The Rockaways began their post-Irene cleanup efforts this week, and while some locals were psyched for the storm to hit, not everything was peachy keen at the beach. "The beach erosion is significant. So is the boardwalk damage," said City Councilman Eric Ulrich, whose district covers parts of Rockaway. more ›

When Hurricane Irene was baring down on the the tri-state area, NJ Gov. Chris Christie sternly chided his constituents to "get the hell off the beach." Now that he's dealt with the flooding, power outages, and road collapses, Christie is turning his attention to the melanoma-deprived skin tones of residents, urging them to head back to the Jersey Shore quick: “Be an opportunist. You’ll probably get a good price.” more ›

Facebook isn't just for ordering pizza, picking up hookers, and exchanging messages with underage kids—it's also a great place for teachers to make incredibly tasteless comments and bitch about their students! more ›

While Jersey locals are voicing their opinions about unwanted tourists infiltrating their precious shorelines via bumper stickers, some Long Island residents are taking it to another level. According to the NY Post, homeowners in Wading River are filing a lawsuit in an effort to keep people off of what they believe is their private beach. more ›

Last month the Improv Everywhere troupe made a Coney Island beach trip a black tie affair—at the time we posted a bunch of photos, but now there's video to go along with it. One adorable older gent at the end of it tries to explain how it made him feel to witness the spectacle, saying: "At first I was surprised, but I saw people looking, and old people laughing... you move people... everybody's happy!" more ›

And the violence in Coney Island continues. Three people are being treated for stab wounds at Coney Island Hospital after a fight escalated on the beach yesterday. Eddie Cruz, 28, and Reynaldo Hernandez, 19, reportedly began arguing with the three victims in the ocean and moved onto the sand, where they presumably picked up their knives. A 32-year-old woman wound up slashed across her head, and two men, 24 and 20, were stabbed in the back and head respectively. Cruz and Hernandez were charged with assault and weapons possession. more ›

It looks like those sharks spotted a few weeks ago off Rockaway Beach have decided to stick around for the rest of the summer. One swimmer told the Post, "I was so far out and I heard the lifeguards blowing their whistles. They started yelling, 'Shark! Shark! Shark!'" However, the Parks Department says they believe there were just stingrays. Unless stingrays figured out how to glue large fins to their backs, we're guessing that statement is an attempt at a cover-up. more ›

Last summer not only was the city's sand deemed disgusting, but the water at our beaches wasn't getting a clean bill of health either. In fact, no NYC beaches rated above 3 stars on a 5 star rating system. Well, over the past year not much has changed. According to this year's report put out by the Natural Resources Defense Council, we've still got some of the dirtiest beaches in the country! more ›

Yesterday, a swimmer drowned off a beach on the bay side of Sandy Hook, NJ. According to WABC 7, "All three people were pulled out of the water at around 4:30 p.m. and taken to Monmouth Medical Center. One of the men was pronounced dead at the hospital. The conditions of the other two were not made available." Apparently they were swimming near Plum Island, and there were signs posted warning people that there were no lifeguards on duty. Sandy Hook is part of Gateway National Park. more ›

It seemed as though New Jersey was thisclose to becoming just a little bit more naked, with a vote on allowing a portion of Asbury Park to become a topless beach happening last night. But the prudes win again! According to WCBS, city leaders found an ordinance in place that prohibits public exposure; mayor Ed Johnson says he doesn't plan to change the ordinance to allow nudity, but may update it for other reasons (the same law also prohibits bathing suits on the boardwalk!). more ›

Two teenagers were rushed to the hospital with severe slash wounds after a brawl near South Beach in Staten Island on Monday. Police have yet to make any arrests, but believe the melee could have been a hate crime, which seem to be on the rise in the borough. more ›

While it may be getting all gussied up with new rides and boardwalks, nobody ever accused Coney Island of being particularly sanitary. But that hasn't stopped the Daily News from being completely shocked at the 1,000 cigarette butts they were able to dig up in the sand this weekend. At least they didn't try to collect any Coney Island Whitefish. more ›

