Wow, thanks for sharing Penny! Arverne sounds like it was a magical place to spend a summer. I wish I had been able to find more pictures from that time. Did you eat the porgies or just catch them?
The neighborhoods on the edges of NYC are always the coolest. I actually had to zoom into one of your photos because I thought I saw a dinosaur…and there was in fact a dinosaur on a fallen tree 🦖
Another great neighborhood in the series. The photo of the train gliding by the brick building in the low, warm, sunlight is stunning. I really need to stop reading these on my phone and view them on a big screen.
I haven’t finished reading yet, but had to comment how absolutely stunning that before and after shot is. I suppose any earlier and it would have looked different due to Sandy?
Beautiful piece, excellent work. I’ve been working and living off and on here for 5 years now. I have a workshop in one of the two remaining operational marinas on the peninsula where we do repair work on boats and other things. You did a great job going into the history on how we got here and the current built environment. It’s hard to believe that this peninsula in the late 19th century had a few of the largest grandest hotels in the world. In this century, opening a 60-room hotel, the peninsula’s only full service hotel, was controversial.
Thanks, Tyler! I'm glad you found me! After years of visiting Rockaway, it's been fascinating to finally learn a little of the area's history. It is pretty amazing how much things have changed in the last hundred years. Great that you are working in the marina and doing the vital work of keeping things afloat! Thanks for reaching out.
Hey! im currently a edgemere resident and have been for 20 years and i don't know, this whole series you've done on every rockaway neighborhood going back a decade+ means the world to me because all my life I've felt like we’ve been ignored and neglected by the city if not the world despite our location and amenities. I wasn’t around for the golden days everyone talks about only the blight n crime but i don’t know i cant find it in me to hate it here although Ive had days, i just always find myself coming back and appreciating it.
Hey! Rockaway definitely feels forgotten by the city, but, in some ways, that's what makes it unique. In other ways, as you write, it can feel neglected. As someone who doesn't live there, I love it for how different it feels from the rest of NYC. It's like no other part of the city. I imagine there will be more golden days in the future! Thanks so much for writing!
So many interesting details people pointed out, like the zooming train by the brick building and the dinosaur on the tree. Not to mention lived experiences in the neighborhood. This is why no matter how tempting it is to move on, I always read the comments.
Not as much skulduggery and murder and mayhem as we've seen before, but the contrast of the 2013 and 2025 derelict waterfront, and the changing face of Holy Land more than make up for it :-)
You mentioned using an 8x10 in the past, and I've wondered before - You cover so much ground each week. Do you drive, cycle, train? Handheld lightweight camera kit, or tripod plus etc.etc ?
That settles it, double the skulduggery and mayhem next week!
I hate to admit that I depend on my car. Some of these places are off the beaten path enough that I feel like I need to drive. It's also nice to have somewhere to warm up. If a neighborhood has good subway access, I definitely prefer that, especially since now I am using a medium format digital and a light tripod, all things that I can carry on my back. Exploring the electric cargo bike option too...
I can understand the car - NY is big! (As I’m learning every Thursday). Do you know of @Finn Hopson - he runs his Brighton gallery with an ecargobike, but we don’t have to negotiate Bridges, ferries and the subway here in Brighton.
Shortly after Sandy I rode my dual sport motorcycle (typical road bike never would have made it through the debris and sand) out to the Rockaways to bring canned goods and volunteer - helping hand out supplies to those hit hardest by the storm. It was a hell of a trip and a weird way to get to know a little piece of the area. I always wished I’d brought a camera - but room was tight on the bike. I need to get back out there!
Thanks.
It was quite magical.
In general, Rockaway was great back then.
There was an amusement park around 95th street called Rockaway's Playland and
concessions with food and rides and games on 35st.
There was a city run boardwalk restaurant in Arverne that had excellent clam chowder.
I used to ride my bike a lot on the boardwalk.
I didn't eat the porgies or the flounders that I caught in Arverne.
I released them and if they died, I fed them to Seagulls.
Thanks for the memories.
As a child, I summered in Rockaway, both in Belle Harbor and in Arverne, where we owned property.
My sister owned an apartment in the Surfside Towers--which looked much like the photo of the terraced apartment building you show (Dayton Towers).
It was not in Arverne but on 104th street near the boardwalk.
Later, we sold our property and bought a place in the Hamptons.
I loved Rockaway.
I used to fish for striped bass in Arverne and I had summer friends on 57st in Arverne.
There was also a decaying dock in Arverne on the bay side where I fished for Porgies.
Most Arverne teens went to Far Rockaway High School.
Salk did not go there, but Richard Feynman did.
It was a non-magnet school that graduated three science Nobel laureates.
Wow, thanks for sharing Penny! Arverne sounds like it was a magical place to spend a summer. I wish I had been able to find more pictures from that time. Did you eat the porgies or just catch them?
Great article. Well done. 👌📷
Thank you!
The neighborhoods on the edges of NYC are always the coolest. I actually had to zoom into one of your photos because I thought I saw a dinosaur…and there was in fact a dinosaur on a fallen tree 🦖
Good eye! The edges, especially along the coast, are always the most interesting places to check out.
