Hot town, summer in the outer boroughs!

This weekend, I finally made good on my promise to take some pictures of Astoria. I braved the extreme heat and humidity to go tramping out to Astoria Park to get some classic Astorian summer pictures. Mind you, I don't say that I actually took said pictures. The photographs you are about to see can be credited to none other than one of this blog's esteemed readers, Chichi Crankypants. That said, I did brave the heat and humidity to accompany his keener eye for composition. Also, I supplied the camera. I do all this for you, my dear readers; I do all this for you.

Thus without further ado, here is the beginnings of a gallery-worthy photo collage entitled "Summer in Astoria." I'm now officially a photo-blogger!

This is so Astoria. We love our grocery stores here. As you can see, we also enjoy using the plastic bags provided by the store. Luckily, I recently started making a concerted effort to use reusable tote bags to do my shopping. Thus, if I were in this photo, the collective carbon footprint would be ever so slightly lowered.

The heavily Greek population of Astoria makes both for wonderful food and also plenty of random statues of Greek philosophers.

Those Astorians lucky enough to have yards, grow beautiful flowers in them. Those Astorians who can't afford apartments with yards and live on busy avenues, spend our days killing houseplants by over-watering them.


Many know of Manhattan's majestic Flatiron building, but few are aware of Astoria's slightly smaller, though no less noble, doppelganger.

Astoria Park may not have the pedigree of a celebrity landscape architect like Central or Prospect Parks, but what it lacks in prominence, it makes up with: fewer overly fit joggers, less crowds in general, and remarkable proximity to a number of bridges.

See what I mean about the bridges? This particular beaut' was, I'm told, a filming location for the 1973 film classic, Serpico. Standing in this drainage ditch, I walk in the hallowed footsteps of Al Pacino.

Yet another fine bridge! The East River never looked so lovely!

This is the most litter-free sidewalk I've ever seen in Astoria.

One way to beat the heat. The kids that were playing here are off running around with obsenely large water guns. We would have gotten more pictures, but it starts to feel wrong taking pictures of children you don't know.

Some of the delicious bounty of summer! Although, a 24-hour drug store is out of the question, there are not one, but two, 24-hour fruit and vegetable markets on my block.

This concludes the Astoria photo tour. It was actually a lot of fun being a tourist in my own neighborhood. And thanks again to chichi for being my official photo-blog photographer!