Long Beach, New York

Through the 19th century

Long Beach's first inhabitants were the Algonquian-speaking Rockaway Indians, who sold the area to English colonists in 1643. While the barrier island was used by baymen and farmers, for fishing and harvesting salt hay, no one lived there year-round for more than two centuries.

In 1837, the barque Mexico, carrying Irish immigrants to New York, ran ashore on New Year's Day.

In 1849, Congress established a lifesaving station.

Austin Corbin, a builder from Brooklyn, was the first to attempt to develop the island as a resort. He formed a partnership with the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) to finance the New York and Long Beach Railroad Co., which laid track from Lynbrook to Long Beach in 1880. That same year, Corbin opened Long Beach Hotel, a row of 27 cottages along a 1,100-foot (340 m) strip of beach, which he claimed was the world's largest hotel. In its first season, the railroad brought 300,000 visitors to Long Island. By the next spring, tracks had been laid the length of the island, but they were removed in 1894 after repeated washouts from winter storms.

1900s

In 1906, William Reynolds, a 39-year-old former state senator and real estate developer, entered the picture. Reynolds had already developed four Brooklyn neighborhoods (Bedford-Stuyvesant, Borough Park, Bensonhurst, and South Brownsville), as well as Coney Island's Dreamland, the world's largest amusement park. Reynolds also owned a theater and produced plays.

He gathered investors, and acquired the oceanfront from private owners and the rest of the island from the Town of Hempstead in 1907; he planned to build a boardwalk, homes, and hotels. Reynolds had a herd of elephants marched in from Dreamland, ostensibly to help build the Long Beach Boardwalk; he had created an effective publicity stunt. Dredges created a channel 1,000 feet (300 m) wide on the north side of the island to provide access by large steamboats and sea planes to transport more visitors; the new waterway was named Reynolds Channel. To ensure that Long Beach lived up to his billing it "The Riviera of the East", he required each building to be constructed in an "eclectic Mediterranean style", with white stucco walls and red-clay tile roofs. He built a theater called Castles by the Sea, with the largest dance floor in the world, for dancers Vernon and Irene Castle.

After Reynolds' corporation went bankrupt in 1918, the restrictions were lifted. The new town attracted wealthy businessmen and entertainers from New York and Hollywood.

On July 29, 1907, a fire broke out at the Long Beach Hotel and burned it to the ground. Of the 800 guests, eight were injured by jumping from windows, and one woman died. The fire was blamed on defective electric wiring. A church, several cottages and the bathing pavilion were also destroyed. Trunks belonging to the guests, which had been piled on the sand to form "dressing rooms", were looted by thieves. A dozen waiters and others were apprehended by the police, who recovered $20,000 worth of jewelry and other stolen property.

The community became an incorporated village in 1913 and a city in 1922.

In 1923, the prohibition agents known simply as Izzy and Moe raided the Nassau Hotel and arrested three men for bootlegging. In 1930, five Long Beach Police officers were charged with offering a bribe to a United States Coast Guard officer to allow liquor to be landed. The police had another problem a year later in the summer of 1931, when a beachcomber found the body of a young woman named Starr Faithfull, who had drowned. She had left behind a suicide note, but others believed she had been murdered, and the circumstances of her death were never resolved. Corruption became rampant in Long Beach by then; in 1922, the state Legislature designated Long Beach a city and William H. Reynolds was elected the first mayor. Shortly thereafter, Reynolds was indicted on charges of misappropriating funds. When he was found guilty, the clock in the tower at city hall was stopped in protest. When a judge released Reynolds from jail later that year on appeal, almost the entire population turned out to greet him, and the clock was turned back on.

In 1939, Mayor Louis F. Edwards was fatally shot by a police officer on the front steps of his home. Officer Alvin Dooley, a member of the police motorcycle squad and the mayor's own security detail, killed the mayor after losing his bid for PBA president to a candidate the mayor supported. Jackson Boulevard was later renamed Edwards Boulevard in honor of the late mayor. After the murder, the city residents passed legislation to adopt a city manager system, which still exists to this day. The city manager is hired by and reports to the City Council.

In the 1940s, Jose Ferrer, Zero Mostel, Mae West, and other famous actors performed at local theaters. John Barrymore, Humphrey Bogart, Clara Bow, James Cagney, Cab Calloway, Jack Dempsey, Lillian Roth, Rudolph Valentino, and Florenz Ziegfeld lived in Long Beach for decades.