Despite the blazing heat, droves of people rode the ferry to Governor's Island yesterday to hear She & Him, their performance being part of the free "Gone to Governors" concert series this summer. The enormous line at the Battery Maritime Building Manhattan departure point proved a bit of a hassle; the advertised four-minute travel time from there to the island turned to twenty-some minutes. more ›

As mentioned last week, another New Jersey beach is considering going topless, but as the Asbury Park City Council vote lingers in the stifling summer air, locals discuss why they wanna have the right to take it off. Reggie Flimlin, the 48-year-old woman who presented the idea to the City Council, told the Daily News that "baring your chest is really no big deal these days. Why are women's rights still at the bottom of the totem pole in regards to female toplessness? Men have better things to do than sit around and gawk at women all day long." Do they, really? more ›

Is New Jersey going nude? The state has a nude beach in Sandy Hook, but now 1010Wins reports that another one may soon be debuting in Asbury Park. Deputy Mayor and City Councilman John Loffredo said, "It's a person's prerogative if they want to go topless. I really don't see anything wrong with it." more ›

Summer's here, and Travel + Leisure is looking at the best oceanside attractions nationwide, or as they label it: America's Best Beach Boardwalks. Coming out on top: our very own Coney Island! more ›

Suffolk County police say that a Brooklyn man drowned off East Moriches, Long Island and another is missing. According to The Southampton Press, "Deng Zheng, 26, and his friend, Xiangyong Chen, 31, also of Brooklyn, were swimming approximately 50 yards from shore in an unsupervised area of Cupsogue Beach when a large wave apparently swamped them... The men started to swim to shore, but were not seen after the wave broke." Their two friends got the attention of lifeguards, who were on a workout run. The lifeguards found Zheng and performed CPR, but he was pronouced dead at a hospital. Chen was not found. The National Weather Service had warned about rip tide currents and for swimmers to avoid unsupervised beaches. more ›

Sorry, slowpokes: Newsday reports, "The State Parks police closed access to the Jones Beach parking lots at 10:45 a.m., spokesman George Gorman said. The lots filled quickly this morning with heavy beach traffic, he said." Or, as one Twitter user puts it, "omfg its only 10:40 and jones beach is closed cuz the parking lots are full!!!! wow" more ›

Police say that it was an accident when a Long Beach police officer ran over a beachgoer with his SUV on Wednesday. Nassau County police spokesman Det. Lt. Kevin Smith said that officer Paul DeMarco had been driving north when there were calls for help for a swimmer in distress. Newsday reports, "His attention momentarily diverted, DeMarco made a 'sweeping' U-turn to the right when he struck Marshall Starkman, 43, sitting in a lounge chair, Smith said. DeMarco didn’t realize he had hit anyone until beachgoers told him, police and officials said. 'He begins the turn and he doesn’t see the gentleman lying in the sand,' Smith said." more ›

It's the unofficial start of the summer! According to WCBS 2, "AAA estimates 3.8 million people from New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania will travel this weekend - that's an 8 percent increase from last year. Analysts credit lower gas prices for the higher travel number, but AAA says because of a still fragile economy, families will likely spend less this year on summer travel, taking more road trips instead of a flight." more ›

Uh-oh: While responding to a call about a surfer in distress, WABC 7 reports, "A sunbather was run over by a police officer driving on the beach to respond to a reported water rescue in Long Beach this afternoon. The victim was lying in a chair when he was run over by the sport utility vehicle just before 12:30 p.m... The sunbather, a man in his 40s, was rushed by helicopter to Nassau University Medical Center." The Long Beach Police, whose officer was involved in the incident, is asking the Nassau County Police to conduct the investigation. WABC 7 adds, "The victim's chair was low to the ground, and it may have been obstructed by the sand." more ›

