A beloved queer beach faces the ultimate threat to survival: real estate developers
Will redevelopment of Jacob Riis Beach drive out the queer community?
Mark
Anyone who isn’t familiar with New York City may be surprised to learn that there are very nice beaches in the city, in the borough of Queens. These beaches have provided relief for many years, as long as the city of New York has been in existence, to residents looking to escape the crushing summer heat.
One of those beaches, Jacob Riis Beach, is particularly popular with local LGBTQ New Yorkers, who gather here in a celebration of queerness and “body positivity,” as they enjoy the sun and sand without worrying about the pressures of looking gym-perfect. Think of it as the anti-Fire Island: all of the sun and sand, but without the Adonis-centric attitude that has made Fire Island famous. At Jacob Riis, nobody is trying to impress anyone with their overpriced beachfront rental, the vibe is very live and let live, and if you want to wear your thong, have fun wearing it.
Jacob Riis Beach became a popular gay gathering spot back in the 1940’s, when men would meet up along the eastern edge of the beach, near an oceanfront hospital that, at the time, treated patients with tuberculosis. Behind the shelter of that hospital, the isolated setting became an unofficial nude beach for gay men, providing privacy for them to “socialize” with each other along the stretch of sand. (The hospital building, abandoned since 1998, was eventually demolished in 2023.)
Although the queer section of beach remained popular, the city of New York outlawed nude sunbathing in the 1980s, and police had a history of over-policing the gay section of Jacob Riis. Those days of harassment at Jacob Riis are mostly gone, but police still monitor Jacob Riis for the sight of any waist-down nudity (and issue fines for naked lawbreakers). But sunbathers do take advantage of the New York law that allows anyone of any gender to appear topless in public.
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Despite its popularity among LGBTQ beachgoers, the entire area of Jacob Riis Park–once a thriving summer beach destination for the city–has fallen into disrepair, and is now looking rough around the edges. The actual beach is nice, but after decades of neglect, the area is plagued by abandoned buildings and vacant lots.
But things are looking better for the beachfront park, or worse, depending on how you look at the recent bit of news the news in The New York Times, that redevelopment plans have been finalized to clean up and revitalize the beachfront and park at Jacob Riis. Yes, gentrifying the area could bring back the NYC local crowds. But like so many gentrification plans that have destroyed LGBTQ spaces, does this redevelopment of Jacob Riis mean the queer beach will be crowded out?
At the center of the redevelopment is the Jacob Riis Park bathhouse. Opened in 1932 by the NYC parks and recreation department, the bathhouse originally featured restaurants, changing rooms, and event spaces that drew in thousands of visitors every day of the summer months. But the city failed to invest in the maintenance of the facility, the bathhouse fell into a state of disrepair, and budget cuts led to the bathhouse’s closure in 1972. (New York City was not doing well financially in those days. The city government almost filed for bankruptcy in the 1975).
The rundown bathhouse, which has been vacant for decades, is undeniably an eyesore, and the building needs extensive repairs. But the Jacob Riis bathhouse is an Art Deco masterpiece, once upon a time a beautiful palace along the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. Murmurs about redeveloping the property have been floating around for years, and if all goes according to redevelopment plans, the long-shuttered bathhouse will finally reopen as part of the new Rockaway Ocean Club project, featuring restaurants, bars, a small hotel, event spaces, a public viewing deck on the roof, and a members-only beach club with a pool and private amenities. Dues for that members-only club will cost as much as $3,500 for families, but the majority of the building will be open to the public.
Although the announcement of the bathhouse’s refurbishment has raised concerns among some LGBTQ New Yorkers, who worry that gentrification will once again erase an important queer space, those concerns may prove to be unnecessary.
Image from Google Maps
The queer section of the beach, still along that eastern end of the shoreline, is a quarter-mile from the bathhouse itself. Regular visitors say the redevelopment is unlikely to physically displace the LGBTQ crowds who gather at the queer beach every summer.
“The beach is huge,” one commenter wrote in a discussion on Reddit’s NYC gay community forum. “There’s no way some private club members can occupy the whole thing.”
On an optimistic note, the revival of the bathhouse will be a welcome improvement to Jacob Riis Beach, by offering more amenities at the beach again. There is a small food court on the west side of the beach, but that is a lengthy walk away, and beachgoers at the queer section usually bring whatever food and drinks that they will need during the day.
But Jacob Riis regulars will continue gathering at their beach, regardless of what happens to the area around them.
“Every year people say the queer beach is over,” another Reddit user wrote. “But then everyone goes to the queer beach and it’s packed. If we keep going nobody can take it away.”
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