Everything about Rockaway Beach Queens totally explained
Rockaway Beach is a neighborhood on the
Rockaway Peninsula in the
New York City borough of
Queens. It is located on the
South Shore of
Long Island. The community stretches between the
Atlantic Ocean and
Jamaica Bay, running from approximately Beach 73rd Street to Beach 98th Street. The neighborhood is bounded by
Arverne to the east and
Rockaway Park to the west. It is named for Rockaway Beach, which is the largest urban beach in the United States, stretching for miles along the Rockaway Peninsula facing the Atlantic Ocean. The beach is run and operated by the
New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Rockaway Beach was once known as the "Irish Riviera" because of the large
Irish American population in the area. As of the
United States Census, 2000, 25.4% of residents in
ZIP Code 11693 identified themselves as having Irish ancestry.
Early history
What is now Rockaway Beach used to be made up of two different towns, Holland and
Hammels. In 1857, Michael P. Holland had purchased land and named the area after himself. Soon after, Louis Hammel, an immigrant from
Germany bought a tract of land just east of Holland. In 1878 he decided to give portions of his land to the
New York, Woodhaven and Rockaway Railroad in order to build a railroad station for the peninsula. The area around it became collectively known as "Hammels". In 1897 it merged with Holland and became known as the Village of Rockaway Beach. One year later, it was incorporated into the
City of Greater New York and became part of the newly formed borough of
Queens. However, the neighborhood, along with the eastern communities of
Arverne and
Far Rockaway tried to secede from the city several times. In 1915 and 1917, a bill approving the secession passed in the legislature but was vetoed by the mayor at the time,
John Purroy Mitchel.
In the early 1900s, the newly built railroad station opened up the community and the rest of the peninsula to a broad range of the population. The rich and wealthy no longer had a monopoly on the peninsula as various amusement parks, stores, and hotels attracted people from all over the city to spend the day or a whole summer there. Much of the area was developed by
James S. Remsen and
William Wainwright. In this era, it became known as "New York's Playground". Rockaway's famous amusement park,
Rockaways' Playland, was built in 1901 and quickly became a major attraction for people around the region. The park was grandiose for its time. One of its most popular attractions, the Atom Smasher roller coaster, would be featured in the beginning of
This is Cinerama, a pre-IMAX type movie, in 1952. An Olympic-size pool, and a million dollar midway also were built within the amusement park. It would serve the community for over eighty years.
1930s-1960s
In the 1930s,
Robert Moses came to power as
New York City's Parks Commissioner and his extensive road and transportation projects were both a benefit and disaster for the neighborhood. During his time as commissioner, Moses had ordered the construction of the
Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge and the
Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge. Both bridges were completed in 1937 and 1939 respectively. The Marine Parkway Bridge was built further west on the peninsula between
Jacob Riis Park and
Breezy Point linking the isolated communities to Brooklyn. The Cross Bay Bridge, however, was built in the middle of the neighborhood of Rockaway Beach.
The new bridge made the community the peninsula's gateway to Queens as it provided the only direct car access to the borough. The construction of the two bridges started to transform the neighborhood and the rest of the peninsula into a more year-round residential area as people had a more convenient way to travel to and from work. The completion of the elevated subway line, improvements to the beach and boardwalk also brought an increase to Rockaway's permanent residents.
Although the bridges were supposed to improve the Rockaways, Moses' other projects both directly and indirectly hurt the community. One such failed project was the planned construction of the
Shore Front Parkway in the 1950s and 1960s. Wanting to connect
Staten Island to
the Hamptons, Moses focused on making a highway through the Rockaway Peninsula. His idea was to connect the Marine Parkway Bridge with that of the
Atlantic Beach Bridge which connected the Rockaway Peninsula to
Nassau County. The plan would also provide an extension midway through to include the Cross Bay Bridge. Many feared that a such an extensive project would do more harm to the peninsula than good and pointed to the community displacement that had happened in the
South Bronx because of Moses' roadway construction
Although Moses never got to make his highway, he did leave his mark. A piece of the planned parkway that ran west to east in the
Rockaway Park and Rockaway Beach neighborhoods was constructed and opened in 1939. Houses were literally cut in half in order to build the four-lane street. Some of these houses are still standing today. The existing still unfinished street is locally known as the "road from nowhere to nowhere" because it doesn't have any relevant connections to any other area or highway.
Robert Moses' construction of other recreational areas and facilities, such as the
Coney Island Aquarium and
Jones Beach State Park indirectly impacted the neighborhood as well. The new areas lured tourists and beachgoers away from the community as they provided more modern recreational facilities. With fewer customers, businesses and hotels closed, and by the 1950s, the area had fallen into economic decline. The transition from a summer vacationing area to a full-time residential neighborhood had taken its toll. In an effort to try and revitalize the neighborhood, the city constructed the
Hammel Houses. This project would be one of the many so-called
urban renewal efforts that dominated the community and much of its eastern neighbors until recent years. The
New York City Housing Authority purchased the land in 1952 on the north side of the elevated track. In 1964, the Authority decided to demolish and rebuild the entire area to what it's today.
In addition to the Hammel Houses, the Dayton Beach Park Cooperative was constructed on the south side of the community. Sitting close to the seashore, the rectangular brick buildings were thirteen stories high offering pleasant views of the beach and ocean. The building project was completed by the end of the 1960s along with the similar looking Surfside Park Apartments and Dayton Towers West in nearby Rockaway Park. The buildings still dominate Rockaway Beach's skyline today, nestled between
Rockaway Beach Boulevard to the north and Shore Front Parkway to the south.
Education
The neighborhood, like all of New York City, is served by the
New York City Department of Education. Rockaway Beach residents are zoned to either:
There is no high school zoning, as all New York City residents who wish to attend a public high school must apply to high schools. There are no high schools within the boundaries of Rockaway Beach. However, nearby high schools include
Far Rockaway High School,
Beach Channel High School and
Stella Maris High School, a private
Catholic high school for girls.
Pop culture
Rockaway Beach is immortalized in the classic 1977 Ramones song "Rockaway Beach".
Woody Allen's 1987 movie Radio Days was filmed on location in Rockaway Beach.
Lily's Crossing, a book by Patricia Reilly Giff, takes place in Rockaway Beach during World War II.
George Carlin has said that he was conceived at Curley's Hotel in Rockaway Beach.
Rockaway Beach is the setting for much of the FX show Rescue Me as the location of the homes of many of the show's Irish firefighters.Further Information
Get more info on 'Rockaway Beach Queens'.
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