The Wonderful world of Rockaway’s Playland

For all who grew up in the Rockaways remember Playland. Whether you were  very young with all your families your first time.  One can never forget this wonderful place. As  we grew older many of us went there to hang out as they use to say and just be there on a saturday with our own friends. Again it was a simpler time. For a few dollars we could be with our friends or by ourselves. Remembering All the smells and the grit of the place is another feeling of home.  I have been collecting photograph and postcards for over 30 years now . Its fun to put them all together for all to see this wonderful place. I hope you enjoy all your own memories.

Bruce Baumwoll

Click the photograph and it shall take you to a little film I did on Playland a few years ago

Click here to see my photographs of Rockaways Playland gallery.

Photo by Julie Wilson

Woody Allens : Radio Days

Click here to see my photographs of Rockaways Playland gallery.

New York Public Library & New York City Municipal Archives & Life Magazine, The Rockaway’s

Rockaway Beach (Belle Harbor), west at Beach 137th Street. Storm damage, basement and first floor level of house jacked up by temporary supports and sandbags, people. April 17, 1929

Beach House on Rodman Street. Beach house

Far Rockaway High School, Queens: exterior. Beach 25th Street and Oceancrest Boulevard. May 31, 1929.

Boardwalk, Beach 69th Street, Rockaway Beach. December 12, 1927

Rockaway Beach, Queens. Crew picking up debris and throwing it into small truck. Houses in background. June 23, 1942

Rockaway Point and Seabreeze Roxbury looking west. July 1920

Beach Channel Drive, west at Beach 116th Street. View of unpaved road and Harbor Inn, view of other houses. April 28, 1937.

Far Rockaway. April 20, 1935

Beach 136th Street, north at Cranston Avenue. Road and houses

Beach Channel Drive, East on Beach 132nd Street. Road, water at left, houses at right. October 25, 1928

 Nameoke Street, Far Rockaway Boulevard. December 11, 1940

Nameoke Street, Far Rockaway Boulevard. December 11, 1940

 

 

Northwest corner of north line of Boardwalk and Beach 82nd Street, Rockaway Beach. December 14, 1927

Northwest corner of Beach 92nd Street and Boardwalk, Rockaway Beach. December 14, 1927

Southeast corner of Porch of House facing Beach 85th Street, 4.85 feet south of north line of Boardwalk, Rockaway Beach. House facing Beach 85th Street, other houses. December 14, 1927

100 feet south of north line of Boardwalk at west Property Line of Beach. 100th Street. General view of buildings, “Steeplechase Baths, Rockaway Laundry. December 14, 1927

Roche’s Beach, west on Beach from a point midway between Groynes 17 and 18, Far Rockaway. Rockaway Beach. July 17, 1927

Rockaway Point and Seabreeze Read’s Pier Rockaway Point west

 

Beach 83rd, south 100 feet of Amstel Boulevard. Muddy and flooded street, houses. December 5, 1927

Far Rockaway, south from Beach 19th Street and Seagirt Avenue. August 11, 1927

All the above photos are from New York City Municipal Archives

surf bathing at Rockaway Beach” in 1897, Life Magazine

New York Public Library

New York Public Library

New York Public Library

The Nameoke, Far Rockaway, 1903 New York Public Library

The Arverne, near Rockaway, 1903 New York Public Library

Rockaway Beach July 4, 1946 Life Magazine

Aerial view of crowds enjoying a hot 4th of July at Rockaway beach July 4, 1946 Life Magazine

Crowds enjoying a hot 4th of July at Rockaway beach July 4, 1946 Life Magazine

New York City Archives 2

Here are some more of the photos from the New York Archives along with other  photographers photos. Each one of them will take you back to a place that once was filled with many of our memories. Time does not stand still.  Many of these places are still there . The times have changed and some of the views are new, but many are the same. The  part of the Rockaway’s that was destroyed by Robert Moses and  left to die is finding new life with new families as they discover the wonder of the sea and the wonderful  boardwalk. I still say there is no place like home. 

Photo By: Todd Berkun