Edgemere Queens

Edgemere is a neighborhood in Queens, New York, that runs from Beach 32nd to Beach 52nd Street on the Rockaway Peninsula. It includes Rockaway Community Park. Arverne is to the west, while Far Rockaway is to the east. Edgemere was founded in 1892 by Frederick J. Lancaster, who initially named it New Venice.

Edgemere is in Queens Community District 14 and has a ZIP code of 11691. It is patrolled by the New York City Police Department’s 101st Precinct.

Edgemere, like its neighbor Arverne, was created as a beachside tourist resort with rail connections to Brooklyn and Manhattan. After World War II, city officials deemed the late nineteenth and early twentieth century resorts and low-cost bungalows that flanked the boardwalk outmoded and unappealing. East of Beach 32nd Street, the original development pattern remains: rows of very modest, single-story houses packed closely together on narrow streets. As part of an urban renewal initiative, practically all structures south of the Rockaway Freeway, from Beach 32nd Street to Beach 90th Street, were acquired and razed by 1970.

Despite several grandiose development plans, little construction occurred until after 1984, and the Edgemere and Arverne coastlines remained dotted with hundreds of acres of undeveloped property for decades.Arverne has now been renovated, while the coastal area of Edgemere remains completely undeveloped.