By the 1940s and 1950s, with the advent of cheap air travel attracting tourists to more distant places, and air-conditioning to provide year-round comfort, Long Beach had become a primarily bedroom community for commuters to New York City. It still attracted many summer visitors into the 1970s. The rundown boardwalk hotels were used for temporary housing for welfare recipients and the elderly, until a scandal around 1970 led to many of the homes' losing licenses. At that time, government agencies were also "warehousing" in such hotels many patients released from larger mental hospitals. They were supposed to be cared for in small-scale community centers. The 2.2-mile (3.5 km) boardwalk had a small amusement park at the foot of Edwards Boulevard until the 1980s. In the late 1960s, the boardwalk and amusement park area were a magnet for youth from around Long Island, until a police crackdown on drug trafficking ended that. While there are few businesses left on the boardwalk, it attracts bicyclists, joggers, walkers and people-watchers.

Beginning in the 1980s and accelerating in the 1990s, Long Beach has begun an urban renewal, with new housing, new businesses and other improvements. Today, the city is again a popular bedroom community, for people working in New York who want the quiet beach atmosphere. With summer come local youths and college students and young adults who rent bungalows on the West End; they frequent the local bars and clubs along West Beech Street. Just behind the boardwalk near the center of the city, however, vacant lots now occupy several blocks that once housed hotels, bathhouses and the amusement park. Because attempts to attract development (including, at one time, Atlantic City-style casinos) to this potential "superblock" have not yet borne fruit, the lots comprise the city's largest portion of unused land.

2000s

On October 29, 2012, Hurricane Sandy struck Long Beach. As a result of flooding, hundreds of vehicles were totaled and houses suffered various levels of damage. The estimated cost of all the damage was over $250 million. The city was without power and running water for two weeks after the storm. The boardwalk was also destroyed during the storm. The City began rebuilding the boardwalk with grants from FEMA and the State of New York. The first two-block section of the new Long Beach boardwalk reopened on July 26, 2013, and the entire boardwalk opened on October 25, 2013.

Buses

Long Beach Bus operates a twenty-four-hour municipal bus service with five routes, including three routes serving the city, one overnight circulator route, and one route, the N69, extending service to Lido Beach and Point Lookout under contract to Nassau County. Long Beach Bus also operates a trolley bus.

Nassau Inter-County Express (NICE) has two bus routes that originate in Long Beach; the n15 and n33 travel to Roosevelt Field and Far Rockaway via Rockville Centre and Atlantic Beach, respectively. The n33 does not provide service wholly within Long Beach.

Railroad

The Long Island Rail Road operates a terminal station at Park Place and Park Avenue with service on the railroad's Long Beach Branch. All other public transportation services in Long Beach converge at this terminal.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.0 square miles (5.2 km²).

Long Beach Barrier Island

The city is located on a barrier island off the South Shore of Long Island. It shares the island with Atlantic Beach to the west and Lido Beach and Point Lookout to the east. Within its section of the barrier island, the city takes up the entire north-south span, fronting on both Reynolds Channel to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the south. A drawbridge, the Long Beach Bridge, connects it to Island Park, a small island community between Long Beach and the mainland of Long Island. To the west, another drawbridge, the Atlantic Beach Bridge, connects the island to Lawrence on the mainland of Long Island. The Loop Parkway, located to the east along the Lido Beach and Point Lookout borders, connects the island to nearby Jones Beach and, going in the opposite direction, to the rest of the expansive Long Island state parkway system via the Meadowbrook State Parkway.

The first inhabitants on the Long beach barrier island were the Rockaway Indians; the Island was sold to the New Netherland colonists in 1643. Local Long Island baymen and farmers used the island for fishing and harvesting salt hay; no people lived on the Island year round for more than two centuries. The United States Congress established a lifesaving station in 1849, a dozen years after 62 people died when the barque Mexico carrying Irish immigrants to New York ran ashore on New Year's Day. Development began on the island as a resort and was organized by Austin Corbin, a builder from Brooklyn New York. Austin Corbin formed a partnership with the Long Island Rail Road to finance the New York and Long Beach Railroad Company which laid tracks from Lynbrook, New York to Long Beach in 1880. The company also opened the 1,100-foot-long Long Beach Hotel, at the time the largest in the world. The railroad brought 300,000 visitors the first season. By the next spring, tracks had been laid almost the full length of the Long Beach island, but after repeated winter storm washouts they were removed in 1894.

