The New York Times-20080127-Beaten Down- and Not Only by Nature
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Beaten Down, and Not Only by Nature
Full Text (1490 words)BEFORE World War II, when the Hamptons grew potatoes, Far Rockaway was the summer getaway for A-list actors. W. C. Fields, Mae West and Mary Pickford took rooms in this southeastern Queens enclave's rambling waterside houses, as local historians tell it, enjoying sea breezes, privacy and rollicking dances.
Air-conditioning and air travel spelled the end of Far Rockaway's heyday, and half a century later it hit rock bottom, with high crime, wrongheaded urban-renewal schemes, and the shutdown of a Long Island Rail Road train stop hastening the downfall, according to longtime residents.
Even the three theaters that once sat in the village, Far Rockaway's commercial heart at Mott and Central Avenues, were on their way out, closing the door on a cinematic era.
The two-square-mile area, which presses against Nassau County, gradually inched back, and developers and residents took the chance on it again. For instance, the site of the Roche-Elms, a once-world-famous resort at Seagirt Boulevard and Beach 17th Street, now holds the Yeshiva Darchei Torah, an imposing school that, with 1,400 students, exceeds Far Rockaway High School in size.
Indeed, the area's Orthodox Jewish community, largely a product of the last decade, now constitutes a fifth of the 48,344 people, according to Harvey Gordon, the executive director of the Jewish Community Council of the Rockaway Peninsula.
Though he may belong to a distinct subset, Mr. Gordon lauds the diversity: there are sizable numbers of immigrants from Jamaica, Guyana and Guatemala, as well as Russia and Ukraine, according to the last census.
We may not be like that ZIP code in Flushing that's supposed to be the most diverse in the country, Mr. Gordon said. But I like that there are different kinds of people living out here.
Yet today the recovery of the neighborhood's economy may be under a double threat -- from the subprime mortgage crisis on the one hand and a recent spate of overbuilding on the other.
On a January day, 3 of the 10 homes on Healy Avenue, between Dickens and Gipson Streets, had for-sale signs; rent advertisements and cash for houses placards are numerous elsewhere.
The inability to keep up with escalating mortgage payments has forced some residents from their homes, and about 50 of 180 for sale in Far Rockaway are being sold by banks, said Daphnee Doresca, a sales associate with Century 21 Laffey Associates. That's five times the number two years ago, she said.
James Sanders Jr., who represents Far Rockaway in the City Council, calls this area ground zero of the subprime mortgage crisis. These foreclosed homes are multiplying like poisonous mushrooms, he said. You cannot lend money to people who can't pay it back.
Higher-density redevelopment in recent years hasn't helped, according to many residents, who describe stacks of multifamily houses squeezed onto small lots. Though the city altered the zoning in some of the neighborhood in 2006, many projects had already been built. Some multifamilies still sit unfinished.
Edward Raskin, a zoning lawyer and the president of a civic association in Bayswater, an upscale section in the neighborhood's northwestern corner, moved there in 1992 from Patchogue, on Long Island. His 1947 ranch, with three bedrooms, one and a half baths and 2,000 square feet, cost $190,000 in 1992 and might sell for $500,000 today, in a calmer market, he said.
Saturation is the problem, Mr. Raskin said. They were building 12 houses instead of 1. And though it's slowed down, it really hasn't ended.
What You'll Find
The one-way streets, already narrow, are made more so by parked cars. They connect areas with sometimes strikingly varied housing styles.
Bayswater, where Mr. Raskin lives, has 1900s shingle-style houses, Queen Annes and Dutch Colonial wood-frames, many long since adapted for two families. They sit side by side with stucco-fronted Capes, often tucked behind white fences topped by statues of lions, pineapples and doves.
Closer to Seagirt, the Deerfield Beach section has attached brick homes with modern variations on the mansard roof. Gipson Street has multifamilies that have risen over the last few years from the sites of teardowns; Beach Ninth Street's condos, with narrow stoops and Juliet balconies, are also examples of infill housing.
The Reads Lane area is sometimes called West Lawrence, after the Nassau County town of Lawrence to the east; it was a marketing ploy dreamed up by older residents to distance themselves from the neighborhood's crime-infested reputation, said Irving Baron, who has lived on Hicksville Road for 43 years.
