The 31st Avenue Open Street is one of the city's most committed volunteer-run car-free corridors — Astoria neighbors have kept it going year after year, filling the roadbed with chalk drawing, music, dance and food rather than just closing it. Programming shifts week to week, which makes it feel like a neighborhood project instead of a city initiative. If you want to see what an open street looks like when residents own it, take the N/W to Astoria.
What to expect
Expect the avenue closed to through traffic with families, cyclists and kids using the roadway, plus a rotating slate of neighborhood programming — music, dance, art tables, sometimes food vendors. It runs across the afternoon into the evening. The surrounding blocks of Astoria have some of the best casual eating in Queens for before and after.
Good to know
- Take the N/W to 30th Ave or Broadway in Astoria and walk to 31st Avenue.
- Free and volunteer-run — no ticket, no registration.
- Programming rotates week to week; check the open street's own channels for the day's slate.
- Excellent for young kids: the roadway is genuinely car-free and flat.
- Astoria's restaurants and bakeries are within a block or two of the corridor.
- Flat, street-level access the length of the open street.
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Common questions
Where is the 31st Ave Open Street?
Along 31st Avenue in Astoria, Queens.
Who runs it?
It is a volunteer-run, community-organized open street operating under the city's open streets program.
Is it free?
Yes — the street and its programming are free to attend.
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