Climate

Long Beach has a moderate humid subtropical climate (Cfa) under the Köppen climate classification, with hot summers and cool winters. It is one of the northernmost locations in this climate zone, allowing for the growth of warmer climate plants like Mimosa, Crape Myrtle, Southern Magnolia, and Sweetgum often seen further south. Precipitation is evenly distributed year round, mostly in the form of rain although snowfall occurs each winter. Its climate is tempered by the Atlantic Ocean current.

Layout

Unlike most suburbs, Long Beach is a high-density community. Fewer than 40% of the homes are detached houses, and the city ranks as the 35th densest community in the United States. The city is less than a mile wide from ocean to bay and about three and a half miles long. The city is divided into the West End, home to many small bungalows, and the East End. West of New York Avenue, the barrier island is less than a half mile wide and West Beech Street is the main east/west commercial street.

East of New York Avenue, the island is wider between the bay and ocean and is home to larger more expansive family houses. There is the city's boardwalk, which begins at New York Avenue and ends at Neptune Boulevard. Along the boardwalk are many apartment buildings and condos. The main commercial strip is Park Avenue, which narrows into a small residential strip west of New York Avenue.

Neighborhoods

Central District - The area between Magnolia Boulevard and Monroe Boulevard.

North Park - The area north of Park Avenue, between the LIRR and Long Beach Road.

The East End - The neighborhood between Monroe Boulevard, and Maple Boulevard or Curley Street.

The Canals - The area comprising several streets running north - south, with parallel canals originating from Reynolds Channel. The canals begin on Forrester Street and end on Curley Street.

The President Streets - The area comprising streets named after former U.S. presidents, with the exceptions of Atlantic, Belmont, and Mitchell Avenues, and Pacific Boulevard; the streets noted as exceptions connect directly from Park Avenue to Broadway, a parallel road to the south.

Kennedy Plaza - An area in the Central District, at the intersection of National Boulevard and West Chester Street.

The Walks - An area comprising extremely narrow sidewalks between houses. Each walk is named after a month.

The West End - This area is home to small bungalows and houses located very close to each other, along small narrow streets. These streets, named after U.S. states, run from the beach to the bay, until they meet East Atlantic Beach at Nevada Avenue.

Westholme - The neighborhood between New York Avenue and Magnolia Boulevard.

Parks and recreation

Clark Street Park

Lindell Park

Long Beach Ice Arena - home of the New York Applecore and Long Beach High School's club hockey teams and former practice facility for the New York Rangers.

Long Beach Tennis Center

Magnolia Playground

Ocean Beach Park (2.2 mile long boardwalk)

Ocean View Avenue - the unofficial boardwalk of the West End

Recreation Center

Skate Park

Veteran's Memorial Park (fishing pier and boat ramp)

West End's Georgia Avenue Splash Park

Dog Park on the bay

National Register of Historic Places

Multiple sites in Long Beach are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, including:

Barkin House

Cobble Villa

Granada Towers

House at 226 West Penn Street

Pauline Felix House

Samuel Vaisberg House

United States Post Office

Landmarks and historic districts

9/11 Memorial

Holocaust Memorial at Kennedy Plaza

John F. Kennedy Memorial

Red Brick District

Shine's Bar on the West End

Museums and community centers

House at 226 West Penn Street (also known as Long Beach Historical & Preservation Society Museum)

Martin Luther King Community Center

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 35,462 people, 14,923 households, and 8,103 families residing in the city. The population density was 16,594.9 people per square mile (6,398.1/km²). There were 16,128 housing units at an average density of 7,547.3 per square mile (2,909.8/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 84.20% White, 6.18% African American, 0.21% Native American, 2.32% Asian, 0.08% Pacific Islander, 4.75% from other races, and 2.26% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 12.80% of the population.

There were 14,923 households out of which 21.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.0% were married couples living together, 10.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 45.7% were non-families. 36.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.26 and the average family size was 3.02.

In the city, the population was spread out with 18.5% under the age of 18, 6.6% from 18 to 24, 34.4% from 25 to 44, 23.8% from 45 to 64, and 16.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 92.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.6 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $56,289, and the median income for a family was $68,222. Males had a median income of $50,995 versus $40,739 for females. The per capita income for the city was $31,069. About 6.3% of families and 9.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 13.2% of those under age 18 and 10.7% of those age 65 or over.

