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City Living: Rockaways

By Hesper Desloovere | Special to amNewYork

August 29, 2007

Plum Tomatoes on Beach 129th St. in the Rockaways. (Photo by Dave Sanders / August 29, 2007)

Named after a Native American moniker for the area, Reckowacky, the Rockaway Peninsula was sold to the Dutch by the Mohegans in 1639.

Two hundred years later, the Rockaway Association purchased beachfront property and built the first of many bungalows and grand hotels that dominated the landscape for more than a century. By 1901, the Long Island Rail Road was chugging, and Playland, at the time a world-class amusement park, was in full swing.

Today, the Rockaway Peninsula -- roughly the length of Battery Park to Harlem -- resists easy characterization. At once a serene suburb, a deserted island, a summer escape and an urban melting pot, the Rockaways -- as the peninsula's towns are collectively known -- are many different things depending on whom you ask.

"Everyone knows everyone, and everyone knows each other's business," said resident Jeannie Occhiogrosso of Belle Harbor, a predominantly Irish area. But when asked about the goings-on in Far Rockaway, the peninsula's easternmost hub, Occhiogrosso responded, "We don't go there."

The feeling is mutual: While Far Rockaway represents the peninsula's most diverse enclave, playing host to West African, Caribbean, Central American and Orthodox Jewish communities, the area has about as much to do with its neighbors to the west as East Harlem has to do with the Upper East Side.

Longtime resident Alfred "Junior" Joseph emphasizes that gangs are still an issue in the tough neighborhood despite efforts to clean up the area. "You gotta work on the gangs, shut them down. When you shut them down, then you have a Rockaway."

Find it

The Rockaway Peninsula is defined by Jamaica Bay to the North, the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South, and the Nassau Expressway to the East.

To Eat

Main drags Beach 116th Street and Beach 129th Street offer up classic beach fare; Far Rockaway's Beach 20th and Beach 21st streets are lined with West African, Caribbean and South American joints.

Plum Tomatoes

Belle Harbor's pizza place has more in the way of veggie-crammed pies than greasy slices -- a welcome change from the fried food that dominates the beachfront. Linger at a San Pellegrino-bedecked table or get a slice to go.
420 Beach 129th St.
718-474-6503

Rockaway Lobster

Admit it: After a long day of sun and surf, you want to see your dinner in a tank before you eat it. Look no further than Rockaway Lobster House, the Peninsula's ultimate Cape Cod-kitsch establishment replete with life preservers on the wall. The Raw Bar Combo includes six little-neck clams, four jumbo shrimp cocktail, a half cold-cracked lobster, and one giant Alaskan king crab leg for just under 25 bucks.
375 Beach 92nd St.
718-634-2500

101 Deli

101 Deli is picnic fixin' heaven. This neighborhood favorite provides everything from pinwheel wraps and creamy potato salad to fruit and cheese arrangements -- all you need is the red-and-white checked blanket.