Seems like a few of the Greeks like it here:
Greek Immigrants
Greek Astoria
Greek Astoria[22]
“Mother, I want to go to foreign lands, to foreign lands I must go”
This folk song exemplifies the economic and political troubles that Greek peasants endured at the turn of the century. Greeks began immigrating to the United States, primarily for economic opportunities. Most planned on returning to Greece once they had earned enough money to live comfortably in their hometowns, although many never returned. The immigrants were concentrated in New York and Chicago, where their population rose to 20,000 in each city in 1913. By the early 1920s, the number was 50,000. In New York, the Greeks first lived in Manhattan.[23] There, they worked in factories, as peddlers, or in the service trades.[24]
Immigration slowed in 1921 due the enactment of nationality quotas in the United States. The Reed-Johnson Act in 1924 again restricted the number of immigrants allowed into the country, and its aim was to reduce immigration from southern and eastern Europe. This Act set the Greek quota at 100 immigrants per year. From 1929 through the next three decades, the quota was 307. However, the number of Greek immigrants who came was larger because of the United States’ program of uniting immediate family members. Thus, about 2,000 Greek immigrants came between 1924 and 1930.[25]
After the Immigration Act of 1965 was passed, immigrants were no longer selected on the basis of their country of origin. This led directly to an increase in the number of Greek immigrants; from 1966 to 1971, about 15,000 Greeks came to the United States every year. Since the mid-1970s, about 9,000 Greeks came every year. These immigrants were more educated than those who arrived in the early 20th century. They worked in the food and drink business, owned pizza parlors, tailor shops, shoe repair shops, dry cleaners, and grocery and produce stores. Some worked in factories, construction, did maintenance work, or worked as waiters in Greek restaurants. The second-generation Greeks were likely to have a college education and white-collar jobs.
Greeks from the earlier wave of Greek immigration began moving to Astoria in the early 1920s after living in Manhattan for some time.[26] The immigrants in the 1960s came straight to Astoria and brought the Greek population of this neighborhood to 70,000, making Astoria the largest Greek settlement outside of Greece or Cyprus.[27] The number rose to 300,000 in the 1970s. The immigrants brought over their culture to Astoria-this “Greektown” is filled with restaurants serving Greek food, Greek grocery stores, fish stores, produce stands, and bakeries, and Greek newspapers. Even the public elementary schools teach in both Greek and English. The Hellenic American Neighborhood Action Committee was formed in 1972 to meet the need of the Greeks in Astoria.[28] The immigrants settled in Astoria partially because of the cheaper rent, but mostly because of the community it provided. As one immigrant, who came to Astoria in 1979, said, “As soon as you arrived in Astoria, you had your deli, your fish market, your butcher. You didn’t even have to speak English. The schools spoke Greek, the church people spoke Greek. You didn’t miss Greece because you had everything.”
There are not as many Greeks in Astoria today; Greek immigration has slowed and many have left the neighborhood. There are about 40,000 Greeks left in Astoria.[29] However, Greeks have left an indelible mark on Astoria that thousands of recent immigrants have been unable to erase.
