Latest news with #RockawayBeach
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Travel + Leisure
13 hours ago
- Travel + Leisure
This Scenic Train Ride in an Old-fashioned Locomotive Has Open-air Cars and Seaside Stops
On a stretch of the Oregon Coast where pine-covered hills roll to the Pacific Ocean, an old-fashioned steam locomotive chugs along the shoreline, offering an unhurried view of the landscape. The Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad is a heritage railway that runs between the small towns of Garibaldi and Rockaway Beach, carrying passengers through a cinematic slice of coastal Oregon past tidal flats, fishing boats, and weathered piers. The train's signature trip, the Oregon Coastal Excursion - Rockaway Beach & Garibaldi, departs from either Rockaway Beach or Garibaldi and ends in the opposite town. The 30-minute journey includes onboard narration that shares the history of the route and sights along the way along with nonstop views of both the Oregon seaside and thick, coastal forest. Upon arrival at your destination—be it Rockaway Beach or Garibaldi—you have 30 minutes to checkout local restaurants and shops or head to the beach before reboarding the train and returning to your starting destination. (Travelers can book a later return time if they want more than 30 minutes to explore.) Most trips are 90 minutes roundtrip, with a 30-minute train ride each way and a 30-minute layover. The Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad has both indoor and outdoor, open-air cars. Travelers who want to travel indoors can choose from a 'Coach Car' with cushioned seats and windows that can slide open or a 'Table Car,' which has two- and four-seat tables with chairs and windows that can slide open. The outdoor car options include a 'Covered Open Car' with bench seats and a roof and a fully 'Open Top Car,' which has bench seats, but no roof. Dogs and other small pets, like cats, are allowed on the train, but only in the two outdoor car types. The train is also wheelchair accessible via a wheelchair lift that's located at the Garibaldi Station. With that in mind, travelers in wheelchairs will need to board the train in Garibaldi and travel north to Rockaway Beach. It is important to note that there is no lift at Rockaway Beach, so wheelchair travelers have to stay on board for the 30 minute layover. If you need the lift to board, arrive at Garibaldi Station at least 30 minutes before the set departure time. Tickets for the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad start at $32 for adults and $24 for children ages 3 to 12. Seniors are $27 and infants are free. Tickets can be purchased online, in advance at Typically, the train is pulled by a 99 year-old steam locomotive, but occasionally, the steam locomotive is replaced with a historic diesel locomotive. The locomotive type is noted at checkout.
Vogue
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Vogue
Yigal Azrouël Resort 2026 Collection
Rather than taking inspiration from a specific source, like his jogs along the West Side Highway or surf sessions at Rockaway Beach, Yigal Azrouël embraced the more esoteric this season. 'I like the idea of imperfection,' he said. 'It's about work in progress.' Still, there is palpable consideration in his work. Flowing dresses are finished with leather belted halter necks; an airy trench is made from recycled parachute fabric. Outerwear also continues to shine, like the black pebbled leather jacket with white piping and the twill chore coats with distressed leather accents. Denim, another one of the designer's stalwarts, did a lot of heavy lifting in this offering. 'Denim is something that I really feel strongly about,' Azrouël said. Stone-washed trousers are made of a silk-cotton blend, while others are more heavy-duty, like the indigo Japanese denim jacket with brown leather binding. Azrouël is at his best when he embraces an unfussy, summer-in-the-city kind of energy. One highlight is the lightweight, sheer maxi dress, fashioned out of a singular piece of draped fabric. The slouchy brown leather boyfriend jacket, which he styled with lightweight denim paper bag shorts, was another strong look, emblematic of his masculine-meets-feminine ethos. It's those hero pieces that he should continue to lean.
New York Times
25-05-2025
- General
- New York Times
The Beaches Are Open in New York City. So Are the Lifeguard Chairs.
New York City's 14 miles of public beaches opened for the season on Saturday, moving the city one step closer to the official start of summer. And with the opening of the beaches came the lifeguards. Before 10 a.m., groups of them made their way to posts across the city, from Orchard Beach in the Bronx to Rockaway Beach in Queens. Not long after, one group sprang into action on Coney Island. 'We've already got someone on the jetty,' one lifeguard said to another. And then they were off, jogging out to the rocks, whistles blaring. The city had 280 lifeguards certified as of Saturday, according to the Parks and Recreation Department. That's well short of full staffing for the city's beaches and pools, but 50 more than were available on Memorial Day weekend last year. City officials say that's a somewhat encouraging sign as the city struggles to address a yearslong lifeguard shortage — a common affliction among parks departments across the country. Sue Donoghue, the parks commissioner, said she expected overall staffing to grow over the next few weeks as students finish classes and summer officially arrives. There are 374 new lifeguards currently enrolled in training classes, according to the department, and returning lifeguards are expected to join up in time for the height of summer. Last year, the city had certified more than 900 lifeguards by Fourth of July weekend, up from just 230 at the start of beach season. 'Last year, we saw a 45 percent increase in new recruits, and we're very confident that with the changes we're continuing to implement, that we'll see that number even grow,' Ms. Donoghue said. Despite the improvements last year, the city fell short of the 1,400 lifeguards it needed to be fully staffed. Ms. Donoghue said the department was prepared to make accommodations this year, such as reducing pool capacity, if it didn't have enough lifeguards available. Still, she was hopeful that incentives like a slightly increased hourly wage — $22, up from $21.26 in 2023 — and a $1,000 signing bonus for returning lifeguards would help. This off-season, the Parks Department even made an effort to spruce up its lifeguard stations, repainting and adding amenities like fridges and microwaves, to make the job more attractive and comfortable. Gavin Erickson, 30, has been a city lifeguard for a decade. He started his first beach shift on Saturday in a sweatshirt, overseeing a stretch of sand at Rockaway Beach that was mostly deserted in the morning. He has worked at the beach for three summers and knows how to spot dangers, like a rip current forming in the choppy, frigid waters. 