I got off the subway in Astoria, and this is the image that greeted me. I just had to stop and take a photograph. I love the delicacy of the pink petals against the steel of the subway ramp, the art in nature and graffiti, the way the tree reaches out to the blue sky, persevering. We must bloom where we are planted.
Astoria is a neighborhood in Queens, New York, that in the 70s had the largest Greek population outside of Greece itself.
Stephanie Nikolopoulos 
After a few generations the ethnic enclaves are superseded by an integral dispersal into the great melting pot that is the United States. I remember an automat in Astoria visiting there from Boston as a kid.
Astoria is still very Greek. It only seems to be today’s generation that is moving out, into Manhattan. What an interesting point about the Automat — I love Automats!!