The Rockaway Bungalows

(tt) From the end of the 19th Century up until the 1970's the suburb of Far Rockaway in Queens was home to thousands of little chalets. Every year families would spend their summers close to Atlantic Beach. Each street was a microcosm of friendship and tradition and there was immense pride taken in the decoration and upkeep of the homes.

Around 1910   Front yards were decorated with sand and shells

Had a short wait for the A train from Rockaway Boulevard. Typical elevated station along this line

Crossing Jamaica Bay to the spit which is Far Rockaway

 City planners decided too much of a good thing was going on and mass evictions took place. Now there are enormous tracts of cleared land covered in scruffy vegetation and litter. Sadly the still-signed Beach Sts are just broken tracks.

Here is my look at the area and a glimpse of a few remaining bunglaows  hanging in there.

 This is the view of the wasteland that was once festooned with those little summer cottages

This is a school!  Where do the students come from?

  The boardwalk at the end of Bay 36th St

A ghastly moonscape with modern horrors

That little white house is a remaining bungalow

That wicked box is already being wrecked by its tenants

An almost preserved street. Spome of the houses are boarded up, some are rotting but a few are in the process of renovation

This revolting block is right on the sea front and is already crumbling and cracked

There is a man pushing a shopping cart in the middle of the street. He was collecting what he could from untended homes.

Once this beach was open for bathing and packed with vacationers

The saddest street ever off the boardwalk

 Some movie was being shot in the grubby sand. That's the station in the background

The future for the rest of the area

Coming back on the train and ready to recross Jamaica Bay

That's the Freedom Tower at the WTC in the distance

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