Memorial Day weekend is upon us which means that New York City's beaches will be officially opening for business. This year, a new strip of sand will be added to the parks department for the whole summer: Cedar Grove Beach in Staten Island. The beach was a private community until 2010 when the city closed the rental community of 40 bungalows, and last July, the beach partially opened to the public. Not only does the beach now have public restrooms and a handicap accessible path, but it's getting its own piece of public art, the Mistwave by Padilla-Harris. Constructed from recycled scaffolding materials, the MistWave is an interactive sculpture that's shaped like a wave and blows mist (who would have guessed!) to cool off beach-goers who can't be bothered with the ocean. The installation opens this weekend and will be up through Labor Day.
Like everything in New York, Cedar Grove is not without controversy. The only reason the beach is now public, for the first time in 99 years, is because the city decided to stop renting the pre-war beach bungalows to the 40 families who lived there. Currently, the bungalows are gated off from the rest of the beach, and their demolition is underway. So while Cedar Grove may be less crowded than the Rockaways this summer, the sound of a wrecking ball may drown out the crash of the waves.
· MistWave 2012 at Cedar Grove Beach [Mistwave]
· MistWave Project [Padilla-Harris]
· Cedar Grove coverage [Curbed]
Loading comments...