On a recent jaunt in northern Astoria, I took the N train to its northern terminal at Ditmars Boulevard. I found an interesting unofficial alleyway that allows midblock passage for pedestrians from 31st to 33rd Streets. It was likely created to allow foot traffic to two sdeparate parking lots along its length. It’s interesting as it’s bordered by the concrete abutment of the Amtrak tracks en route to the Hell Gate Bridge. Above, you see it looking toward 31st, along what I call Santander Alley as on its north, it abuts a Santander Bank. The bank has a venerable pedigree as it was founded as Banco Santander in 1857, approved by Queen Isabel II of Spain. You remember Isabel I: she funded Christopher Columbus’ expedition to find a passage to India on the other side of Atlantic in 1492.
The iron posts are there to prevent auto access, but I believe it’s academic as the alley is too narrow to permit it: but some Rhodes scholar motorists may try to access 31st Street from here and get stuck. The alley is lit here by a city-issued octagonal-shafted lamppost.
A look at Santander Alley from the Ditmars Boulevard elevated platform.
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1/7/26
3 comments
Santander is a bad bank. When I had a checking account with them at Journal Square Jersey City, simply to get cash at their ATM without a fee, most of the time they had bums living in the ATM, and that would intimidate me and others from using it. With the new development there, Santander and their third world BS are gone, but it’s unclear what will replace them, other than the soulless Target store.
I believe the alley was used in a scene from “Serpico” back in 1973. I used to cut through that alley when I lived in Astoria, and it always looked familiar.
Isabella II had a long (1833-1868) but quite stormy reign, which ended when she was deposed (and succeeded, briefly, by a member of the House of Savoy). The beginning wasn’t so hot, either, as her succession triggered the long-simmering Carlist Wars in Spain. And, in the middle, she reportedly had a number of affairs (to the point where she’s called out in Cole Porter’s roster of lady lovers in “They Could Not Compare To You”).