This small, land-locked neighborhood (surrounded by Astoria, Jackson Heights, Elmhurst, Sunnyside and Maspeth) features notably poor city planning: a chaotic street grid, several soulless monster boulevards cutting up quiet residential roads and no connecting north-south thoroughfares. Northern Boulevard's auto-row is a waste, Roosevelt and Broadway both run entirely under El tracks and Queens Boulevard -- a much overrated Boulevard -- alienates pedestrian scale at every corner. Neverthless, Roosevelt Avenue (pictured below) is an appealing commercial street and features the ethnic energy that gives Woodside some real vitality.
This fishing store advertises in English, Chinese, Korean, Spanish and Polish.
Irish institutions are still very much in evidence, though less numerous. And, for the record, I did sample Donovan's (shown below under the El girders) famous burgers and was impressed: $7 for a juicy, no-frills cheeseburger.
Because of the bizarre street grid, Woodside has more narrow corner buildings than I've ever seen in any one neighborhood. Some are classic.
Churches, as always, are another good indication of the ethnic stew.
Housing falls largely under the category of ubiquitous Queens half-urban row house. Major apartment buildings are rare (these first two are on Queens Boulevard).
Most residences can be found in occasionally inspired rows of low and mid-density houses.
