Rockaway Baby

As my dear friend Alexandra has helped me discover over the years, there's so much more to New York City than just Manhattan. And it's easy to forget when among all the towering buildings and concrete that a lot of the city's surrounding areas sit right along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. While people might not readily think of New York as having many "beach towns," there are surprisingly quite a few quirky little beaches, Coney Island included.

This past Fourth of July weekend seemed like a fitting time to explore one of the areas along the coastline, so I did a little research and decided to venture out to Rockaway Beach in Queens, a popular destination for the thousands of people in New York's boroughs to flock to during the summer months. Yeah, it's also the subject of that song by the Ramones, or maybe it made you think of that 2004 hit record by Fat Joe... (sorry if that's stuck in your head for the rest of the day). 

Anyway, I had a fun little adventure, and took a few photos along the way (as I tend to do).

I stopped for a late lunch at a perfectly off-the-wall spot by the name of the Playland Grill. It's part of the Playland Motel,  a delightfully decorated lodging establishment situated just blocks from the water. In addition to the superb vintage and artistic beach decor, the signage was supremely stellar, which automatically gives any place an A+ in my book.

Do you still have that Fat Joe song in your head??

Oh, hey guys!

Thanks for visiting Rockaway Beach with me!