To boost local businesses, ‘Westoria’ might become the newest neighborhood in Queens
Photo via Wikimedia
While most of New York City’s neighborhoods get their nicknames from real estate agents attempting to make an area more marketable (ie: Nolita and DoBro), an area in Queens may soon get a new moniker to boost its local economy instead. As DNAinfo reported, Natassa Contini, the owner of the cafe and pet supply shop Chateau Le Woof, has started using “Westoria” to refer to the area west of 21st Street between Astoria Park and Broadway. Currently, the northern Queens nabe is better known as “Old Astoria” or “Old Astoria Village.”
Photo via @chateaulewoof and @westoria.life on Instagram
The shop owner first started calling the neighborhood Westoria after trying to describe to customers where exactly in Astoria her business was located. She uses the hashtag #Westoria under posts on Chateau Le Woof’s Instagram and even sells tee shirts with the nickname fixated on the front. The shirts sell for $20 at her store, designed by one of her employees. She told DNA info, “It’s just something fun that I started doing. I don’t want to take anything away from Old Astoria.”
Contini has recently started an Instagram account @westoria.life to provide information about lesser-known events happening on the west side of the neighborhood. While the new name hasn’t taken off quite yet, the name-change will be sure to anger some long-time residents. A thread on Reddit popped up titled “Stop Trying to Make ‘Westoria’ Happen.”
Despite the critical response, the head of the Old Astoria Neighborhood Asociation, Richard Khuzami, said the name is okay. “I’m glad that people are at least taking part in where they live, regardless of the name. That shows that they’re proud to be from this area.”
[Via DNA info]
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