Long Beach, New York - New Homes Long Beach

Long Beach is a city in Nassau County, New York, United States. Just south of Long Island, it is located on Long Beach Barrier Island, which is the westernmost of the outer barrier islands off Long Island's South Shore. As of the United States 2010 Census, the city population was 33,275. It was incorporated in 1922, and is nicknamed The City By the Sea (as seen in Latin on its official seal).

The City of Long Beach is surrounded by Reynolds Channel to the north, east and west, and the Atlantic Ocean to the south.

As of 2012, Jack Schnirman is the city manager, a position appointed by the City Council.

History

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 1849 Congress established a lifesaving station. A dozen years before, 62 people died when the barque Mexico, carrying Irish immigrants to New York, ran ashore on New Year's Day.

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 as 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.

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: a mystery that captivated the nation in the summer of 1931. A beachcomber found the body of a young woman named Starr Faithfull. She had left behind a suicide note, but others believed she had been murdered. 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. Jack Dempsey, Cab Calloway, Humphrey Bogart, Lillian Roth, Rudolph Valentino, Florenz Ziegfeld, James Cagney, Clara Bow, and John Barrymore lived in Long Beach for decades. Other natives include Billy Crystal (his brother Joel Crystal has served as president of the Long Beach City Council),} Joan Jett, Derek Jeter, John Lannan, and "Long Island Lolita" Amy Fisher.

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 late 1970s. 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.

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.

Transportation

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 between Long Beach and the mainland of Long Island. To the west, 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 Jones Beach.

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 tropical plants like palm trees. Precipitation is evenly-distributed year round, mostly in the form of rain. 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 24th 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

• The West End - The West End is home to small bungalows and houses located very close to each other along small narrow streets. These streets run from the beach to the bay, and are named after U.S. states until it meets East Atlantic Beach at Nevada Avenue.
• Westholme - The neighborhood between New York Avenue and Magnolia Boulevard has become known as Westholme.
• The Walks - The Walks is an area of the city consisting of extremely narrow sidewalks between houses. Each walk is named after a month.
• Central District - The area between Magnolia Boulevard and Monroe Boulevard has become known as the Central District.
• North Park - - The area north of Park Avenue, Between the LIRR Train and Long Beach Road.
• The East End - The neighborhood between Monroe Boulevard and Maple Boulevard or Curley Street is known as the East End.
• The Canals - The Canals is an area of the city consisting of several streets running north to south with parallel canals originating from Reynolds Channel. The canals begin on Forrester Street and end on Curley Street.
• The President Streets - The President Streets is an area of the city consisting of streets named after a former U.S. president, with the exceptions of Atlantic, Belmont, and Mitchell Avenues, and Pacific Boulevard, the latter of which connect directly from Park Avenue to Broadway, a parallel road to the south.

Parks and recreation

• Clark Street Park
• The Long Beach Tennis Center
• 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.
• Magnolia Playground
• Ocean Beach Park (2.2 Mile long boardwalk)
• The Recreation Center
• Skate Park
• Veteran's Memorial Park (fishing pier and boat ramp)
• West End's Georgia Avenue Splash Park
• Ocean View Avenue - The unofficial boardwalk of the West End.

National Register of Historic Places

• Granada Towers
• House at 226 West Penn Street
• Pauline Felix House
• Samuel Vaisberg House
• United States Post Office (Long Beach, New York)

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.

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Government

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:

• Scott J. Mandel (D) - City Council President
• Fran Adelson (D) - City Council Vice President
• Eileen J. Goggin (D)
• Anthony Eramo (D)
• Len Torres (D)

Long Beach City Judge

• Roy Tepper (D)
• Frank Dikranis (R)

Emergency services

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

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Education

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

Private schools

• Hebrew Academy of Long Beach (HALB)
• Long Beach Catholic Regional School (LBCRS)
• 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.

