Running tour · queens

River to the Studios

4.5 mi run

Open in Stride Stories

The stories on this route

1. Noguchi Museum

   Look at the plain brick-and-concrete building, with the walled garden behind it. The sculptor Isamu Noguchi designed this museum himself. In 1974 he bought a photogravure plant and a gas station, across the street from his studio. When it opened in 1985, it was the first museum in America set up by a living artist.

2. Socrates Sculpture Park

   Look at the billboard over the entrance, and the big sculptures on the lawn, with Manhattan across the river. In 1986 this was an abandoned landfill and illegal dumpsite. The sculptor Mark di Suvero turned it into a park, with a team of artists and local young people.

3. Hell Gate Bridge

   Look up at the red steel arch between the two big granite towers, with trains crossing high above. This is the Hell Gate Bridge. It carries Amtrak and freight between Queens and the Bronx, and its main span is a 1,017-foot steel arch.

4. Astoria Park Pool

   Look at the long brick bathhouse, and the huge pool inside the wall. In the summer of 1936, Mayor LaGuardia and Parks Commissioner Robert Moses opened eleven immense outdoor pools across the city, paid for largely by the WPA, a New Deal agency.

5. Bohemian Hall and Beer Garden

   Look at the brick hall, and the high brick walls hiding the beer garden behind it. This is Bohemian Hall.

6. Kaufman Astoria Studios

   Look at the tall covered entrance on 35th Avenue. The studio's stars came in through a main entrance of their own.

Stories researched October 2026 · every fact checked against a source