Astoria, Literary, My Astoria
May 15, 2014

My Astoria- Tara Altebrando

WHAers- it has been far, far too long since our last installment of My Astoria. In lieu of Weekend Link Love this week (hello, vacation!), we’re bringing you a fresh (…)

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WHAers- it has been far, far too long since our last installment of My Astoria. In lieu of Weekend Link Love this week (hello, vacation!), we’re bringing you a fresh take on the neighborhood through the eyes of Tara Altebrando. Want to share your Astoria experience? Email us at weheartastoria at gmail and let’s talk! -Mackenzi

Back when I moved from Brooklyn to Queens, I wrote this essay, which basically talked about how sad I was to be moving to Astoria. And yet almost ten years later I am still here, raising my family and generally loving it (if you don’t count the feral cats on my street…but that is another topic for another day). Here are some of my favorite neighborhood spots…
Bookshop_Tara

The Astoria Bookshop
I remember every time I walked into the now defunct Seaburne Books on Broadway, I’d leave angry over the store’s poor organization—and also empty-handed. What a wonderful breath of fresh air The Astoria Bookshop is in the wake of all that! They’re incredibly supportive of local authors–and I AM one—so I appreciate that a great deal. In fact, I’ll be doing a mother-daughter book club event there on May 31st!

Tara_Falafel

King of Falafel and Shawarma
This cart—a Vendy Winner a few years back—stands between my office and my house. Needless to say, I’ve had my share of their entirely amazing chicken platters. Holy cow, they give you a lot of food. And I love their pajamas…I mean uniforms.

Mar’s
A new favorite spot for a cocktail and some oysters. I sometimes feel like restaurants in the hood nail several elements but not all; Mars has everything. Great food, great ambiance, great service. I’m smitten.

noguchi

The Noguchi Museum
I love sitting in the garden of the Noguchi and adore their family programs. Whenever the email comes to sign up for their kids classes I’m instantly transformed into INSANE MOM who must DROP EVERYTHING to register my daughters.

The Costco Parking Lot
More specifically, I love the view of the river and skyline that you get from the benches they have along the waterfront. It’s also handy that you can park there in order to pop over to Socrates Sculpture Park. No one who is actually shopping at Costco wants to park in that far corner of the parking lot anyway.

Tara Altebrando is a writer, mostly of books for teens. Her most recent novels include ROOMIES, coauthored with Sara Zarr, The Best Night of Your (Pathetic) Life, and her new book for middle-graders, The Battle of Darcy Lane. She has yet to write a novel set in Queens but plans to remedy that in the near future.

Find her on the web at www.taraaltebrando.com, on Twitter @taraaltebrando, and on Tumblr http://www.tumblr.com/blog/taraaltebrando

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