Rockaway Beach reborn as Hipster Hamptons

August 8, 2012 3:02 PM

“Rock, rock Rockaway Beach/We can hitch a ride/To Rockaway Beach,” sang the Ramones. The punk band’s 1977 paean notwithstanding, the stretch of Queens oceanfront was in decline then, and remained so for decades. But over the past few summers, Rockaway Beach has rapidly emerged as a hot destination for the young and hip. Some even call it, tongue-in-cheek, the “Hipster Hamptons.”