'You have to know your water, is the main thing,' he said, with a nod toward the empty surf. 'Obviously, when the water's cold, that makes my job easier.' Many beachgoers said on Saturday that seeing lifeguards out and about gave them a little more peace of mind, whether or not they braved the chilly surf. Antonio De Leon lives in Brooklyn and visits Coney Island regularly with his wife and daughters, 4 and 11. He was pleasantly surprised Saturday to see lifeguards on duty. 'They do a good job, but my kids know to be careful when there's no one on the beach,' Mr. De Leon, 32, said in Spanish. 'We honestly got used to just watching out for them more as there weren't as many lifeguards,' he added. Vlad Moroz and Anastasiia Horokhivska-Moroz live just steps from the boardwalk on Coney Island. But in the two and a half years they've lived there, they said, they had never seen a lifeguard on duty. Instead, when they wanted to swim, they made their way to a different stretch of beach. 'It's the beach, it gets busy,' said Ms. Horokhivska-Moroz, 35. 'It's better for the whole community, for everyone here, when there are lifeguards.' Out on Rockaway Beach, Anastasios Zaharopoulos watched from a beach chair as his sons, 12-year-old twins, splashed in the surf. Mr. Zaharopoulos, 45, lives nearby and said he had noticed fewer lifeguards in recent years, so much so that he saw an opportunity for his sons. 'I'm trying to get these two into lifeguard training for their first summer jobs,' he said of the twins, Evan and Achilles. The boys are still a few years away from trying out — the minimum age for lifeguards is 16 — but Ms. Donoghue is hoping to make it easier for them to do so when they're old enough. This year, for the first time, the city held lifeguard qualifying exams and training classes in four of New York's five boroughs. Before, both the test and the 16 weeks of training sessions could be taken only in a single pool in Manhattan, which meant burdensome commutes for many would-be recruits. 'You want to make it as easy as possible,' Ms. Donoghue said of the recruitment process. 'This is one of the important ways that we're looking to do it, to provide open opportunities for kids closer to home.' To that end, the Parks Department has partnered with the city's public schools, using their pool facilities to host the tests and training courses and recruiting teenagers directly from high school swim teams. The city has also worked to make it easier to pass the qualifying test. In 2023, the minimum standard to pass was relaxed from swimming 50 yards in 35 seconds to swimming 50 yards in 50 seconds. And this year, for the first time, the city offered aspiring lifeguards the opportunity to practice for the test with a swim instructor before trying out. The city has loosened the requirements to work at some small, shallow pools. The change came after a bitter contract renegotiation last year with the powerful lifeguard union. As beach season kicks off, Ms. Donoghue is emphasizing the importance of staying safe. Last summer, seven people drowned at city beaches, several of them teenagers who had been swimming when lifeguards weren't on duty. For the families enjoying the beach on Saturday, the lifeguards offered some measure of protection. But Mr. Zaharopoulos said New Yorkers should remain vigilant no matter what. 'You have to respect the water,' he said. 'Be alert. Be careful. It's a beautiful monster, the ocean.'
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
A Section of Rockaway Beach Is Closed to Surfing (and Swimming) for the 2025 Season
Two years and some $12 million of beach replenishment to the tune of 360,000 cubic yards of beach replenishment on the western edge of Rockaway Beach has, sadly, done little to remediate erosion and dangerous surfing and swimming conditions. After the passing of a surfer this spring and two teens last year, the National Parks Service has decided to prohibit surfing and surf-bathing along the beach this summer. Jacob Riis Beach has about as storied a past as any in New York City. It has been envisioned and re-envisioned any number of ways, and it has borne witness to a number of cultural and countercultural movements. Being positioned on the far western edge of Long Island, it has also been the subject of shifting sands—thanks to hurricanes and developers alike. The result has been a mess of sand moving every which way, which unfortunately exposes old pilings, jetties, and concrete walls comprising a series of 14 bays that simply have not stood up to the test of time, which, frankly, is the same old story told. That series of bays and the disbursement of sand from the jetties, pilings, and walls can, on occasion anyhow, set up some good surf for those who know when and where to look. No easy feat. And it's no easy feat to surf, either. Sebastián Lasaosa Rogers, the 35-year-old surfer and filmmaker who perished at the beach was among a small pod of surfers when his board was spotted tombstoning among the pilings. Surfers and rescuers did what they could, The Rockaway Times reported, but 20 minutes of CPR proved no National Park Service told New York City nonprofit newsroom Gothamist that it does not intend to deposit any more sand in the area in the near future, and that for now, Bay 1 will remain closed for the summer. Still, much of that section of beach remains unfinished and in disrepair following recent hurricanes, and entering the water anywhere around the western edge of the beach is best done with extreme caution, or not at all. It's also worth noting that this isn't the first such loss of life on the old wooden piers along Rockaway Beach, and many have called for their removal, particularly since the rock jetties were put in place, but that—whether you ask the National Park Service or the Army Core of Engineers—is easier (and cheaper) said than done. For now, there are plenty of safer spots to find a wave without razor-sharp piling remnants plaguing the lineup, tempting though that uncrowded lineup may be. Stay safe out there, folks.A Section of Rockaway Beach Is Closed to Surfing (and Swimming) for the 2025 Season first appeared on Surfer on May 24, 2025
