REMEMBER old New York, where immigrants strived, cultures collided, grit outshined glamour and ethnic restaurants were filled with ethnic crowds, not Instagramming foodies? Before Manhattan commerce was diluted with H&M and Starbucks, and Brooklyn became half hipster playground, half suburb substitute? That city lives on in Queens, where the forces of gentrification have barely nipped at the edges of the city’s most expansive borough, home to 2.2 million people, from (it seems) 2.2 million backgrounds. Though its coastal areas have only just begun to recover from the destruction of Hurricane Sandy, most of the borough’s vast territory was untouched by the storm, and is full of sights and sounds unlike anything you’ll find a short subway ride away in “The City.”

Friday

5 p.m.

1. TINSELTOWN, ASTORIA

Hollywood gets all the P.R., but one of Queens’s most energetic neighborhoods is home to Kaufman Astoria Studios, where the Marx Brothers shot “Animal Crackers” in 1930 and where Big Bird still resides. One building is now the separately run and recently renovated Museum of the Moving Image (36-01 35th Avenue; 718-777-6888; movingimage.us), which is free on Fridays from 4 to 8 p.m. (admission at other times is $12). The recently overhauled museum features not just television (Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable’s sweater and Mork from Ork’s spacesuit) and film (telegrams sent by Orson Welles, Winona Ryder’s prosthetic legs from “Black Swan”), but also digital entertainment, including functioning Donkey Kong, Space Invaders and Ms. Pac Man machines, and, until March 3, the exhibition “Spacewar! Video Games Blast Off,” celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first video game.

8 p.m.

2. LITTLE EGYPT

Long known as a Greek neighborhood, Astoria is now wildly diverse, with Colombians, Brazilians and Slavs, and a big Middle Eastern commercial district at the north end of Steinway Street known as Little Egypt. You are unlikely to find better, more simply prepared fish than at Sabry’s Seafood (24-25 Steinway Street; 718-721-9010), an informal, popular seafood spot where whole snapper, bronzini or tilapia are grilled, fried or barbecued Egypt style. Start with the grilled calamari, and try an Egyptian lemonade. (No alcohol is served.) Dinner for two is around $50.

10 p.m.

3. HOOKAH TIME

Little Egypt is filled with informal shisha bars, but for a more posh experience, head up the stairs to Layali Dubai (24-17 Steinway Street; 718-728-1492; layali-dubai.com), a lavish version of the hookah lounges on street level. The dress code for the mostly Muslim crowd is shocking in its range, from conservative to the near scandalous. Groups of men and women (often separated) sip mint tea ($3) and fruit juice ($5), smoke hookahs ($10 to $25) and take in live music and belly-dancing ($10 cover) until late.