A Sad Song Made Better: My 9/11 Account

ASTORIA, N.Y.-

We moved on the first of September. Left our 400-square-foot fifth-floor walk-up on East 7th Street in Manhattan’s East Village — an apartment that cost a staggering $1,800 a month — for a bigger, cheaper, cleaner, safer one-bedroom in Astoria, the part of Queens comprising the westernmost extremity of Long Island, directly across the East River from Yorkville.

Astoria is known for its heavy Greek population. There are more Greeks in Astoria than any other city in the world excep...