Another great neighborhood in the series. The photo of the train gliding by the brick building in the low, warm, sunlight is stunning. I really need to stop reading these on my phone and view them on a big screen.
Thanks Scott! That was one of the first pictures I took out in the Rockaways years ago. Grateful you are looking on whatever screen you use!
LOVELY!
Thank you!
I haven’t finished reading yet, but had to comment how absolutely stunning that before and after shot is. I suppose any earlier and it would have looked different due to Sandy?
Thanks Tom! I imagine it would have looked different, but this was taken in sort of a protected inlet, so maybe not too much?
Beautiful piece, excellent work. I’ve been working and living off and on here for 5 years now. I have a workshop in one of the two remaining operational marinas on the peninsula where we do repair work on boats and other things. You did a great job going into the history on how we got here and the current built environment. It’s hard to believe that this peninsula in the late 19th century had a few of the largest grandest hotels in the world. In this century, opening a 60-room hotel, the peninsula’s only full service hotel, was controversial.
Thanks, Tyler! I'm glad you found me! After years of visiting Rockaway, it's been fascinating to finally learn a little of the area's history. It is pretty amazing how much things have changed in the last hundred years. Great that you are working in the marina and doing the vital work of keeping things afloat! Thanks for reaching out.
Hey! im currently a edgemere resident and have been for 20 years and i don't know, this whole series you've done on every rockaway neighborhood going back a decade+ means the world to me because all my life I've felt like we’ve been ignored and neglected by the city if not the world despite our location and amenities. I wasn’t around for the golden days everyone talks about only the blight n crime but i don’t know i cant find it in me to hate it here although Ive had days, i just always find myself coming back and appreciating it.
Hey! Rockaway definitely feels forgotten by the city, but, in some ways, that's what makes it unique. In other ways, as you write, it can feel neglected. As someone who doesn't live there, I love it for how different it feels from the rest of NYC. It's like no other part of the city. I imagine there will be more golden days in the future! Thanks so much for writing!
So many interesting details people pointed out, like the zooming train by the brick building and the dinosaur on the tree. Not to mention lived experiences in the neighborhood. This is why no matter how tempting it is to move on, I always read the comments.
The comment section is where all the interesting people show up!
Great piece and love the soft blurry End Sign picture in the water that ends it (the essay.) Wouldn’t that be pictorialism ala Karl Struss?
Thanks Raquel. Unintentional pictorialism might be my new genre!
😄👍
That first photo of the attached house. It's like you spliced two different photos and joined them together, wow.
I'm a big fan of that kind of uncanny juxtaposition, the stranger the better!
Another delightful post. Colonial Hall looks like the OG McMansion. Holy Moly- I mean Land ...
Thanks Nat! Yeah, that place was crawling in sprawling tinderboxes!
Your next show shall be titled “Split Houses, Handball Walls and Dead Ends.” I shall be the first to arrive!
You're already on the guest list!
I’ve been trying for a year now to do a profile of CALL-A-HEAD. They never reply to my emails and when I call I just get the runaround!
You think they would welcome the PR.
“archery, firearms, knives, big trucks, and big dogs.” Omg it does get any cooler than Ms. Hillary!
Certified badass
Ok and I’ve got to profile Hector Figueroa now, right?
The second I watched that video, I knew you were going to call him. Can't wait for that one!
Just do not get in a car being "Uni-Towed"
Unless it has a rowboat on top
Guess which photo made me lol that’s right GRANDVIA
I would like a profile of who lives in that house/drives that van too!
Lovely images as usual Rob.
Not as much skulduggery and murder and mayhem as we've seen before, but the contrast of the 2013 and 2025 derelict waterfront, and the changing face of Holy Land more than make up for it :-)
You mentioned using an 8x10 in the past, and I've wondered before - You cover so much ground each week. Do you drive, cycle, train? Handheld lightweight camera kit, or tripod plus etc.etc ?
Thanks again.
That settles it, double the skulduggery and mayhem next week!
I hate to admit that I depend on my car. Some of these places are off the beaten path enough that I feel like I need to drive. It's also nice to have somewhere to warm up. If a neighborhood has good subway access, I definitely prefer that, especially since now I am using a medium format digital and a light tripod, all things that I can carry on my back. Exploring the electric cargo bike option too...
Thanks Irv!
I can understand the car - NY is big! (As I’m learning every Thursday). Do you know of @Finn Hopson - he runs his Brighton gallery with an ecargobike, but we don’t have to negotiate Bridges, ferries and the subway here in Brighton.
I've seen Finn's amazing starling pictures. I didn't realize he got around an e-bike - it honestly seems like the best way to commute.
Great article! Thank you!
Shortly after Sandy I rode my dual sport motorcycle (typical road bike never would have made it through the debris and sand) out to the Rockaways to bring canned goods and volunteer - helping hand out supplies to those hit hardest by the storm. It was a hell of a trip and a weird way to get to know a little piece of the area. I always wished I’d brought a camera - but room was tight on the bike. I need to get back out there!
It was like a war zone after Sandy, such a disaster. You should definitely go back, at least for a burrito!