City Manager

Jack Schnirman is the current city manager, a position appointed by the City Council.

City Council

Five Members serve the City Council, currently:

Len Torres (D) - City Council President

Anthony P. Eramo (D) - City Council Vice President

Eileen J. Goggin (D)

Scott J. Mandel (D)

Anissa D. Moore (D)

Long Beach City Judge

Corey E. Klein (D)

Frank Dikranis (R)

Emergency services

The city's two emergency services are the Long Beach Police and Fire Departments

Public schools

The Long Beach City School District serves the city of Long Beach and parts of the Town of Hempstead with one primary high school, one middle school, one prekindergarten, and four elementary schools. They also operate an "alternative" high school at the NIKE missile site on a campus shared with the district's transportation services.

These schools are:

Long Beach Pre-Kindergarten

West Elementary School

East Elementary School

Lido Elementary School

Lindell Elementary School

Long Beach Middle School

Long Beach High School

Harriet Eisman Community School

Private schools

Hebrew Academy of Long Beach

Long Beach Catholic Regional School

Mesivta of Long Beach

Post-secondary education

Rabbinical College of Long Island

Public libraries

The Long Beach Public Library serves greater Long Beach with a main library downtown and two branch libraries at Point Lookout and the West End.

Annual events

Annual arts and crafts show on the boardwalk

Annual fine arts show at Kennedy Plaza

Arts in the Plaza (weekly)

Beach tennis tournaments - Beach Tennis USA

Fall festival at Kennedy Plaza

Farmers market at Kennedy Plaza (weekly)

Free summer concerts series on the beach

Historical Society arts and crafts show on the boardwalk

Long Beach International Film Festival

Long Beach Polar Bear Swim - world record holder for largest polar bear swim

St. Brendan The Navigator Parade and Festival (Irish Day) in October

West End Electric Light Parade

Wounded Warrior Project

In films and television

(Chronological)

Mario Puzo's 1969 novel and its eponymous film adaptation, The Godfather (1972), were set partly in Long Beach, where the Corleone compound was said to be located, and nearby Atlantic Beach, where the character Sonny Corleone lived. Sonny was murdered at the toll booths of the Jones Beach Causeway (also known as the Loop Parkway). (Mafia members were widely known to live in Long Beach and neighboring Atlantic Beach throughout the mid-20th century.)

In the film Taxi Driver (1976), a driver says he made a big tip for taking a customer from Kennedy Airport to Manhattan "by way of Long Beach".

The movie City by the Sea (2002), starring Robert De Niro, James Franco, and Frances McDormand, was inspired by a true story about Long Beach resident who committed a murder in Far Rockaway, a few miles west. The film's setting was based on a fictional interpretation of Long Beach and was filmed in Asbury Park, New Jersey; residents of both cities objected to the negative imagery portrayed of their towns.

In literature

(Alphabetical, by author's last name)

Boardwalk Stories (2009) is Roslyn Bernstein's collection of 14 linked stories set in Long Beach. Each story is paired with a black-and-white vintage photo of the boardwalk taken by photographer Dr. Kenneth Tydings, a long-time resident. Bernstein grew up in the West End of Long Beach.

In his memoir, 700 Sundays (2005), the comedian Billy Crystal describes growing up in Long Beach.

In his memoir The NewsBreaker, the producer/journalist Larry Garrison describes growing up here.

John Dos Passos' book, The Big Money, mentions weekends spent in Long Beach in the 1920s.

Images of America: Long Beach, NY (2010), by Roberta Fiore, Carole Shahda Geraci, and Dave Roochvarg for the Long Beach Historical and Preservation Society, is a collection of photos and stories of Long Beach, NY.

Paul Jackson's book, Our Town, Our Time: Long Beach, L.I., in the 1930s and WWII, is a nostalgic look at Long Beach and a social history of the time.

Paul Jackson's book, Scoundrels by the Sea: The Sullied Past of Long Beach Politicians, Swindlers, Bootleggers - and Worse, is filled with stories of the crooked characters from Long Beach woven together with the city's notorious history.

James Patterson's book, I Funny, is about a boy named Jamie Grimm, who lives in Long Beach and deals with bullies.

