The first time Alexis de la Rosa heard about Jacob Riis Beach, he was told it was gay, diverse, and safe. “That was enough for me to make the journey despite the long distance [from the Bronx],” the actor and DJ says. He was not disappointed: “Riis is a haven,” he adds. It’s a feeling shared by seemingly every queer person in the New York area.
“Everyone is always talking about Riis,” says Paige Viti, 30, a collage artist and producer. “It’s…a gay paradise.” And everyone remembers what they heard about Riis before their first visit. For Viti’s partner, concept designer Camerin Stoldt, 29, it was that Riis was always “nude, queer, and packed!” Photographer Eric McArthur, 28, says he felt welcomed before he even got there. But model and writer Capri Jones, 25, insists that you can’t understand the importance of the place without setting foot on its storied sand. “You can hear about Riis all day long,” he says, “and it still won’t compare to the moment you arrive.”
Jacob Riis Beach, known as the People’s Beach or simply Riis, has been a culturally and socially significant gathering space for the queer community since the 1940s. Audre Lorde wrote about sunbathing at Riis in her 1982 biomythography Zami: A New Spelling of My Name. Torrey Peters included Riis in her 2021 novel Detransition, Baby. And if you’re a queer New Yorker scrolling through Instagram in the summer, you’ll see photo after photo of friends, exes, lovers, and strangers who may one day become family dressed in nearly nothing as they enjoy Riis.
At a time when queer and trans rights are under attack and when so many people in our community feel justified fear and despair, having a public place to convene and experience pure queer joy is more important than ever. All the models photographed for this portfolio speak about the relief of getting away from the straight gaze, from the gawking, and from the potential violence that exists at other beaches. Photographer Tamara Blake Chapman, 25, describes getting to Riis as “a major exhale.” Stoldt agrees: “It’s an escape.”
The joy that everyone feels describing a typical day at Riis is palpable. Everyone alludes to the special way time moves at the beach: melting and blurring, creating one long, perfect, queer summer memory. There’s never cell service, so you have no choice but to be present. “The days feel long and serene,” McArthur says.
Yet the future of Riis is currently in question.
In 2022, NYC Health + Hospitals decided to demolish Neponsit Hospital, a former tuberculosis sanatorium and nursing home known as “the asylum” to beachgoers. For years it had functioned as something of a barrier to the outside world, providing shade and privacy at Riis. With the demolition now complete, the city is currently deciding what to do with the beach moving forward.
Many queer people have expressed fear and anger about losing the beach and are demanding to have a say in what happens at Riis next. Gays and Lesbians Living in a Transgender Society (GLITS) is developing a proposal for an LGBTQIA+ health and wellness center that would align with the current land deed and is investigating the possibility of establishing a land trust to maintain the site as queer space long-term. Other groups are also organizing; to learn more about the context of what’s happening at Riis, read this living document written by a small cohort of queer people who live in Rockaway; “Turning the Tide” by Dean Labowitz for Urban Omnibus; and this petition to preserve the cultural history and impact of Jacob Riis Beach.
The sentiment of the queer community feels clear: We must save Riis for all. The respect for the community history of Riis comes through when any present-day beachgoer talks about the scene there. “Each time I visit Riis, I’m aware of the differences in age among the crowd, which is part of what makes Riis so meaningful to me,” de la Rosa says. “Riis is a melting pot of different generations, which is beautiful to witness and be a part of.” Stoldt feels the same way. “People have been here long before me,” they say. “I really hope we can preserve this pocket of the beach for us, despite all the changes around…. We thrive here.”
