Tour of Wildflower Studios

In July 2026, Neil Herdan, co-chair of Friends of Whitey Ford Field, took three students from Frank Sinatra School of Arts on a planned visit to Wildflower Studios. They had been working on a few infomercials/Public Service Announcements to motivate stakeholders into funding repairs at Whitey Ford Field. As part of this learning exercise, the author pitched the idea of visiting and presenting their work to Wildflower executives for feedback. Everyone involved thought this would be a win-win.

Wildflower Studios opened in December 2024 at a cost of $1 billion, with little fanfare and very little press coverage. The studio does not widely advertise its forthcoming productions, and has not been very active in engaging the community; most businesses and residents are unaware of its existence. When I pitched the idea of visiting the studio to Frank Sinatra School of Arts, hardly any students had heard of them, and many of Frank Sinatra’s faculty hadn’t either. One student remarked that his family, who shopped at Lidl nearby, called the building “Dark Vadar.”

 

In 1999, Robert De Niro tried to build a New York City soundstage at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, a project he lost to other developers who turned it into Steiner Studios. De Niro, co-founder of Tribeca Enterprises, recently said he only wanted to shoot in New York City and finally secured funding and permits from NYC in 2019 to build a high-end production facility. A search for a new facility was organized, and Astoria was selected, offering talent quick access to Manhattan and the airports. La Guardia is approximately one mile away near the eastern end of 19th Avenue, once known as the dumps.

Owned by Robert De Niro, his son Raphael, and real estate developer Anthony Gordon, the studio is a state-of-the-art production facility situated next to Luyster Creek at the western end of 19th Ave. The campus is a 765,000-square-foot vertical structure with eleven studios averaging 17,000-18,000 square feet and standing 45 feet high per sound stage. They are among the most sustainable movie facilities in the United States, with solar panels on the roof.

Their current list of productions constitutes 60% serial TV shows and 40% movie productions. We were told that the sound stages have been used to shoot music videos.

On our visit inside the facility on the ground floor, I couldn’t help but think that one day the studio might be requisitioned to house a large collection of military drones and small jets.

A thought that immediately came to mind. Could this studio also be used for another CIA caper? In 1974, the reclusive Howard Hughes had worked with the CIA on Project Azorian, an attempt to raise the Soviet submarine K129 off the Pacific seabed to capture their codes and missiles. Hughes built a huge salvage ship, the Glomar Explorer, as a cover to deceive the Russians. The purpose of the salvage ship was to grab and lift the submarine off the seafloor, some 3 miles below the waves. The plan nearly worked, but the submarine split apart and fell to the bottom of the ocean.

If asked by the Federal Government, would De Niro, at the back of his mind, repurpose the studio in the interests of national security?

As I embarked from the Q101 on 20th Avenue, walked along 38th Street, and turned the corner of 19th Avenue. I saw a huge towering black building which, at a distance, looked terrifying, almost like a prison, detention facility, or something out of the Terminator II Judgment Day movie; Cyberdyne Systems, where the Terminator cyborgs were built. I imagined the T-800, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Sarah Connor, played by actress Linda Hamilton, blowing up the building.

Then I thought of the fictional movie studio, Harlington Straker, in the British Sci-Fi series “UFO,” produced by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. Harlington Straker Studio served as a cover for a secret military command called SHADO (Supreme Headquarters Alien Defense Organization), which protected Earth from alien invaders. The very construction of Wildflower made me think it was a perfect design for a remake of the show, which has been talked about for years. Gerry Anderson was a British sci-fiction writer, director, and producer (Thunderbirds, Journey to the Far Side of the Sun, UFO, and Space 1999). Some of his crew went on to work on Stanley Kubrick’s movie 2001, and Kubrick is known to have watched Anderson’s shows.

Entering Wildflower at the far end of the building on 19th Ave, with its security system, was another surreal experience and reminded me of the UFO episode, “Exposed,” where Commander Ed Straker (Edward Bishop) and Colonel Paul Foster (Michael Billington) meet for the first time.

 

Okay, enough with these movie analogies. You now know what I grew up watching as a kid and adult.

Three of my film crew arrived shortly afterward, all first-year students from Frank Sinatra School of Arts. Lloyd, Graham, Brook, and Brook’s mother arrived. The NYC Department of Education requires one chaperone for students on any external visit that doesn’t involve a teacher. We sat down in the lobby and briefly chatted with Adam Gordon about the studio and some of De Niro’s best movies as an actor and director.

I had encouraged the students to watch A Bronx Tale directed by De Niro, which was shot in Astoria between 30th Avenue and 31st Ave in the 40s near Astoria Heights.

The scene in the Fordham Social Club (C and friends) took place at 30-05 45th Street, and A Bronx Tale was released in 1993. The building is now the Mimoza Cafe. The movie was de Niro’s directorial debut.

See the fictitious scene at the Fordham Social Club ( C and friends) –Mimoza Café

As an interesting side note, one of De Niro’s best roles as an actor was in Michael Cimino’s Vietnam War movie, “The Deer Hunter,” where he starred alongside Astoria native Christopher Walken. Robert De Niro plays Michael Vronsky, and Christopher Walken plays Nick Chevotarevich, two Pittsburgh steelworkers who volunteer to fight in Vietnam. The climax of the movie between the actors is when Michael and Nick play Russian roulette in a Vietnamese gambling den.

Adam Gordon answered many of our questions, and the author was particularly interested in understanding why they have a low-key footprint in Astoria. Currently, De Niro has wrapped shooting “Meet the Parents 4,” based on the Meet the Fockers series; “Meet the Parents” will be released in November 2026.

After a brief Q&A with Adam Gordon, we began our tour. Photography was strictly restricted, so our group couldn’t photograph the green room, VIP lounges, or other restricted areas. A shoot was underway, and we were instructed to stay clear. The students got to see the sound stages and the commissary. We were able to shoot footage of Astoria looking toward the Hell Gate Bridge and Manhattan. As we returned to our starting point and waited for our transports, we observed a normal day in the office with regular food deliveries.

The following week, the author went back to take a look at the beautiful greenery around Luyster Creek.

 

 

Robert De Niro is an intensive method actor with over 100 movie credits to his name that he acted, directed, and produced including; The Irish Man Goodfellas, A Bronx Tale, Raging Bull, the Good Shepherd, Taxi Driver, Analyze This, The Deer Hunter, Godfather Part II, Once a Upon a Time in America and is currently working on Meet the Fockers serials

Friends of Whitey Ford looks forward to engaging with Widflower next year on future projects such as movie nights and possibly an actors studio for the students at Frank Sinatra School of Arts. As for the Public Service Announcements, we got some feedback that the students had real potential.

The Old Astoria Neighborhood Association is the fiscal sponsor of Friends of Whitey Ford Field.