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Far Rockaway has gotten a Mad Max treatment over the years. Nate Kensinger has some amazing shots of the eastern edge of Queens, which "was once a flourishing summer community. Today, its landscape is like the half-abandoned city of Buffalo, with vast empty lots and a large number of abandoned homes. In 2008, according to the NY Times, the Far Rockaway's city council representative called his district 'ground zero' of the subprime mortgage crisis." It's hard to picture the beach bungalows before they were boarded up, in their old time glory when the area was dubbed The New Hamptons. Maybe the Beachside Bungalow Preservation Association can bring them back to life.
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Those Mariachi guys piss me off when you enter a mostly silent subway car.
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I remember how nice these summer bungalows were in the early 60s. We drove past on our way to Rockaway beach, and as a child I thought they were awesome.
It should be noted that many of the abandoned houses in Far Rockaway have been vacant for many years, as you can tell from some of the pictures, long before the subprime mortgage crisis and all the foreclosures.
Exactly. Decay in the Rockaways is not new or even directly related to the subprime crisis. In fact, I'm pretty sure the quote about "ground zero" for forclosures in New York was in reference to Jamaica, NOT Far Rockaway.
There's a bunch of apartment buildings out there, mostly near of the beach, that look very Soviet-bloc era style. All exposed dark concrete, small windows, etc. Makes your average projects' building look like a villa. Very depressing.
I work in the family shelter system and we see lots of housing placements being made out to the Rockaways. Problem is that it's so far from everything else and there is precious little in the way of services and businesses out there.
gang of apes?
Who currently owns these? I'm suprised that a group of individuls hasn't snatched them up for nothing and fixed them up. It just shocks me that anywhere in the country beach property is a premium, but within the best city in the world it looks like this.
Who wants to go squatting?
Count me in. Someone has to own them and they can't be a lot of money.
Squatting a bungalow for a week might be the ultimate staycation...as long as the plumbing works of course.
I guess property shark is a good place to start looking. Does the city own these? Is there an abandoned property law sort of like NJ where one can obtain derelict properies for next to nothing if the owner refuses to fix them?
It's like the ultimate hipster vacation spot. Far Rockaway. Looks like a scene from Surf Nazis Must Die.
WOW REALLY GOTHAMIST? THIS IS COMPLETELY RIPPED OFF FROM LYNN GUARINO'S REAL DEAL STORY. THAT'S DUDE'S ABOUT TO GET FUCKED UP.
http://therealdeal.com/newyork/articles/development-destroying-far-rockaway-bungalows
fucked up mentally, that is. he will learn his plagiarizing scum lesson.
amazing shots? um, no.
he took pictures of broken down houses, did some mild retouching and then posted them.
he's got a career in real estate photography. bravo!
I'm literally getting angry at these pictures, mainly because the sun is shining in them.
Agreed.
and because this entire photo essay/article was ripped off from the Real Deal one
so two people cannot work with the same subject matter?
the entire thing is a ripoff
how so, because i don't really see it. do you think that ny should just ignore the situation that happening there?
go back to ohio you fuckin douche.
Ladies and gentleman please let me introduce Lynn Guarino, aka datswhatsup
you wanna get fucked up you little scumbag? where do you want to meet me?
i have nothing to do with that girl and i could care less about your non native spewage
Rockaway would have been the Riviera of New York. However, the city fathers placed housing projects throughout the peninsula. They were originally populated by people that they felt wouldn't pay the rent anyway, It was the Siberia of the NYC Housing Authority. They created instant slums and the beaches are usually empty. In the rest of the world, beachfront property is more valuable.
seriously, where can one buy these bungalows? or are they officially going to be taken down for crappy, ugly condos?
I stayed in one of those bungalows one summer when I was a kid, back when there was an amusement park there. It was a great summer. Sadly, New York exported it's projects Parisian style to some great beach front property so that the city could be further gentrified. On the plus side hand, some pesky poor people from sight and the Rockaway Park beach is now kept clean of bottles and cans in the summer-time.
How much to buy one? Are there any good deals, or are they all collapsing?
Or maybe the city should do what Flint, MI and a bunch of other cities are doing; raze them and give land over to nature. No handouts, no subsidies, no uptight preservation committees.
Better yet, raze the projects and the let the land return to nature... as opposed to the taxpayer-subsidized jungles in place right now.
Let me guess: they're owned by absentee landlords that are sitting on them until some russian money or a Joe Sitt-type developer comes their way...
Theyre gonna start working on this as soon as the World Trade Center and Coney Island are done......ie, never. Some real estate scumbag probably owns all of them, will eventually have all of them condemned, then apply for a tax free grant to build yuppie condos to sell for millions, once those pesky poor people are removed.
That's the catch. Moving all those pesky poor people.
Wow. I thought I was back in the Lower Ninth Ward doing Katrina cleanup when I saw these pix. And you're right, Peter, these have been decaying for years. Why is all of the waterfront property in NYC wasted? Most major cities revere those areas. Yet here YEARS to get the West Side Hwy parks developed. But let's throw a few more lawn chairs in Times Square.
Wow. I thought I was back in the Lower Ninth Ward doing Katrina cleanup when I saw these pix. And you're right, Peter, these have been decaying for years. Why is all of the waterfront property in NYC wasted? Most major cities revere those areas. Yet here it took YEARS to get the West Side Hwy waterfront Parks developed. Who cares? Let's just throw a few more lawn chairs in Times Square instead.
A new doubler.