Between Ocean and City: The Transformation of Rockaway, New YorkRockaway Beach was once a popular seaside resort in south Queens with a small permanent population. Shortly after World War II, large parts of this narrow peninsula between the ocean and the bay became some of New York City's worst slums. A historian who grew up in the community and his wife, a social worker, together present an illuminating account of this transformation, exploring issues of race, class, and social policy and offering a significant revision of the larger story of New York City's development. In particular, the authors qualify some of the negative assessments of Robert Moses, suggesting that the "Power Broker" attempted for many positive initiatives for Rockaway. Based on extensive archival research and hundreds of hours of interviews with residents, urban specialists, and government officials past and present, Between Ocean and City is a clear-eyed and harrowing story of this largely African American community's struggles and resiliency in the face of grinding poverty, urban renewal schemes gone wrong, and a forced ghettoization by the sea. |
Contents
Race and Real Estate | 22 |
The Trestle Burns and the Projects Begin | 37 |
Rockaways Welfare | 51 |
Robert Moses and the End of a Resort | 71 |
Storms over Title I | 86 |
Where They Live | 100 |
Trends of the Sixties | 115 |
The Whitest Neighborhood in New York | 132 |
Divergences | 148 |
The 310 Acres | 163 |
The Reckoning | 178 |
Notes | 189 |
Bibliography | 215 |
Other editions - View all
Between Ocean and City: The Transformation of Rockaway, New York Lawrence Kaplan,Carol P. Kaplan No preview available - 2003 |
Common terms and phrases
African Americans agencies April Arverne became began Belle Harbor Board of Estimate boardwalk borough president Breezy Point Brooklyn buildings bungalows Chamber of Commerce City Planning city's Clarence Davies Commissioner construction Council decades December Edgemere facilities families federal Fort Tilden Ghetto Hammels homes housing developments housing project Ibid interview Jacob Riis Park Jamaica Bay Jewish July June landlords large number Lindsay living Long Island Press low-income projects Mayor ment middle-class middle-income minority Moses Files Moses's Municipal Archives Neighborhood Groups Neponsit November ocean October owners Parkway peninsula percent policies political poor population Power Broker problems public housing Queens real estate recreation Redfern relocation remained rents residents resort Riis Park Robert Moses Rock Rockaway Beach Rockaway Chamber Rockaway peninsula Rockaway Review Rockaway's rooming houses schools Seaside slum clearance social summer tenants tion Title University Press urban renewal Wagner Wave welfare department year-round York City