Boardwalk, ocean and plenty to do in Long Beach

“It’s like you’re on vacation all year round,” said Phyllis Katzen, who has lived in the city for 25 years. “Everything you need is here.”

Set on a barrier beach island only a half-mile at its widest point, Long Beach has the Atlantic Ocean to the south and Reynolds Channel to the north, with a 3½-mile stretch of white sand beaches and a 2.2-mile-long boardwalk popular with walkers and runners, with a center section bicycle lane.

Katzen, a real estate agent with RE/MAX Beach West, noted that there’s a surfing camp, Little League in the parks, concerts, crafts fairs and a twice-weekly farmers market.

The city-run Long Beach Recreation Center includes a pool, ice arena, turf fields, basketball courts, roller hockey rink, fishing pier, boat launch, skate park and dog run.

The only downside to life in Long Beach, said Katzen, is that parking can be a challenge in the summer.

The area became a booming resort community with the arrival of the Long Island Rail Road in 1882. The trains still bring beachgoing day-trippers from New York City and commuters who can get to Penn Station in a little under an hour.

Incorporated as a city in 1922, Long Beach is celebrating its centennial. Locals have written books sharing tales of the city’s storied history, which includes a shipwreck, Gilded Age parties and plenty of political controversy.

There are two major business districts, along Park Avenue and West Beech Street, with lively restaurants, bars and shops.

The city has a variety of home styles. In the West End, many houses that started as summer bungalows were raised after Superstorm Sandy caused heavy damage to the area in 2012. Other styles include Spanish architecture, Tudor, brick and contemporary.

High-rise oceanfront apartment buildings line the boardwalk, and many homes fronting Reynolds Channel, which locals refer to as the bay, have their own docks. There are also homes along canals in the East End.

Recent asking prices for homes range from about $320,000 for an apartment to record-setting $6.5 million and up.

In the decade since Sandy, Long Beach has been undergoing revitalization and redevelopment. Construction recently began on the sewer line for the long-vacant Superblock property, which will add 438 oceanfront apartments along the boardwalk. It has meant the end of the popular “Shoregasboard” food trucks next door along Riverside Boulevard.

This three-bedroom, 2½-bath contemporary built in 2015 on 0.14 acre has a great room with a cathedral ceiling, an open layout living area with a wood-burning fireplace and a bright kitchen with quartz countertops, a farm sink, garbage disposal and stainless-steel appliances. It’s zoned as a two-family but set up as a one-family with a two-car garage and a three-car driveway. Taxes are $23,497. Barbara Meyers and Gabrielle Tomicick, Petrey Real Estate, 516-431-0828.

A split-level built in 1955 on 0.11 acre, this home has five bedrooms and four baths, an eat-in-kitchen, formal living room and den. It has hardwood floors, three-zone gas heat and central air conditioning and is on a corner lot with plenty of parking. Taxes are $16,399. Lisa Kennedy and Tracy L. Sobel, Eric G. Ramsay Jr. Assoc., 631-665-1500.

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