I grew up in the Rockaways, and have lived far away from here for many years. My heart and soul are still in the Rockaways tho’. Thank you for this gift. Please keep me advised on the progress of this endeavor. And again, thanks!!

I grew up on 60th Street a block from the ocean. The bungalows were the nucleus of life from late June through Labor Day as the portable population of “Summer People” made their way in. In the 60s as they were being torn down, my parents began salvaging wooden medicine cabinets from the bungalows, refinishing them and making little objets d’art that eventually became their business.

It’s one of the filmmakers writing - it’s so great to read the entries by all of you with Rockaway/bungalow memories, and to hear of your interest in the film. Any photos of Boggianos and/or Seaside would be very appreciated. Please contact us at bungalowdoc@yahoo.com if you have photos and/or to get on our email update list. Thank you -

My family and I moved to Wavecrest Gardens during the summer of 1953. Our building was on the sw corner of Crest Road and Seagirt Blvd. Within days my sister and I had met at least a dozen boys and girls and we all became friends. To this day we are still in touch with some. Living on the “beach block” was a good thing for me because I wasn’t allowed to cross Seagirt. My friends and I loved waiting for the Good Humor man on Crest circle at the boardwalk, and spending time at the Wavecrest playground. GoodFortune Carole

I grew up in a winterized bungalow 312A B. 39th St. Took my children back a couple of years ago and its still standing! What a wonderful place to grow up! Every summer the place came alive with the “summer people” so many adventures! We loved climbing on the bungalows in fall and winter and the old hotels too….
Any chance of the wonderful boardwalk concessions coming back….what a wonderful world it was up there! everything from miniature golf, to bumper cars to a movie theater….
Thanks for the documentary…hoping the efforts Richard is making will preserve and even bring the Rockaways back to where they were in the 50’s,60’s and 70’s

Everything is gone. Baywater looks like the HOOD. The beach is so far away now it takes a day to walk down to the water.

It is so sad what happened to the Rockaways prime land went to waste. Thank G-d for the memories I have nobody can take that away from me.

i lived at 6407 larkin ave. between 64th and 65th sts. in the forties. there was a small synogogue across the street. and a bungalow colony. there was also a bungalow bar ice cream truck on the boardwalk on 65th st. i attended hili yeshiva in far rockaway but my sister lola attended p.s. 42. my father was a waiter at bergers restaurant in far rockaway. later he was head waiter in the hall at the synogogue in rockaway park. my friends and i always played in and around the bungalows and rooming houses. stickball in the streets and other games we invented. how i loved rockaway beach!

When we where crazy kids we go “roof jumping” there. You could jump from roof to roof from seagert to the beach without ever touching the ground(DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME KIDS)

On the weekends. we,(my mom,dad,brother,cousins and Grandparents headed down to Battery Park and got on the Rockaway Ferry To head over to Paradise.
We never thought we had less than the Rich because we had our Rockaway,Playland and if we were lucky we even got a ice cream cone.
My dad would take us along the jetty to show us the Mussels stuck along the sea jetty.
The best memories as a child was being together as a family and having a great time .We were rich with fun on a day out to Rockaway

I was so moved by visions of the bungalows; I hardly know where to begin. My grandparents owned bungalows on 43rd St. in Edgemere, on the bay side. I was born in Rockaway Beach Hospital, as was my dad, and lived at 64-01 Larkin Ave; next door to Marc Spieser, but didn’t know him. Went to P.S. 42 Q, J.H.S. 198, & F.R.H.S., and worked summers at Rockaways Playland, across the street from Boggiano’s. I remember Sid & Irv’s, and played in the American Irish Band, then located on 103rd. St. I had friends in Wavecrest Gardens. My parents moved out in 1965, when I was in college.
What no one has mentioned is that between Labor Day & Memorial Day the bungalows, summer houses, and beach area were gaunt & lonely, like an Edward Hopper painting. The last time I went back there, my entire youth was gone, flattened, and the only way I found a few landmarks was to locate where Larkin Ave branched off from the Boulevard near the landmarked Synagogue and count the blocks; even the street signs were gone. I want to see this documentary, but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to take it emotionally.

We were Rockaway “summer people” from the time I was born in 1950 until my parents had to give up their bungalow on Beach 87th Street about 5 years ago. My mother had gone there from the time she was a young girl until she was in her late 70’s. We had bungalows at Grady’s on 88th Street, Gray’s on 87th Street and spent a number of years in a bungalow called the Castle on Old 88th Street. Sid & Irv’s on 92nd Street had the best cherry lime rickeys and egg creams and Angelo’s Pizzeria had great pizza.I had my summer friends and my winter friends and it was the best of both worlds. We had a great time during the summer with fireworks, dances, bazaars and singing in the choir in St. Rose of Lima with my summer friends. We would walk every where with our transistor radios tuned to Cousin Brucie and the WMCA Good Guys.Only one of us won a good guy sweat shirt, a prized possession. During summer sleepovers we would call WMCA from the phone booth at Sam’s grocery store on Beach 87th Street and the DJ would announce all of our names on the radio. We thought we were hot stuff. We didn’t realize then that it was the best time of our lives.

(Barbara’s brother) I also went to St Camillus and our older brother worked at some boardwalk cafe near playland before he got drafted. We lived on 92 and 93 streets and would as kids ‘explore’ the bungalows after the ‘city slickers’ left.