The Bowery Boys History Of The Rockaways Is Great Beach Listening

This week, as people hit the beaches for summer vacation, I have a great recommendation for some beach listening. The Bowery Boys podcast recently did an wonderful history of New York City's first resort beach, the Rockaways.  They start with the Indians (a tribe which gave the Rockways their unusual name), cover its height as New York's most luxurious beach resort (see above), and also cover its downfall when Robert Moses cleared a whole swath of it for public housing.

Lately the Rockaways are resurgent as a new generation rediscovers NYC's loveliest natural shoreline within the five borough.  I'm a Fort Tilden regular (where the Army secretly stashed some nuclear weapons in case of a Soviet attack), as are many of this hipsters from the BK. I have jokingly started referring to it as Hipster Beach. Anyway, the podcast is a great story told with humor and loads of factoids by the knowledgeable Bowery Boys, aka Gregory Young and Tom Meyers. Check it out on your iPhone while you lie on the beach!

A Day At The Beach In Queens

This weekend, I escaped the city heat without even leaving the city.  At the end of Flatbush Avenue, on the southern tip of the Rockaways, lies a decommissioned Army base which has a stunning strip of beach.  Fort Tilden used to house troops, canons, rockets and even nuclear weapons to defend New York City from 1917 until 1974.  Now, as part of the Gateway National Recreation Area, it is a great place for a day at the beach.


I first discovered Ft. Tilden when I was in film school and worked on a couple shorts that were shot on it's empty beaches.  The beaches aren't so empty anymore, especially after recent articles in the TIMES and TimeOut have turned the place into Hipster Beach.  But it is still not nearly as packed as Jones Beach or neighboring Riis Beach on a 96 degree July afternoon.


We stayed at the beach until sunset which is when I took these magic-hour photos.  You would never guess these were taken in Queens, right?  Or within 45 minutes of downtown Manhattan.  All it takes to get there is a Metrocard: the 2 train to the end of the line then a transfer to the Q35 bus.