Rockaway Beach: making room for surfing in New York
Compiled by Surf Haunts · Updated 2026-09-20
Rockaway Beach puts the Atlantic next to apartment buildings, streets and a long boardwalk. It's a surf setting with a city right behind it. Part of its history is about making room for people in the water; another part is about rebuilding the shore they come back to.
Surfers were here well before 2005
A NYC Parks exhibition record of Rockaway's earlier surfers describes disagreements between surfers and other beach users in the 1960s. It records three special surfing zones designated in 1967.
People were already surfing at Rockaway, and officials had already tried different ways of sharing the beach. The surfing beaches that opened later built on that longer history rather than starting it.
More space in the water
The city's 2006–07 Parks report records the opening of a surfing beach in 2005, followed by a second in 2007 because the first proved popular.
Local campaigning helped. Surfrider's account of the additional surfing beach describes its New York City chapter's part in persuading the parks department to make more room.
These are dates in a longer history of access, rather than the beginning of surfing in Queens.
A boardwalk made from something else
Sandy caused severe damage in 2012, and the rebuilding changed a familiar part of the beach. The city's ten-year review of recovery after Sandy records the reconstruction of more than five miles of boardwalk, including a more resilient concrete structure.
"Boardwalk" stayed in the name even as the materials changed. In the photograph above, taken in 2019, the broad paved surface, railings and buildings show how closely the waterfront and neighbourhood sit together.
What changed between your visits?
Do you remember the old boardwalk, the surf areas before 2005, or coming back after the rebuilding? If you have a memory, a photograph or a correction, email us. We'll ask before publishing your contribution and agree with you how to credit it.
Our Rockaway Beach print
Our illustration follows dune fencing across the sand, with a raised boardwalk edge and buildings in the distance. You can see the Rockaway Beach · Queens print in the collection.
Compiled from public historical sources and fact-checked against them at the time of writing – not a first-hand or local account. Corrections and memories are welcome; we verify before publishing anything sent in.