In music

Long Beach is a beneficiary of 12-12-12: The Concert for Sandy Relief. During the event, Billy Crystal talks about growing up on Long Beach. Billy Joel, who also lived in Long Beach, performed.

Legendary rock icon Joan Jett filmed her music video "Change The World" on the boardwalk.

Surfing

Long Beach hosted the 2011 Quiksilver Pro where pro surfers such as Kelly Slater competed.

Nicknames and slogans

"The City by the Sea" (as seen in Latin on its official seal).

"There's Long Beach sand in my shoes." (local)

The Riviera of the East

Notable people

John Barrymore (1882-1942), actor on stage, screen and radio

Humphrey Bogart (1899-1957), screen and stage actor

Clara Bow (1905-1965), actress who rose to stardom in silent film during the 1920s

Larry Brown (born 1940), basketball star and coach, graduated from Long Beach High School.

James Cagney (1899-1986), actor and dancer, both on stage and in film

Cab Calloway (1907-1994), band leader and singer, lived on the Long Beach/Lido divide during the late 1940s.

Vernon and Irene Castle, dance pioneers who introduced dances such as tango and foxtrot to the US in the 1910s; they lived in Long Beach and operated a nightclub called "Castles By the Sea".

Chuck Close(born 1940), painter/artist and photographer

Alan Colmes (born 1950), political analyst formerly on Hannity & Colmes, resides in Long Beach

Billy Crystal (born 1948), film and television actor who was raised in Long Beach

Jack Dempsey (1895-1983), professional boxer

Amy Fisher (born 1974), also known as the "Long Island Lolita"

Jim Ford (born 1981), film and television actor / stuntman

Mike Francesa (born 1954), WFAN 660AM New York City radio host, was born and raised in Long Beach.

Larry Garrison, film and television producer, journalist

James "Scottie" Graham (born 1969) former Ohio State and NFL player, grew up in Long Beach and graduated from the high school

Rocky Graziano (1919-1990), boxer, lived in Long Beach for many years

Smith Hart (born 1948), professional wrestler, member of the Hart wrestling family.

Eleanor Holm (1913-2004), Olympic swimmer, movie star, star of the Aquacade, grew up in Long Beach

Juliet Huddy (born 1969), television news journalist

Richard Jaeckel (1926-1997), television and film actor who starred in The Dirty Dozen, was born in Long Beach

Derek Jeter (born 1974), former New York Yankees shortstop and team captain since 2003, lived in Long Beach

Joan Jett (born 1958), rock singer

Billy Joel (born 1949), singer/musician, lived in Long Beach

Pete Johnson (born 1954), running back who played eight seasons in the NFL, primarily with the Cincinnati Bengals

Hal Kanter (1918-2011), TV writer

John Lannan (born 1984), pitcher for the New York Mets

Allard K. Lowenstein (1929-1980), congressman, anti-Vietnam War leader, and liberal activist who represented it in Congress in the late 1960s

Charlie McAvoy (born 1997), defenseman for the Boston Bruins

Jim McMullan (born 1936), television and film actor

MF Doom (born 1971), rapper, raised in Long Beach.

Sean Monaghan, professional boxer fighting out of Long Beach.

Audrey Peppe (1917-1992), figure skater, member of three US Olympic teams, runner-up for national championship.

Mike Portnoy (born 1967), founding member and drummer of the band Dream Theater, from 1987 to 2010. Has performed with countless famous musicians and has been a part of several "super groups". Born and raised in Long Beach; Long Beach High school graduate, 1985

Lillian Roth, actor, lived in Long Beach for decades

Arnold Rothstein - gangster; during Prohibition he maintained a weekend/summer house on the west side of Franklin Boulevard, at the boardwalk

Frederick Jay "Rick" Rubin - music producer and record executive, attended Long Beach High School

Zack Ryder (Matthew Cardona) - professional wrestler, currently signed to the WWE SmackDown Live brand of World Wrestling Entertainment, resides in Long Beach

Edgar Scherick - film and television producer, ABC network executive, and creator of ABC's Wide World of Sports; was born and raised in Long Beach, and graduated from Long Beach High School

Floyd Skloot - author of 18 books

Balaram Stack - professional surfer

Levern Tart - American basketball player

Rudolph Valentino - actor, lived in Long Beach for decades

Florenz Ziegfeld, actor, lived in Long Beach for decades

Aerial view

The right section is Long Beach: