Jacob Riis Park in the New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 borough

Borough (New York City)

New York City, one of the largest cities in the world, is composed of five boroughs. Each borough now has the same boundaries as the county it is in. County governments were dissolved when the city consolidated in 1898, along with all city, town, and village governments within each county...

 of Queens

Queens

Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....

, is part of the Jamaica Bay Unit of the Gateway National Recreation Area

Gateway National Recreation Area

Gateway National Recreation Area is a National Recreation Area in the Port of New York and New Jersey. Scattered over Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island, New York and Monmouth County, New Jersey, it provides recreational opportunities that are rare for a dense urban environment, including ocean...

, and is managed by the National Park Service

National Park Service

The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...

 (NPS). It lies at the foot of the Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge

Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge

The Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge in New York City is a vertical lift bridge that crosses Rockaway Inlet and connects the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens, with Marine Parkway to Floyd Bennett Field, Flatbush Avenue, and the Marine Park neighborhood in Brooklyn...

, toward the southwestern end the Rockaway Peninsula

Rockaway, Queens

The Rockaway Peninsula, informally The Rockaways, is the name of a peninsula of Long Island, all of which is located within the New York City borough of Queens. A popular summer resort area since the 1830s, Rockaway has become a mixture of lower, middle, and upper-class neighborhoods...

, just east of Fort Tilden

Fort Tilden

Fort Tilden, also known as Fort Tilden Historic District, is a former United States Army installation in the New York City borough of Queens and part of Gateway National Recreation Area. It is located on the Rockaway Peninsula between Jacob Riis Park to the east and Breezy Point to the west...

 and west of Rockaway Beach

Rockaway Beach, Queens

Rockaway Beach is a neighborhood on the Rockaway Peninsula in the New York City borough of Queens. It is located on the South Shore of Long Island. The neighborhood is bounded by Arverne to the east and Rockaway Park to the west...

. It features an extensive sand beach and an art deco bath house

Public bathing

Public baths originated from a communal need for cleanliness. The term public may confuse some people, as some types of public baths are restricted depending on membership, gender, religious affiliation, or other reasons. As societies have changed, public baths have been replaced as private bathing...

 built in 1932 , which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

. The bathhouse provides a place to get out of the sun and learn about the park's history. The park is named for Jacob Riis

Jacob Riis

Jacob August Riis was a Danish American social reformer, "muckraking" journalist and social documentary photographer. He is known for using his photographic and journalistic talents to help the impoverished in New York City; those impoverished New Yorkers were the subject of most of his prolific...

, a famous New York City muckraker

Muckraker

The term muckraker is closely associated with reform-oriented journalists who wrote largely for popular magazines, continued a tradition of investigative journalism reporting, and emerged in the United States after 1900 and continued to be influential until World War I, when through a combination...

 journalist and photographer who documented the plight of the poor and working class.

The park was largely built on the site of the former Rockaway Naval Air Station, one of the first US naval air stations. Riis Park was designed by the politically powerful New York City Park Commissioner Robert Moses

Robert Moses

Robert Moses was the "master builder" of mid-20th century New York City, Long Island, Rockland County, and Westchester County, New York. As the shaper of a modern city, he is sometimes compared to Baron Haussmann of Second Empire Paris, and is one of the most polarizing figures in the history of...

, who had also created Jones Beach

Jones Beach

Jones Beach may refer to:* A barrier island off the coast of Long Island, New York:**Jones Beach State Park in Nassau County, New York in the United States**Jones Beach Island**Nikon at Jones Beach Theater...

 as a state park further east on Long Island

Long Island

Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...

 in 1929. Moses saw Riis Park as a Jones Beach for poor immigrants, and ensured that the location was accessible by public transportation and closer to Manhattan. The Atlantic Ocean

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

 beach, boardwalks, courtyards, and walkways gave the city's poor a respite from cramped tenements and crowded city streets. In addition to easy access via public buses, a huge parking lot with over 5,000 parking spaces, the largest in the world at the time it was built, provides ample space for those who preferred to drive.

In 1972, Jacob Riis Park was transferred to the control of the National Park Service

National Park Service

The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...

. Today, its sand, surf, seaside recreation areas and famous Art Deco bathhouse are a popular summer destination. Facilities available in season include a pitch and putt

Pitch and putt

Pitch and putt is an amateur sport, similar to golf. The maximum hole length for international competitions is with a maximum total course length of . Players may only use three clubs; one of which must be a putter...

 golf course and food concessions.

Getting there

Ferry: New York Water Taxi

New York Water Taxi

New York Water Taxi is a water taxi service based in Red Hook, Brooklyn offering commuter and sightseeing service mainly to points along the East River and Hudson River...

 offers weekday and weekend Rockaway ferry service between Pier 11/Wall Street (Manhattan) and Riis Landing.

Bus: Q35 from Brooklyn on Flatbush Avenue at the corner of Nostrand Avenue, Kings Highway, Quentin Road, Avenue S or Avenue U (Kings Plaza). After the bridge, ask the driver to let you off at either Fort Tilden or Riis Park. Alternate: Q21 or Q53 to Beach 116th Street, then Q22 or Q35 to the park.

Subway and Bus: 2 (also 5 at rush hour) to Flatbush Avenue, then take the Q35 bus to the park. Alternate: A or S to Rockaway Park then Q35 or Q22 bus to the park.

Car: Take the Belt Parkway to Exit 11S, then Flatbush Avenue south across the Marine Parkway Bridge to the park. Alternate: Woodhaven Boulevard to Cross Bay Boulevard, then west on Beach Channel Drive

Beach Channel Drive

Beach Channel Drive is the main thoroughfare in the Rockaway Peninsula in the New York City borough of Queens. It extends from the Nassau County border at Inwood westward to the Marine Parkway Bridge at the end of Jacob Riis Park...

to the park.Parking is 5 dollars.

External links

• Jacob Riis Park Visitor information
• Jamaica Bay Unit of Gateway National Recreation Area