When Beach 35th Street was a water creek!

THE PICTURE THAT DOES NOT EXIST - reappears after almost a century.

A memory by Stevie S. Stevens

What you are looking at is an actual photograph taken in 1895 - showing the newly constructed Edgemere Club Hotel - the very first structure erected in the Edgemere section of (then) Far Rockaway. There is NO Beach 35th Street - it is still part of a channel (Norton's Creek) which runs from the Atlantic Ocean through to the Jamaica Bay - cutting across the peninsula at what we now refer to as Beach 35th Street —east to Beach 32nd Street.

Having often heard of this area as described in written journals and historical documents, viewed several artist's renditions of what the place was supposed to have looked like before it was enlarged and turned into a summer resort, it was quite a shock to come across an actual photo showing the area prior to the turn of the century. We have to give special thanks to Dean Georges - long-time Rockaway resident - for it was in his vast collection of Rockaway memorabilia this valuable find was uncovered.

Apparently some enterprising young photographer (Herman Burger) took a black and white image to a print shop (back in 1899) and had it turned into a postcard - emblazoned with a makeshift club logo (difficult to see on the lower left side of the card), he then brought it to the managers of the fine hotel and offered it to them to be used as an advertising card for their establishment. Whether or not they actually accepted his offer and decided to add this particular view to their already-existing line of current postcards is a matter for further consideration - but if they did, the card did not achieve mass production because it is an extremely rare image we are currently viewing.

The excellent photograph shows the new luxury hotel - located at the foot of what will eventually become Beach 35th Street - an area under water at the time. Although the original card was produced in black and white, it has become rather sepia toned over time. The camera man was standing in water - on the beach - and facing west, his snapshot shows the entire facade of the establishment.

According to the original land developer's blue prints of the Edgemere area at the time (1895) the body of water is named "Paegent Channel" and it is shown on the map as a large "sweep" which cuts through between (what is now) Beach 34th and Beach 32nd Streets. Of course, as the strong current continued through the channel, it would widen considerably. Notice the massive bulkheads at the front of the hotel to deter the flow of water from encroaching on the hotel property. Had the builders not taken this precaution, eventually the hotel would be sitting in the middle of the raging channel.

An eye witness to the times, a gentleman named Valentine W. Smith when addressing "a meeting of the Executive Club"

(Far Rockaway) on Tuesday, November 13th of 1934 made the following observations which later became part of a written journal "Far Rockaway In Reminiscence" — published in 1936. Here is a brief excerpt of what he had to say: "A waterway of two or three hundred feet wide extended along the entire ocean front of Far Rockaway. The Edgemere Club Hotel was built at the west end of this waterway, where the channel made a turn to the north toward Jamaica Bay. All the front rooms of the hotel faced the waterway, which extended to the eastward for a distance of two miles or more." In fact, it has been reported that sometime in the winter of 1896, during a storm, the waters surged over the bulkheads and washed through the main corridors of the large hotel - causing thousands of dollars in damage. It was after this event the owners of the hotel decided to "re-route" the channel and stone barriers were erected at the front of the hotel - these would have the desired effect to "break the current flow" and move the tides in a westerly direction. Shortly thereafter, the channel would be completely filled in to allow for more available (and salable) real estate. It was the "correction" and closure of this channel which would "build up" the beaches in the eastern sections - sand erosions deposit ground in an easterly to westerly direction and it is this newly-created land which would make up most of the Roche's and Ostend beaches throughout the next ten years.

After the channel had been permanently closed off- the oceanfront would be a continuous run across the southern face of the Rockaway peninsula. The lands in the Edgemere section which had been under water were now stable enough to be "carved out" into building plots and streets. The beach land directly in front of the grand hotel (east side) would be converted into bathhouses and tennis courts as accommodations for summer guests. A new road would be placed to meet the front of the hotel (replacing the bulk heads in this picture) and a boardwalk would be constructed at the south end - connecting to the veranda of the club building. Eventually most of the property on both sides of the Grand View Avenue (the name before it was re-named Beach 35th Street by New York City in 1916) would be sold off- mostly to private individuals for construction of large cottages (homes) and two inn keepers would also construct (smaller) hotels on the same side of the street with the larger Edgemere Club. The hotel in this photo was torn down in 1935 to "free up" land for the building of exclusive private residences.

Today, most of this area sits barren and unused. Major urban renewal projects throughout the 1960s and 70s bulldozed most of the homes and businesses to the ground. Looking at the area today, it is almost impossible to believe the plight inflicted on the once-lovely Rockaways. If "time marches on" - it certainly did "stomp to death" what had once been the beauty of old Edgemere.