Bronx Beaches Are Mostly Private
A member of the American Turner Club had the place all to herself last week.
It may not be Miami, San Diego, or even the Rockaways, but the Bronx - yes, the Bronx - has 10 beaches where visitors can enjoy a summer swim.
While most people know about Orchard Beach along the sprawling shoreline of Long Island Sound in Pelham Bay Park, there are several lesser-known and less-crowded spots to take a dip in the waters of the northernmost borough.
Six of the sandy shores are side-by-side private beaches along a stretch of Clarence Ave. from Throgs Neck to Country Club. They accept new members, but require applicants to be sponsored by a current member in good standing.
“It’s a strip of heaven that we try to keep secret,” said Carol Richardson, who has been working at the American Turner Club, the largest club on the strip, for almost 20 years.
“Oh, wow. This is the Bronx?” she said people exclaim when they see the view from their 180-seat dining room, and from the beach for the first time.
The private club’s 200-foot-wide beach has brownish sand, a pier and a small lawn. There are rocks and some cigarette butts in the sand, making it an entryway to the water, not a spot for sunbathing.
All the beaches on the strip look out on City Island, and the smell of salt water makes the borough’s air pollution problems seem like they belong to another, distant place. The Health Department checks the water almost weekly and assures it is healthy for swimming.
The Danish American Beach Club down the street has a bar, dozens of picnic tables and a sun deck. It is only accessible to its 400 members, but the club accepts new members.
“I don’t think anyone realizes there are beach clubs like this. In the summer, you have to watch where you step because there are a million little children running around,” said Matt Curry, 32, the caretaker of the club, who lives on the property and was a member as a child.
Next door, a member of the White Cross Fishing Club said most people do not know about the strip and “that’s the way we like it.”
He said prospective members must be recommended by two members in good standing to join the 100-member club.
“Strictly private, for members only,” says a sign outside.
The Morris Yacht and Beach Club on City Island also has a beach -its waters are tested regularly for swimming - as do Locust Point and the Schuyler Hill Civic Association.
Orchard Beach is the largest Bronx beach, at 1.1 miles, and the only one run by the Parks and Recreation Department.
SOURCE: NYDailyNews.com
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