According to the 2000 census, 35 percent of the housing consists of buildings with 50-plus units, many by the beach. Wavecrest Gardens, for example, offers 1,661 market-rate units in 10 buildings from Beach 20th to Beach 24th Street.
Even so, the area has lost many affordable units in recent years, as Ocean Park Apartments, two towers near Beach 17th Street, left the Mitchell-Lama program in 2006. So did the former Roy Reuther House, at 711 Seagirt Avenue, where many of the 916 units overlook Atlantic Beach.
Far Rockaway has projects, too: the Redfern Houses, a 604-unit 19-acre complex along Beach Channel Drive.
What You'll Pay
The prices of the homes that do sell are off 15 percent in a year, brokers say, noting a certain appeal to buyers in that statistic. But homes are lingering for up to a year, when in 2005 they often changed hands in two months, they add.
And supply could shoot up in 2008, according to Ms. Doresca; in mid-January, there were 270 homes for sale on the whole Rockaway peninsula, and as owners suffer mortgage trouble, that inventory could top 400 this year.
Currently, the market's low end is a one-story 1940 bungalow on Beach 24th Street, with three bedrooms and a bath, for $279,000, according to the Stratus multiple listings service. At the high end is a 1920 Colonial Revival in Bayswater, with 3,000 square feet, for $800,000.
The median price is $550,000, which can now buy a two-family built in the last few years, with three bedrooms upstairs and two below, usually off Mott Avenue, the main commercial drag.
Taxes in Queens are about a third of what they would be in Nassau. A three-bedroom one-family in Lawrence might have a $6,000 bill, Ms. Doresca said; here, it would be closer to $2,000.
The Schools
Some schools here have issues.
Public School 104 in Bayswater covers kindergarten through Grade 6. Last year, 44 percent of fourth graders met standards on the state reading exam, 75 percent on the math. Citywide percentages were 56 and 74.
Intermediate School 53, the Brian Piccolo School, teaches Grades 6 through 8. On the 2007 state exams, 19 percent of eighth-graders met standards in reading, 21 percent in math. City percentages were 42 and 46, respectively.
As for Far Rockaway High School, the city announced last month that this year's freshman class would be its last. A long record of poor academic performance and a low graduation rate means it will be broken apart into four smaller, specialized schools under the same roof, said Andrew Jacob, a spokesman for the Education Department.
Last year, 42 percent of seniors graduated. SAT averages were 371 on the reading, 362 in math and 369 in writing, versus 502, 515 and 494 statewide.
What to Do
Some residents take advantage of the neighborhood's beachfront, biking along the 40-foot-wide promenade that hugs East Rockaway Inlet. On a recent afternoon, out beyond dunes tufted with grass, a sketch artist sat bundled in a coat on a jetty with her drawing paper.
The area, with few bars or restaurants, is dominated by nail salons and 99-cent stores. A place called Corner Cuisine, on New Haven Avenue and Beach 20 Street, beats the fast-food joints. It has Haitian specialties; a small order of rice, beans and chicken is $6.
The Commute
The A train groans over a trestle and makes two stops, but if you're in the western half of the neighborhood, you can jump on the Long Island Rail Road, which often requires a transfer at Jamaica but arrives at Pennsylvania Station in about 60 minutes during rush hour. A monthly pass is $178.
As for buses, the Q22 runs along Seagirt Boulevard, while Q22A loops through Bayswater. Q113 cuts eastward around Kennedy Airport.
There are also three Long Island buses: the N31, N32 and N33.
The History
The gate at the end of Mott Avenue is locked. But come warm weather, there will again be access to a 14-acre chunk of Bayswater Point State Park, along Norton Basin, home a century ago to Breezy Point, the summer retreat of Louis Heinsheimer, a banker of the era.
[Illustration]PHOTO: WATER VIEWS: The shoreline is a natural asset in Far Rockaway, an ethnically diverse neighborhood that otherwise has had its ups and downs. About 50 of 180 houses now on the market are being sold by banks.(PHOTOGRAPHS BY G. PAUL BURNETT/THE NEW YORK TIMES)MAP Map details area of Far Rockaway, Queens.