Outside in Astoria

The Bohemian Citizens' Benevolent Society was founded in 1892 and put up this building in 1910, and the yard behind it is still run by the society. It is long trestle tables under trees with a beer window at one end and a Czech kitchen indoors. The complex holds 800 people and operates year-round, so the garden is usable in October as well as July. You find a space at a shared table and go and get your own beer.

Tue to Thu, 5pm to midnight. Fri, 3pm to midnight. Sat, noon to 1am. Sun, noon to 10pm. Closed Mon

A nine-tenths of an acre site on 30th Avenue that was a school playground from 1971 until Astoria's Greek-American community raised the idea of turning it into a gathering place. A city-funded reconstruction began in 1990 with Stamatios P. Lykos as architect, laying out a central court with an amphitheater. Anthony Frudakis's bronze of Socrates, seated and mid-argument, was unveiled in 1993, and three fluted granite Doric columns under a curved entablature went up in 1996. It is a public park with benches and nothing to pay.

Open daily as a public park, 6am to 1am under the standard Parks schedule