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Arts and culture

Annual events

• Annual arts & crafts show on the boardwalk
• Annual fine arts show at Kennedy Plaza
• Beach tennis tournaments - Beach Tennis USA
• Fall festival at Kennedy Plaza
• Farmers market at Kennedy Plaza (Weekly Event)
• Arts in the Plaza (Weekly Event)
• Free summer concerts series on the beach
• Historical Society Arts & Crafts show on the boardwalk
• Long Beach International Film Festival
• Long Beach Polar Bear Swim - World Record holder for largest polar bear swim
• Wounded Warrior Project
• St. Brendan The Navigator Parade & Festival (Irish Day) in October
• West End Electric Light Parade

In popular culture

In films and television

(Chronological)

• The novel and 1972 film, The Godfather, 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 a murderer from Long Beach (who committed a murder in Far Rockaway, a few miles west). The film 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 Long Beach boardwalk, taken by photographer Dr. Kenneth Tydings, a long-time resident. Bernstein grew up in the West End of Long Beach.
• In the memoir, 700 Sundays, the comedian Billy Crystal describes growing up in Long Beach.
• In his memoir The NewsBreaker, the producer/journalist Larry Garrison describes growing up in Long Beach.
• 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.
• "Our Town, Our Time: Long Beach, L.I., in the 1930s and WWII" by Paul Jackson is a nostalgic look at Long Beach and a social history of the time. ISBN 0-9729314-0-6.
• "Scoundrels by the Sea: The Sullied Past of Long Beach Politicians, Swindlers, Bootleggers -- and Worse" by Paul Jackson is filled with stories of the crooked characters from Long Beach woven together with the city's notorious history.
• I Funny by James Patterson is about a boy named Jamie Grimm, who lives there and deals with bullies.

In music

• Long Beach is a beneficiary of the 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 Long Beach 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

• Larry Brown - Basketball star and coach graduated from Long Beach High School.
• Cab Calloway - band leader and singer, lived on the Long Beach/Lido divide during the late 1940s, and his daughter Chris attended Mrs. Borzillieri's nursery school
• Vernon and Irene Castle - Dance pioneers who introduced dances such as tango and foxtrot to the US in 1910s lived in Long Beach and operated a fomous nightclub their "Castles By the Sea." Their lives were dramatized in the 1939 Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers film The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle.
• Alan Colmes - political analyst formerly on Hannity & Colmes, resides in Long Beach
• Billy Crystal - film and television superstar who was raised in Long Beach
• Jim Ford - film and television actor / stuntman rents an apartment in Long Beach
• Mike Francesa - WFAN 660AM New York City radio host, was born and raised in Long Beach
• Larry Garrison - film and television producer, journalist, N.Y. Times best selling author and celebrity was raised in Long Beach
• James "Scottie" Graham - former Ohio State and NFL player, grew up in Long Beach and graduated from the high school
• Rocky Graziano - boxer, lived in Long Beach for many years; his daughters both went to school there, and the Graziano family were regular Sunday night clients of Lenny's Steak House in the West End
• Eleanor Holm - Olympic Swimmer Movie Star & Star of the Aquacade, grew up in Long Beach.
• Richard Jaeckel - television and film actor, who starred in The Dirty Dozen, was born in Long Beach
• Derek Jeter - New York Yankees shortstop and team captain since 2003, lived in Long Beach
• Joan Jett - rock star,filmed a music video here
• Billy Joel - singer/musician, lived in Long Beach
• Pete Johnson - former Ohio State and NFL player graduated from Long Beach High School
• Hal Kanter - TV Writer Sgt Bilko graduated fron Long Beach High
• John Lannan - pitcher for the New York Mets, lived in Long Beach
• Allard K. Lowenstein - Congressman, Anti-Vietnam War leader and Liberal activist lived in Long Beach and represented it in Congress in the late 1960s
• Jim McMullan - television and film actor, born in Long Beach
• Audrey Peppe - Figure skater. Member 3 US Olympic teams & runner up for National championship. Grew up in Long Beach; graduate of LBHS
• 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 who attended Long Beach High School
• Zack Ryder (Matthew Cardona) - professional wrestler, currently signed to the Raw 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
• Levern Tart - American basketball player
• Mike Portnoy (Michael Stephen Portnoy) - noted to be one of the world's best drummers. Founding member and drummer of the band Dream Theater from 1987-2010. Has performed with countless famous musicians and has been a part of several "super groups". Born and raised in Long Beach; graduated from LBHS in 1985.
• Jonathan Armak, Jason Eubanks, Phillip Eubanks, and Thomas Stanford founded the group Unstable, who write many of their songs about growing up in Long Beach. They are signed to Stones Throw Records. All graduated at LBHS in 1999, 2000, and 2009 respectively. They are the nephews of Kentucky legend Homer Ledford.

Aerial view

The right section is Long Beach:

References

External links

• City of Long Beach, NY
• Long Beach NY Historical Society
• The Long Beach Chamber of Commerce

Interesting Informations

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