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Old Posted Apr 1, 2012, 9:19 PM
nygirl1 nygirl1 is offline
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The best of Queens: Part 15 The Rockaways

We'll complete our Queens tour by leaping over Jamaica Bay to the Peninsula of the Rockaways

Far Rockaway is a Queens neighborhood on the Rockaway peninsula and bordering inner Long Island’s Nassau county. The area was sold to the Dutch in the 1630’s but it didn’t become a popular destination for two centuries. In the 1830’s the area was home to seaside hotels. It was considered a playground for New York residents looking to vacation at the shore. Bungalows started being constructed in the later half of the 19th century New York elite and politicians looking to escape the chaos of the city. The quiet residential nook @ the ocean front was frequented by infamous Boss Tweed. The Long Island railroad had been built through the popular summer retreat and in 1898 it became part of New York City after consolidation. An amusement park opened at the turn of the century as the population blossomed due to rail and location. Far Rockaway took on a large population of Jewish and Irish middle class. In the 1960’s bridges were built, spanning Jamaica Bay and forming better connections with Queens and Brooklyn but the area had seen the last years of its hey day. With the opening and popularity of Jones Beach in Nassau county, beach goers could now jump on the Long Island railroad in Jamaica or at Pennsylvania station and enjoy a more serene location further east. Its no surprise that this took place during white flight although Far Rockaway maintained moderate populations of its old Jewish and Irish communities. Their imprint on the community exists to this day. The luster of the Rockaway, tarnished by white flight had completely faded when flying became inexpensive. The area which had lost business and residents during the 1960’s and 1970’s had become somewhat abandoned and left almost completely dominated by working class middle income African Americans who had been excluded from new suburbs in Long Island.
















Rockaway Park and Seaside are small coastal communities between Belle Harbor to the west side and Far Rockaway to the east. They are the central neighborhoods of the Rockaway peninsula. They share the same history as the other areas of the beaches of Queens. This area has a large Irish population and has been dubbed the “Irish Riviera” and is served by bus and the A train. The area is a popular destination in the summer months for Queens residents looking to cool off.

















Belle Harbor is an tightly-knit, upscale community on the Rockaway Peninsula’s western edge. This area shares it’s history with Far Rockaway. Belle Harbor was primarily where the wealthiest that utilized the Rockaway for vacation, built their bungalows or summer residence. At the turn of the 20th century the land at the western end of the coastal region went up for auction and sold to Edward Hatch who would again sell it some years later to the West Rockaway Land Company. The community developed over the years as an out-of-way suburb. The Irish and Jewish middle class formed a close community here by the beach and is today not too different than it was decades ago minus one or two new developments. An interesting tid-bit about the neighborhood is that it is home to a large amount of New York’s finest, being a favorite location for FDNY fire fighters. On a more serious note, in 2001 just months after the tragedy at the World Trade Center AA flight 587 bound for Santo Dominguez plummeted and crashed into the center of the neighborhood. All on board the flight, most of whom came from the Manhattan neighborhood of Washington heights perished as did five people on the ground at the time.













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