{"id":150,"date":"2008-07-08T12:57:18","date_gmt":"2008-07-08T16:57:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/2008\/07\/08\/la-vie-boheme-astorias-time-honored-beer-garden\/"},"modified":"2019-06-25T07:16:53","modified_gmt":"2019-06-25T11:16:53","slug":"bohemian-beer-garden-astoria-queens-nyc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/150\/bohemian-beer-garden-astoria-queens-nyc\/","title":{"rendered":"La Vie Boheme: Astoria&#8217;s Time-Honored Beer Garden"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There is a thriving immigrant enclave not too far from here that has survived a century. With a steadfast following, this New York relic is one of the last of its kind. Kept hidden by the contours of the Triborough (soon-to-be RFK) Bridge, Astoria\u2019s <strong>Bohemian Hall &amp; Beer Garden<\/strong> is not just anywhere you come to throw back a beer and slowly digest a sausage on a hot summer day; it\u2019s a focal point for a whole community of Czech Americans.<\/p>\n<p>In this sprightly place of old and new New Yorkers, I sat on one of the garden\u2019s numerous picnic tables savoring a grilled kielbasa and a pitcher of Krusovice Dark. Out from behind, a figure appeared over my shoulder\u2014a seventy-plus year old German decked out in his favorite leisure suit.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cExcuse me,\u201d he said with a heavy accent. \u201cWhat\u2026uh\u2026 kind of beer\u2026 are you drinking?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I told him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is\u2026much darker than the one I am drinking. I like the dark beer. I will buy some of yours\u2026next time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I offered him a sip of mine to make sure he liked it, but he insisted on purchasing his own. And I couldn\u2019t fault him for it. All of the beers I\u2019d tried so far, the Staropramen, the Hoegaarden, were delicious in their own way; a pitcher of Krusovice Dark would not disappoint even the inexperienced palate.<\/p>\n<p>Aside from being a summer mecca for bargain-conscious, young Astorians and au courant Manhattan\/Brooklynites, this hall serves as a neighborly gathering spot. On the day I stumbled in for a pint and some pork. I found myself in the midst of a youth gymnastics exhibition. The marked disconnect between cheering parents and half-drunk yuppies was quite apparent, but somehow didn\u2019t seem out of place. After all, this is New York City. In a town that\u2019s become increasingly compartmentalized into neighborhoods and enclaves, it is comforting to know that we haven\u2019t completely lost touch with this sense of community. Cheers, <em>Na zdrav\u00ed!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>How to get there: <\/strong><em>You can reach the Beer Garden on the N or W train to Astoria Boulevard. For exact directions from anywhere on Manhattan, click the HopStop link below. (Bohemian Hall &amp; Beer Garden, 29-19 24th Ave., Astoria, NY 11102, <a title=\"Bohemian Beer Garden\" href=\"http:\/\/bohemianhall.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">bohemianhall.com<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n<p><!-- flickrset: 72157606048966594 --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There is a thriving immigrant enclave not too far from here that has survived a century. With a steadfast following, this New York relic is one of the last of its kind. Kept hidden by the contours of the Triborough (soon-to-be RFK) Bridge, Astoria\u2019s Bohemian Hall &amp; Beer Garden is not just anywhere you come [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":15061,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[759,761,315,314,326,752],"tags":[345,145,48,32,178,9],"class_list":{"0":"post-150","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bar-activity-2","8":"category-beer-activity-2","9":"category-day-trips","10":"category-dining-nightlife","11":"category-queens-outer-boroughs-destination","12":"category-subway-2","13":"tag-beer-garden","14":"tag-dining","15":"tag-historical-site","16":"tag-nightlife","17":"tag-queens","18":"tag-reviews"},"acf":[],"mv":{"thumbnail_id":15061,"thumbnail_uri":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/07\/images-1.jpg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}