a lease right now, remember that good cause eviction protections have already started showing results — a separate Openigloo report from this week found that extreme rent hikes are falling across NYC, with more landlords keeping increases at or below the legal threshold rather than facing court.
The combination of high rents and rising affordability policy momentum is reshaping what living in Western Queens looks like. More data is better — the more renters know their rights and the market, the stronger a hand they have at renewal time.
👉 Read more: QNS
💰 LIRR Strike Refunds Are On the Way — Here's How to Get Yours
Quick follow-up for anyone who bought a May LIRR monthly ticket and got stranded during last week's three-day strike: the MTA Board has approved a refund plan. About 68,000 eligible riders will receive automatic refunds covering the days of suspended service — that's roughly $2.4 million total heading back to commuters' pockets. If you bought your pass through the TrainTime app, the refund hits automatically by June 30. The MTA is also waiving the usual $10 transaction fee.
The strike shut down LIRR service for three days beginning Saturday, May 16, before a deal between the MTA and five railroad unions got trains moving again on Tuesday, May 19. For the many Astoria and western Queens residents who rely on LIRR connections at Jamaica and Penn Station for their commutes, the disruption was real — and it's good to see the MTA actually moving quickly on making riders whole.
If you're not sure whether your ticket qualifies, check directly with MTA via mta.info or the TrainTime app. Monthly pass holders are the primary beneficiaries. One-way and round-trip ticket holders should also review the MTA's refund policy page for their options.
👉 Read more: CBS New York
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