Rockaway Beach, Queens

[juuceman]

Go to the surf club or Caracas if you want to eat out. There's a Peruvian chicken place near you to bring home if you want. 101 deli for the best sandwiches around.

 

There's a butcher on 116th street, Curran's, if you have a BBQ get one of their Kansas City marinated steaks. Egg sandwiches at the coffee place on the boardwalk at 96th street.

 

Don't make things complicated, they don't do it well out there.

[Daniel]

Ok, so i am down with low tide bar.. they seem to have amazing bands playing.. we listened to soul shine who might be the best Dead cover band.... not to mention, definitely better than the current band that runs around with John Mayer

[Daniel]

the saga continues with Whit.. They evicted him from the park for being offensive.

 

https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20170725/neponsit/whitney-aycock-slice-o-whits-riis-park-gatewa

[Daniel]

So, it's been a few years now since we have been going to Rockaway..  I love it..  We arrived yesterday and it was a shit show.. I mean, it was wall to wall people.. I was kind of nervous if it was slightly crowded but, this was like a normal beach day pre-covid, maybe even slightly more crowded... So, we tried our luck at Fort Tilden.. So, on our way there, I kind of made a few wrong turns and hit a gated fence... I approached just to do a uturn and decided to ask what this place was.. It was Silver Gull Beach Club...  For 15 dollars per person, you could park right by the beach and walk out... There they have a lot of pools and lounges that are all closed off but, they have this beach.. It is completely sectioned off by fences and jetties... I would say it's a few hundred yards of beach... When we arrived there were two other couples, about 50 to 75 yards away.. It stayed this way the entire day.. It was so awesome, we had the entire beach to ourselves.. 

Water was cold, the weather was perfect.. The kids ran around all day and were asleep by 8 pm...  

Anyway, what a great find... 

 

 

edit to add:  I think it''s normally a lot more expensive to go there however, because the pools and cabanas are closed, its a lot cheaper, where normally it was like 80 dollar per day, it was only 15..  So yeh, go here while you can.  also, no swimming, just up to your ankles.

[joethefoodie]

Did you see Phil?

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/20/nyregion/bikini-moms-and-petty-squabbles-at-a-beach-club-fit-for-reality-tv.html

[Daniel]

HA, we didn't see anyone.. It was awesome.. 

[Steve R.]

When things are "normal", this place is packed.  Friends have had cabanas there forever and we stop by once or so a year to hang out.  Its a slice of old Brooklyn, warts and all.

[splinky]

That's the neighborhood called Roxbury, right? Growing up in the Rockaways that area was off limits. Silver Gull was a super affordable beach paradise because while its membership was generally not wealthy, the club was super exclusive. 

[Steve R.]

Its on the border of Roxbury & Breezy Point.  And, yes, you worded it very nicely as "exclusive", but not due to wealth/cost.

"Brighton Private" Beach Club, at the end of Coney Island Ave (where the massive co-op/condo community now stands) was also "exclusive".

 

[Anthony Bonner]

AKA as in Breezy Point is an "Exclusive Neighborhood" - just so I'm clear what the subtext is here.

[Daniel]

exclusive, meaning strictly irish and italian families... with some digging, you can see the place had some anti Semitic grafitti not too long ago.  I am going back this friday, one can guess with the pool closed, the common areas closed ,the cabanas closed, it's now just an expensive place to park your car and got to a private beach..  I am happy to pay 50 bucks to spend a day at a beach by myself.. Time to dust off the old banana hammock. 

 

 

[Anthony Bonner]

That's what I meant vis-a-vis breezy

[Steve R.]

Daniel: not exactly.  The tension at Sea Gull was there but there were a lot of Jewish members way back into the '60s.  Many of my Jewish friends' families are still there, renting cabanas.  But, that wasn't the case as you went further into Breezy Point, toward the even more "exclusive" Country Club at the tip.  To my knowledge, being Jewish was not an acceptable thing.

Bonner: The subtext is mostly race.  And, sometimes specific ethnicity, although not in the case of the two "clubs" mentioned.  These clubs were almost, if not entirely, white, but Jewish, Italian & Irish membership was the norm.  Growing up in Brooklyn in the '60 (& for many, much later) was all about knowing where you were welcomed and where you weren't.  And most of it had little to do with affordability.  For example, if you were Black, you were part of very integrated athletic teams at Midwood H.S. (where I went), but you were not welcome to play pick up ball at Midwood Field.  When I met Ginny in the early '80s, she was working in the theater and getting home to Carroll Gardens (Court St, all the way down where Buttermilk Channel is) late at night.  She tells the story of one night noticing that she was being followed by a car after getting off the train, being scared and ducking into the car service storefront to tell them.  They grabbed baseball bats ("they" being not Ginny) and went outside.  They came back saying "oh, that's just Vinny making sure you get home okay".  The first Asian family to move in was chased down the street by guys with similar bats.  African Americans took the long way around to the Smith/9th St. Station and Red Hook.  

[Daniel]

3 minutes ago, Steve R. said:

Daniel: not exactly.  The tension at Sea Gull was there but there were a lot of Jewish members way back into the '60s.  Many of my Jewish friends' families are still there, renting cabanas.  But, that wasn't the case as you went further into Breezy Point, toward the even more "exclusive" Country Club at the tip.  To my knowledge, being Jewish was not an acceptable thing.

Bonner: The subtext is mostly race.  And, sometimes specific ethnicity, although not in the case of the two "clubs" mentioned.  These clubs were almost, if not entirely, white, but Jewish, Italian & Irish membership was the norm.  Growing up in Brooklyn in the '60 (& for many, much later) was all about knowing where you were welcomed and where you weren't.  And most of it had little to do with affordability.  For example, if you were Black, you were part of very integrated athletic teams at Midwood H.S. (where I went), but you were not welcome to play pick up ball at Midwood Field.  When I met Ginny in the early '80s, she was working in the theater and getting home to Carroll Gardens (Court St, all the way down where Buttermilk Channel is) late at night.  She tells the story of one night noticing that she was being followed by a car after getting off the train, being scared and ducking into the car service storefront to tell them.  They grabbed baseball bats ("they" being not Ginny) and went outside.  They came back saying "oh, that's just Vinny making sure you get home okay".  The first Asian family to move in was chased down the street by guys with similar bats.  African Americans took the long way around to the Smith/9th St. Station and Red Hook.  

Can you find out when people are going back?  I want to make sure I time it correctly.. I know one time I am going to spend my 35 bucks and the place is going to be mobbed. 

[Steve R.]

Read this: https://nysilvergull.com/covid-19-faqs/

Given these restrictions for when they are allowed to open, I'm guessing that crowds will not show up.  Bringing outside food/drink is sorta the point for those going.  Parties go late into the night on weekends.