The first day of May brought New Yorkers a little of summer early. NY1 reports that it measured 85 degrees in Central Park (the record for May 1 is 87 degrees in 2001) and found many people at the beach. One person said, "You don't get too many hot days like this, this early in the year. This is the first time I've been to the beach this early in the season." But even though it was hot and humid yesterday, "the shore temperatures hovered in the 70s and the water temperatures were in the low 50s." One person said, "I wanted to get wet, but the water is so cold you come out numb; it's crazy. I couldn't feel my legs." However, the city's beaches and pools are not officially open until Memorial Day, which is when lifeguards go on duty. more ›

A Rockaway resident claims that no-parking signs that bar visitors from leaving their cars in the beach-front neighborhoods of Belle Harbor and Neponsit during summer weekends and holidays are "racist and illegal." The signs force beach-goers to drive west to pay parking lots in Jacob Riis Park, or east to look for street parking in areas that "have a higher percentage of lower-income and minority residents," according to the Times. But the signs themselves don't exist in city or state records. more ›

Look a WCBS 2's Doppler map (pictured) —it looks like today really will be beautiful! And the city's beaches are only open for through Labor Day, so if you want your local surf and sun in, go! The summer's crummy weather ruined summer beachgoing, thanks to lots of rain, Hurricane Bill and Tropical Depression Danny. One Rockaway beachgoer told the Post yesterday, "I feel like summer is just beginning, and now it's over. I'm kind of upset about it. When it has been sunny recently, it's been too humid to sit outside and, before that, it was cold and wet. Now we have perfect beach weather at last -- and the beaches are about to be closed." more ›

Lifeguards, sharks, outlaw swimmers... are there any other beach stories one can squeeze out of summer? Yep! The Daily News has published a piece about sand scavengers! One of their reporters recently rented a metal detector and searched for treasure on Coney Island. The rental alone costs $37.95 a day plus $25 for a sifter, and the employee at the rental company told her that she'd likely only find nickels and crushed cans! Indeed, she only dug up $2.07 in beach booty—so much for that bailout (pailout?). more ›

Wednesday night a few Russian women were ticketed $250 a piece for swimming past 6 p.m. at Brighton Beach. The Parks security allegedly threatened to jail them and check up on their immigration statuses. While the Parks Dept. told us that "New York State law does not allow you to swim at your own risk," the swimmers (and eyewitnesses) say that the lifeguards never alerted them that the beach was closing, and simply clocked out without getting anyone out of the water. more ›

Move over, Canada geese. The New York Post has a new public enemy in its sights—the city's 1300 lifeguards. This weekend the paper caught a shot of one of the Parks Department employees in Coney Island off his chair (but seemingly on-duty) coming down to the sand and "canoodling with a lovely." The picture captures his floatation device going unused as his flirtation device works its magic. The most recent indiscretion comes on the heels of a week in which the Post caught lifeguards with iPods on and drinking beer in their tower after hours. Catching the young employees acting so irresponsibly on the job is not just raising the tabloid's ire; they also talk to Chris Bewster, president of the US Lifesaving Association. He says, "It's indicative of very poor management of these beaches...What is extraordinary about the pictures that are coming out of New York is that they do it in front of everybody else. It suggests they don't fear that, if they're observed, they will be disciplined." The rate of swimmers to die on NYC lifeguards' watch hovers around 3x greater than the national average. more ›

A day after a Bronx teenager drowned after getting caught in a Rockaway riptide, the Parks Department is suspending a lifeguard who was photographed wearing his iPod headphones while working at a nearby beach. Mayor Bloomberg was quick to lash out at the unnamed city employee, telling reporters, "He certainly wasn't doing what he was supposed to be doing." The mayor also urged anyone on the beaches who spots something similar to call 311. Beachgoers in Rockaway told the Post headphones on the lifeguards who start out making $13.50 an hour are just the tip of the iceberg—one resident said, "Half the time, they're chatting with people. They're listening to music. They're on their cellphones. They're texting with people." The lifeguard in the photo could be fired if he has been on the job for less than a year; it'll at least be a consideration after a hearing if he's been around longer. A Parks Department spokesman said, "This is an unacceptable violation of our regulations, which is not representative of the dedication and diligence displayed by the vast majority of our over 1,300 lifeguards." more ›