Once used to make Marx Brothers films and later to produce Army propaganda and training movies, the Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens have become a magnet for restaurants, bars and other venues frequented by a young, hip crowd.
The 500,000-square-foot studio complex, which will have 1,500 people working there by July when all its current productions will be filming, has helped catalyze a new wave of economic activity in Astoria.