Astoria Featured On New 'This American Life' Episode

ASTORIA, QUEENS — The last time that Amy drove her mother, Janet, from Long Island to Weill Cornell Hospital her GPS routed them through Astoria; the neighborhood where her parents first lived together.

“[The GPS] told me to make a left on Broadway in Queens. I made the left, and dad [who was in the backseat] was like, oh my god, Janet, we're going to go right by— Janet, do you know where we are?” recalled Amy on a new episode of This American Life, where this story was originally reported.

The podcast doesn’t explicitly name the neighborhood, but it is decidedly Astoria, complete with references to Parisi Bakery and Bel Aire Diner; two local establishments that hold particular meaning for Amy’s parents, who lived in Queens at the start of their relationship.

When the couple was 19 and 20-years-old they were living in Astoria and working at a family factory, Amy said, adding that the whole family would have breakfast before work at the Bel Aire Diner and pick up bread for their “big Italian meals” at Parisi’s.

“That was the world of their beginning. Those were the blocks they spent the most time on when they were starting out, you know. It was very strange to just end up right there,” she said.

The drive ended at the hospital, where Janet died about a week later.

But in the car that day, Amy went along with her father, as he recalled memories of their early relationship to her mom; an experience that podcast host Ira Glass compared to the cliche that when you’re dying your whole life flashes before your eyes.

“You guys were actually, like, doing it on location for real, thanks to the GPS,” he said, to which Amy laughed, and said “yeah, exactly. Waze really had it planned for us.”

Listen to this full episode of This American Life, titled “The Ferryman,” here. Amy’s story, which is the prologue, is here.