New York's place of passage

By Matt Wells
In New York

When Elina Vasiliadis first saw New York 15 years ago it was too dirty, too noisy, and made her depressed. But then she arrived in the Astoria neighbourhood of Queens, and felt instantly settled in a place that has been the epicentre of Greek life in the city for a generation.

Gregory, Elina and Haralambos: 'No tensions in Astoria'

Like millions of other naturalised New Yorkers before her, she settled into a place where the language, food, stores and relationships were familiar.

But she and her husband Haralambos, have been witness to the other half of the city's cycle of immigration - Astoria is not the same place it was in 1989.

Since then, thousands of Greeks who used to live within walking distance from where we are eating together, have moved out to the quieter suburbs.

"We have a saying that you arrive in Astoria, get baptised in Bayside (the upscale neighbourhood of Queens where the couple now live) and have your funeral ever further east," jokes Haralambos, as we tuck into plates of Greek seafood.

'Dynamic process'

New York's successful identity as the chief embarkation point for US immigration throughout its history, rests on the cycle of rebirth that is now so evident here.

Just two streets away, is a strip of diverse businesses and services that have earned the local sobriquet "Little Egypt".

We all came from somewhere else, so why should we feel resentful now it's someone else's turn? Gregory Soldatos

"When I first came it all seemed to be Greek. The landmarks remain - like this place, our favourite restaurant - and we all still come here for the Greek clubs, but now there are lots of Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Lebanese, as well as Egyptians and Moroccans," says Elina.

"It's a dynamic process," says Haralambos: "Some of the older people feel strange to see it, but that is the beauty of New York."

He mentions that his mother's local store owner, who is Korean, decided to learn Greek in order to keep his customers sweet. In a city where the impetus is on economic advancement, successive waves of immigrants have adapted to their local environment while helping each other survive, and then thrive.

"There is no tension between us and the newcomers," says our host, the owner of the Esperides restaurant, Gregory Soldatos, who has lived in Astoria for 20 years.

"First there were the Italians, then Greeks. Five years ago there were only a few Egyptian places, now there are many.

We all came from somewhere else, so why should we feel resentful now it's someone else's turn?"

Feeling of security

Getting from the Esperides to the Mombar restaurant, one of the pioneer eateries of Little Egypt, is a four-minute walk.

Inside, owner Moustafa Rahman is preparing food in anticipation of a busy Friday night ahead.

I teach my kids there are no gaps between people... We are all the same Moustafa Rahman

On the way, you pass several hookah cafes - the sweet shisha pipe that is ubiquitous throughout the Middle East.

Some Italian and Greek outposts remain, but Arabic community centres, a Mosque and the Quoran Bookshop are now in the foreground.

Moustafa, 48, opened his place in the early 1990s, and he has felt completely comfortable, living and building a business in the neighbourhood.

"We feel secure here, and there is an affinity between we Mediterranean peoples. We are all warm feeling, and our food is not so different," he says.

There was brief tension following the 9/11 attacks, when a small gang confronted one Muslim cafe owner and began to vandalise the place.

The police were called but the owner refused to press charges and the gang members returned a few hours later to apologise, and help clear up.

Moustafa believes that the ever-evolving immigrant communities of Queens are far less tribal than the stark neighbourhood divisions of Manhattan, where downtown is white, moving to an Hispanic belt, then black.

"I teach my kids there are no gaps between people. We are all the same."

New York is unique - it's a real United Nations... If you can't find what you want here, then you won't find it anywhere Nassef Nasseif

As a classic symbol of New York integration, he introduces me to a co-worker, Nassef Nasseif, an Egyptian Christian, who spent more than a decade in Italy before coming to Queens where he has married a Greek American.

He talks to his two young children in English, and their best friends are the African-American kids who live next door.

"New York is unique - it's a real United Nations. If you can't find what you want here, then you won't find it anywhere."

Coalitions

A short drive from Astoria I meet the author and self-styled documentary artist Warren Lehrer, who together with his wife Judith Sloan, produced a highly-praised book last year all about the saga of new immigration in their home borough of Queens, called Crossing the BLVD: Strangers, Neighbors, Aliens in a New America.

No-one lives in Queens unless they have to, and it's a place of passage where people come and try to get out as quickly as they can Warren Lehrer

There are 138 languages spoken around the borough, and in their own words, images and audio recordings, around 30 different nationalities took part in the book project which is also a major exhibition at the Queens Museum of Art, until the end of this month.

"Ellis Island used to be the port of entry for old New York, but now it's the two main airports, and they are both in Queens," says Warren.

"No-one lives in Queens unless they have to, and it's a place of passage where people come and try to get out as quickly as they can¿ It's an incredible crossroads of the world."

Although the cycle of renewal is as old as the city itself, Warren says that sheer accessibility and power of technology in this era of globalisation, has changed some aspects of immigration for ever.

It used to be that Astoria was dominated by first Italians and then Greeks, but now "no group can have that kind of influence with the diversity of people who are arriving", he says.

"They have to form coalitions.

"In just one building in Queens you can have Nepalese on one floor, with the floor above largely occupied by Colombians. The enclaves are getting so much smaller, they are really ending up mushed together. It forces people to live side-by-side."

With affordable satellite television, cheap air travel and the internet, it is possible however to recreate a daily culture in places like Queens, that resembles home more than ever before.

Although it is detrimental to learning English effectively, Warren believes it will benefit America in the medium term.

"It means that in places like Queens there's now no singular definition of what it is to be an American.

"There is a more diverse sensibility. Where people might have said five years ago to a newcomer: 'Why are you still walking round with that thing on your head?' - now, you don't have to take it off."