Far Rockaway, Queens



Far Rockaway is the easternmost neighborhood on the east-west Rockaway Peninsula in the New York City borough of Queens in the United States. The neighborhood starts at Beach 32nd Street and extends east to the Nassau County line. It is part of Queens Community Board 14. . "Rockaway" may have meant "place of sands" in the Munsee language of the Native American Lenape. Other spellings include Requarkie, Rechouwakie, Rechaweygh, Rechquaakie and Reckowacky (see: Toponymy of New Netherland).

Transportation
Access to Manhattan is available via the IND Rockaway Line subway service, which enters Rockaway near the middle of the peninsula and splits west and east to terminuses at Rockaway Park and at Mott Avenue. Both lines are elevated throughout the Rockaway Peninsula.

The nearby Far Rockaway station is the terminus for the Long Island Rail Road's Far Rockaway Branch, providing full service to Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan and to Flatbush Avenue / Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn. The line is unique in that trains cross the New York City line and make local stops in Nassau County before crossing back into Queens and terminating at Far Rockaway. Passengers can "change at Jamaica" between the various destinations and other LIRR lines. During rush hour, express service bypasses Jamaica station.

Residents of Far Rockaway thus have two options for rail access to Manhattan, an uncommon situation that provides a backup for commuters in the event of service disruptions on either system.

The LIRR Far Rockaway Branch was part of a loop that traveled along the existing route, continuing through the Rockaway Peninsula and heading on a trestle across Jamaica Bay through Queens, where it reconnected with other branches. Frequent fires and maintenance problems led the LIRR to abandon the Queens portion of the route, which was acquired by the city to become the IND Rockaway Line, with service provided by the A train.

Education
The neighborhood, like all of New York City, is served by the New York City Department of Education. Far Rockaway residents are zoned to several elementary schools:
 * P.S. 43
 * P.S. 104 The Bayswater School
 * P.S. 105 The Bay School
 * P.S. 106
 * P.S. 197 The Ocean School
 * P.S. 215 Lucretia Mott
 * P.S. 253

Far Rockaway residents are zoned to I.S. 53 Brian Piccolo.

All New York City residents who wish to attend a public high school must apply. Far Rockaway High School is in Far Rockaway, and Beach Channel High School is near Far Rockaway.

Stella Maris High School, an all-girls Catholic high school, is located adjacent to the beach.

Schools (past and present)

 * Chaim Berlin High School
 * Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway(HAFTR)
 * Mesivta Chaim Shlomo
 * Bnois Bais Yaacov
 * Tichon Meir Moshe
 * Sh'or Yoshuv Institute of Jewish Studies
 * Siach Yitzchok Elementary School for Boys
 * Torah Academy for Girls
 * Yeshiva Darchei Torah
 * Yeshiva of Far Rockaway

Synagogues (past and present)

 * Agudath Israel of Long Island
 * Agudath Israel of Rockaway
 * Agudath Israel of West Lawrence
 * Bayswater Jewish Center
 * Beis Medrash Ateres Yisroel (Rabbi Avraham Blumenkranz)
 * Bnos Israel Institute (Rabbi Shmelke Rubin)
 * Congregation Kneseth Israel in Far Rockaway
 * Congregation Shaarey Tefila
 * Congregation Shaarey Zedek
 * Congregation Shomrai Shabbos
 * Young Israel of Far Rockaway

Famous residents

 * Richard Bey (born 1951), talk show host.
 * Baruch Samuel Blumberg (born 1925), 1942 graduate of Far Rockaway High School; won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1976.
 * Father MC - Successful rap hip-hop artist in the 1990s. Signed with the very popular Uptown Records.
 * Joyce Brothers (born 1925), family psychologist and advice columnist (1928-)
 * Morton Feldman (1926-1987), American modernist composer.
 * Richard Feynman (1918-1988), physicist and Nobel Prize laureate.
 * Carl Icahn (born 1936), businessman.
 * Stubby Kaye (1918–1997, born Bernard Sholm Kotzin), comic actor.
 * Alan M. Kriegsman (born 1928) Born in Brooklyn, but raised in Far Rockaway; graduated from Far Rockaway High School; won Pulitzer Prize in Criticism (1976), the first and thus far (2010) only such Prize awarded for writings on the art of dance.
 * Nancy Lieberman (born 1958), women's basketball pioneer.
 * Steve Madden (born 1958), shoe designer and former CEO of Steve Madden Ltd.
 * Alice Nielsen (1872-1943), Broadway performer and operatic soprano
 * Phil Ochs (1940–1976), folk-protest singer (resided here for a period during childhood; also died at his sister's home here).
 * Robyn Ochs (born 1958), bisexual and marriage equality activist
 * Kelly Price (born 1973), R & B singer
 * Rammellzee (1960-2010), rap pioneer.
 * Burton Richter - 1948 graduate of Far Rockaway High School; won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1976.
 * Russell Sage (1816-1906), railroad tycoon whose legacy is the First Presbyterian Church of Far Rockaway.
 * MC Serch (born 1967 as Michael Berrin), former member of the hip hop group 3rd Bass.
 * Raymond Smullyan (born 1919), mathematician.
 * Steve Stevens (born 1959 as Steve Schneider) Grammy Award winning guitarist for UK rocker Billy Idol.
 * Craig Strong (born 1968 as Craig Bistrong), actor, voice-over actor, realtor and CEO of VoiceStarz, Inc. (http://www.voicestarz.com)
 * Herbert Sturhahn (born 1902), football player elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.
 * Danny Sullivan (born 1950), race car driver.
 * Lord Superb MC renown for his work on Ghostface's album Supreme Clientele.
 * Stack Bundles Known rapper from Far Rockaway. (Deceased)