Friday, November 25, 2016

Park Service looking to refurbish Jacob Riis Bathhouse


From CBS 2:

With colder weather and the holidays upon us, you may not be thinking about your summer beach plans.

But as CBS2’s Brian Conybeare reported, the National Park Service is.

In fact, the agency is trying to restore the historic bathhouse on Rockaway Beach with the help of private investors.

The iconic bathhouse at Jacob Riis Park in Queens has been virtually abandoned for decades. Built in 1932, the art deco pavilion was a popular summer destination for New York’s working poor and immigrants – with restaurants, a surf shop, and a mile-long white sand beach.

But time, neglect, and storms took their toll.

The Park Service is now looking for bidders to reopen parts of the bathhouse with dining, concessions, arts, and an event space for next summer. But the second floor, which housed a Howard Johnson’s hotel in the 1960s, will obviously take much longer.

The second floor now looks like modern-day ruins, with crumbling ceilings and rotting bathrooms.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Queens is filled with ruins. Blame the corrupt Queens Democratic Machine that has neglected the historic sites of our Boro for decades.

Anonymous said...

Lavender headquarters....definitely historic.

JQ LLC said...

So the Parks Dept. is going to use the 421a method to fix the bathhouse that has been declared a historical landmark since 1981. I'm not an elected or assigned official, but instead of giving tax breaks to private businesses, most likely LLC's and developers, who continue to hoard their corporate welfare plunder, why don't they use money from the 47 million that Schumer and Gillebrand bought to the coast from the feds for repairs from Sandy.

http://theforumnewsgroup.com/2016/11/10/pols-announce-47m-in-fed-funds-for-sandy-related-repairs-in-rockaway/

And what about the Riis Park Bazaar that's been there the past 2 years? I have seen the boardwalk there refurbished with tables, benches and banners, what looks like a industry beer maker by the toilet, and an upscale restaurant by the toilets, while the bathhouse got ignored in addition to the grassy BBQ area.

Unless those Brooklyn hipshit promoters got tax breaks too. All this stinks to high hell.

Anonymous said...

Please not some tacky, butt-ugly Trump shit!

Liman said...

Growing up in Cypress Hills (early 1960s), infrequent rides to the beach were as good as it got. The "beach" was often Rockaway which was fine... but if Dad wanted to drive a few extra minutes in whatever jalopy we had... Riis Park. Pronounced "Reeses' Park" in the original Brooklynese. Wow. That was living... it was less crowded, almost elegant. Even as a kid, I could tell the difference. Cleaner, more room to play. Several times in the last 20 years I drove by... sad. Worse and worse. Really a testament to how little the City cares for the outer boroughs.

Anonymous said...

Who will want to open a business if the sea will destroy it? They'll have to build a seawall to protect the building.

JQ LLC said...

I also don't work in construction but I find it quite stupid that parks and rec had the floors fixed and put up a couple cheap garage doors instead of fixing the roof.

There are certain folks running a business out there right now. I don't want to promote them by mentioning their names but some of them got cash from the city converting their posh motel into a shelter. Something stinks over there.

Another thing, the tide comes in over the boardwalk. I have seen lots of sand in the playground areas.

This news segment was a sales pitch by the way. I felt bad for the park ranger, she didn't look to thrilled giving that guy a tour of the "renovations"

Anonymous said...

Wait a minnit! The National Parks Dept has neglected the property for decades and they're looking for someone from the private sector to restore the buildings. I call bullshit. Accept responsibility for your fuckups, parks!

Anonymous said...

Hipsters need clean upscale bathrooms and lets not forget all the the neutral gender bathrooms that will be needed !