Rockaway Beach

"Chewing out a rhythm on my bubble gum
The sun is out and I want some
It's not hard, not far to reach
We can hitch a ride
To Rockaway Beach

Up on the roof, out on the street
Down in the playground the hot concrete
Bus ride is too slow
They blast out the disco on the radio"

I walked in the steps of the Ramones this weekend and made my way to Rockaway beach. It is at the far end of the A-trains route and then some. A long journey, I did not check my watch but it must have taken somewhere between 1,5 and 2 hours one way.
The beach is long and well cleaned. The same can not truthfully be said about the town at the beach. It is built of mostly low wooden houses, standing at a tilt, with the porch almost falling in to the swampy water following the track that an older boat already took some 5 years ago.
You get a feeling that the place is run by some former beach-bum surfer who´s heart beats for America (Fuck yeah!) and has no concept of environment except for the well guarded and cleaned beach. The urban area next to the beach has a very American small town feel paired with Spanish Beach resort in the worst possible way. Or wait a minute, I was only there day time and could not make out a single disco so maybe you should take away the whores and the thieves from that Spanish resort. But the sales men and the garbage and the junk-food and plastic toys and hats which reads 'Tailand' was all there. All in all a pretty good day.