31st St, Astoria / Long Island City

31st Street in Queens/Astoria is a study in differences. In every block you find something different - from the food offered in the restaurants to what is sold in the little sole proprietorship shops. Need an umbrella? The Chinese-run shop has five different neon colors for sale. What about some pan dulce? Great, there's a panaderia here too.

Want to bet on the races without going to the track? Try the OTB there next to the post office.

Oh and then there's the post office. That's the ugly. Bullet proof glass, tired postal workers, long lines and missed communications. So do your postal business at work and save your walk long 31st Street for getting some treat to eat. Something new!

The N and W train run elevated above the majority of this street, and man is it loud! Pretty deserted and dark. There are a couple of good businesses, a good diner at beebe, a great Brazilian restaurant at 36th, and the igloo diner at Ditmars. But for the most part loud with trains above and lots of traffic in the streets. Also the train trestles go down into the street so for inexperienced drivers this must be a pretty scary street to drive on as big steel beams are every ten feet on the right side of the road when you are driving.

With a gas station on the corner, this mainly residential street in Brooklyn was fairly convenient. I liked the look and feel of the street, as well as the friendly people. I thought that though it was a bit run down, which is very common in New York City, this was a place many people felt comfortable calling “home.” Having a car in this section of Brooklyn is a must, and a perk of this street is the large number of apartments, which are much larger than their Manhattan counterparts. All in all, this street was much nicer than its neighboring streets, though accessibility could become an issue.