This week, as part of my Every Neighborhood in New York project, I visited Bayswater, a quiet enclave on the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens. Once described as one of the “brightest gems in the crown of Rockaway’s supremacy as a watering place,” it a...
This week, as part of my Every Neighborhood in New York project, I visited Bayswater, a quiet enclave on the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens. Once described as one of the “brightest gems in the crown of Rockaway’s supremacy as a watering place,” it attracted wealthy New Yorkers who built grand mansions along Jamaica Bay—most of which have long since disappeared. The tip of the peninsula, once home to the largest estate of all, is now the seventeen-acre Bayswater Point State Park, typically empty, save for a few (brave)people fishing and an enthusiastic cohort of plane spotters armed with massive telephoto lenses. Its most notorious resident was “Big Bill” Devery, the six-foot-tall, 260-pound NYPD chief who was one of the most corrupt figures in the department’s history. He famously advised his men to “hear nothing, see nothing, say nothing—eat, drink, and pay nothing.” Forced out during reform, he parlayed his graft into a stake in a Baltimore baseball team, moved it to New York, and eventually sold it to Jacob Ruppert, who renamed it the Yankees. submitted by /u/chacabuo74 [link] [comments]
