Rockaway Beach: A vibrant, evolving ocean-side community

Once known as “New York’s Playground,” Rockaway Beach is on track to reclaim that title — but in a new way.

The Queens neighborhood that housed the former, famous Rockaways’ Playland amusement park might be without a Coney Island-like scene, but a different one is taking hold where trendy restaurants, beach-side bungalows and boutique motels add vibrancy to the seaside community.

Many of the waterfront homes and businesses that were destroyed by Superstorm Sandy reopened for the summer. And the Parks Department is working overtime to rebuild portions of the boardwalk that were completely washed away. Construction has resumed on new town house and condo developments that are aiming to attract more residents.

“After Sandy, the area is surprisingly hot again after [nine] months,” said Community Board 14 District Manager Jonathan Gaska.

Rockaway Beach takes its name from the largest urban beach in the United States, a seven-mile stretch of sand that extends the entire length of Rockaway Peninsula.

The neighborhood has always attracted surfers because it has the city’s only legal surfing beach, but in the past few years, it has also reeled in young entrepreneurs, artists and families. Gaska says the influx of new residents and visitors — some of whom rent out bungalows for the summer — is a positive force.

In the 1800s and early 1900s, Rockaway Beach was home mainly to Irish immigrants whose descendants remain there today, but now the nabe is just as diverse as the rest of the city. A largely working- and middle-class community, residents take pride in its welcoming ambience, which bodes well with the grand ocean view.
 

“It’s very community oriented, and it almost has a California-type culture,” Colin O’Leary, an avid surfer and resident who moved to the area last year, said. “You feel like you’re not in New York.”

O’Leary, who is also a real estate agent with Manhattan Residential Group, says a range of people are opting for Rockaway Beach, from folks in their mid-20s and new families to seniors and retirees.

“It’s kind of been this hidden secret for some time, and I think people are realizing, ‘Hey, I can spend $300,000 to half a million for a condo, and I’m right on the beach, and an hour or so from Manhattan,’ ” Gaska said. “It’s taken a while, but the secret’s out now.”

A few new eateries have popped up in recent years as well as the area’s first wine bar, Sayra’s Wine Bar, which opened in June. A new motel named Playland also opened that month. It offers 12 uniquely different rooms, a diner, an outdoor space and a bar.

As the influx of establishments promises a trendier place for New Yorkers to play, Rockaway Beach’s residential charm remains. It is captured in its bungalow homes, oceanfront town houses and colonial single-family houses where, on a typical weekend afternoon, residents recline on their balconies and porches, conversing with neighbors or giving directions to visitors.

“What I’m seeing now is the resurgence of the neighborhood I grew up in as a young child,” said Dolores Orr, who chairs Community Board 14. “There’s a new sense of pride, and that’s something that was lost for a piece of time. But we’re getting it back.”

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Rockabus on Saturdays and Sundays, with a drop-off location at Beach 84th Street and Shore Front Parkway. Pickup locations in the Lower East Side and Williamsburg. Round-trip: $15. One-way: $10.

Rockaway Ferry at Beach 108th Street Landing going to Pier 11/Wall Street. One-way: $2.

New York City Beach Bus on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, with pickup locations in Williamsburg and at Barclays Center and one drop-off location at Beach 84th Street and Shore Front Parkway. Round-trip: $12. One-way: $9.

Q22, Q52, Q53, QM16, QM17 buses

Burglaries in the precinct are still somewhat high, despite a 51% decrease in the past 22 years. In 1990, there were 426. In 2012, there were 208.

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Boarders offers surfing lessons just outside the neighborhood’s eastern boundary at Beach 69th Street. Skudin Surf offers surf camps for adults and kids, individual lessons and weekend classes for groups.

New York Surf School also offers group and individual lessons at that same location. The school also hosts a “surf yoga” practice where yoga and surfing are combined in a daylong activity called the Rockaway Beach Yoga and Surfing All-Day Retreat.

For more information, visit boarderssurfshop.com, skudinsurf.com and surflessonsnewyork101.com.

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They have managed to get many sections up and running again in time for this summer. According to a department spokesperson who asked not to be named, Beach 71st to 85th streets and Beach 108th to 149th streets are now open for swimming. The department has placed red flags in areas where swimming isn’t yet allowed.

The spokesperson said that emergency protective measures are under way along the beach. These include berms, sand-filled geotextile bags and the replacement of damaged concrete baffle walls. The department claims the work will protect the beaches from erosion and the community from flooding and wave action.

According to the spokesperson, more than $140 million has already been invested in rebuilding Rockaway Beach and roughly $200 million has been budgeted to allow for long-term repair. The department hopes to have the boardwalk fully restored as soon as possible.

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Dolores Orr was born and raised in Rockaway Beach. She has served as the president of the Rockaway Beach Civic Association for 10 years and also chairs Community Board 14.