Abandoned houses of Astoria & LIC, a retrospective

Published on: August 27th, 2018 | Written by: Bad Guy Joe

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Growing up in Queens, we had no shortage of abandoned houses to explore.

Growing up along the Astoria LIC border in the late 1970s and 1980s, abandoned houses were everywhere. Sure, the vast majority of homes were lived in, but there was a sprinkling of these homes all across the neighborhood. You would find them in unusual locations too. Right under the subway was a common location (hard to sell a house right next to a noisy elevated subway), while others would be a little further afield, down towards the river where there was little public transit. You would find them intermixed with abandoned industrial buildings around Dutch Kills, on streets that were a haven to crime after dark. There was one located right on 33rd street, just off 30th avenue: proving that even a house right off a commercial street could fall victim to the times.

“The Bad Old Days” of NYC was not limited to red lined neighborhoods in the Bronx and Brooklyn. White Flight was happening, even in ‘nice’ neighborhoods like Astoria. Families with even a little money all moved out to the suburbs. Indeed, every single kid on my block moved away. We didn’t have that kind of money. Like a Bon Jovi song, we were hanging onto to what we got, sometimes just barely-and that was a rental apartment in a crummy pre-war building.

Some of my earliest photography work was documenting some of these houses. These photos, as well as the photo up top, all come from late 1980s/early 1990s Astoria. If I had more money at the time to buy up film and get it developed, I’d probably have dozens of photos just like the ones below.

Some of the houses became local landmarks. Abandoned for years, they tended to stick out, especially those near the subway, like this one at 37th avenue.

Just off 37th avenue was this beaut. It lasted deep into the the 2000s, and was home to a colony of black feral cats. Both this and the green house above were eventually torn down.

These last two were some of the longest running abandoned houses in the area. Though they were not the last. Just recently, I happened to visit another set of abandoned homes, this time just outside of the 39th avenue subway station. These homes have been abandoned for at least 10-15 years now. With the subway station undergoing renovation, they became partially hidden from the street. Some brazen soul decided that to do our dirty work for us, cracking open some of the doors.

In 2018, finding abandoned houses outside of a ghetto is a rare find. Even more rarefied are abandoned houses that have been left ripped opened, doors flapping in the breeze. Neighbors complain about these types of houses quickly, and the NYC Dept. Of Buildings is often more than happy to fine an absentee owner who is performing no upkeep on their buildings.

Despite their appearance, this property is worth into the millions of dollars. The houses themselves have zero value, but the land they sit on is ripe for construction of a newer, modern building. While the elevated subway right outside may be noisy, the station will be brand new. Located just two stops from Manhattan, in an area that is rapidly gentrifying, there should be little doubt that sooner or later, these houses will be gone.

Comments

NOTE: It sometimes takes a short while for comments to be approved - unfortunately there's a lot of spam comments that come in. I absolutely love when y'all share personal stories of friends relatives etc who worked in these places. It really helps capture what these places were like before they closed up shop.

If you're feeling salty, argumentative comments completely devoid of facts (supply links to support your argument) will not be published. Got a case to state? come with the details.

2 responses to “Abandoned houses of Astoria & LIC, a retrospective”

1. Billy G says:

   August 27, 2018 at 10:56 PM

   .
   In the late 50’s/early 60’s, Elmhurst had dozens of big houses that were replaced with apartment houses Joe.

   Us kids did more demolition work than the demolition guys!

   They loved us.

   They would knock off at 1600, and we would move in.

   I remember those iron weights inside the windows.

   Flinging shingles at each other too.

   Amazin none of us ever got hurt.

   .

2. Angel 10 says:

   September 5, 2018 at 3:33 AM

   Maybe the owners are still spectaculating around with those? May be worth more and more as time goes by…

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