Rockaway Beach Queens

Early development

What now Previously, Rockaway Beach was divided among two hamlets: Holland and Hammel. In 1857, Michael P. Holland had bought land and named it after himself.Soon after, an immigrant from Germany, Louis Hammel, purchased a plot of property immediately east of Holland. In 1878, he chose to donate some of his land to the New York, Woodhaven, and Rockaway Railroad in order to construct a railroad station on the peninsula. The neighborhood around it became collectively known as “Hammels”. On June 11, 1897, Hammels united with Holland and established as the Village of Rockaway Beach.

1930s–1960s

In the 1930s, Robert Moses became New York City’s Parks Commissioner, and his enormous road and transportation projects were both beneficial and disastrous to the area. As commissioner, Moses directed the construction of the Marine Parkway Bridge and the Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge. The bridges were completed in 1937 and 1939, respectively. The Marine Parkway Bridge was built further west on the peninsula between Jacob Riis Park and Breezy Point, connecting the isolated settlements to Brooklyn. The Cross Bay Bridge landed in the center of the neighborhood of Rockaway Beach.

Early 21st century

With the city’s population growing, the Rockaways became a popular day trip destination. The region featured in New York magazine’s 2007 spring travel issue as a place for “surfing” and to “scuba dive for sunken ships”

Out-of-towners begin to call the beach “Williamsburg on the Rockaways” because some surfers from the Brooklyn neighborhood spend entire summers in the Rockaways.