Rockaways, the

Series of largely residential neighbourhoods along Rockaway Peninsula, at the far western end of Long Island, on the east coast of the USA. The peninsula extends 17 km/11 mi across the mouth of Jamaica Bay, and forms part of the Queens borough of New York City.

Far Rockaway – the most southeasterly neighbourhood of New York City – stands at the eastern end of the Rockaway Peninsula, and is the commercial hub of the area. To its northwest lies the somewhat isolated district of Bayswater. Further west, Edgemere, Arverne, and Hammel were bungalow communities largely razed in the 1960s for a renewal project that, in the event, was never built. A large waste landfill site, which opened here in 1938, grew to a height of 21 m/70 ft and earned the sarcastic nickname ‘Mount Edgemere’ before being closed in 1991. Further along the peninsula are Seaside, Rockaway Park, and the wealthier communities of Belle Harbor and Neponsit. Jacob Riis Park and Fort Tilden, built for coastal defence in 1917, lie west of Neponsit, and the small communities of Roxbury, Rockaway Point, and Breezy Point occupy the far tip of the peninsula beyond the fort site. In the 19th century, the Rockaways were exclusively resort communities. The Long Island Rail Road began a service to Rockaway Beach in 1922, and year-round residents began to arrive in the 1930s. A subway connection from Queens opened in 1956. After long being accessible over land only through Nassau County to the east, the Rockaway peninsula can now be reached across road bridges from Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, and Howard Beach in Queens. The eminent physicist Richard P Feynman was born in Far Rockaway in 1918.