A Visit to Floyd Bennett Field
Believe it or not, we’d never really visited Floyd Bennett Field before.
Photo by Brownstoner
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Believe it or not, we’d never really visited Floyd Bennett Field before. We’d driven past on the way to Jacob Riis beach, but last weekend was the first time we drove and walked around the deserted 1930’s airfield. Needless to say, it’s a pretty incredible experience that every Brooklynite should check out. Above are some photos from the day.
Last Saturday my MG club did some vintage racing. Sorry you missed it, it was a blast. There’s a tour of vintage planes that are being restored in one of the hangers. It’s open to the public. Ever wonder what retired WW2 pilots do in their spare time?
One of my favorite places in NYC. I used to get one of the community garden plots there for several years where I grew our own vegetables. Wild blackberries abound and provided a delicious dessert after our meals. Of course, the cost of driving out there from Park Slope exceeded the savings on veggies but the serenity of the location more than made up for that.
I taught my son to drive my stick shift out there. One time, when the kids were still really young, I took both son and daughter for a hike through the nature reserve and, with the high bushes obscuring the normally visible Manhattan skyline, lost all sense of direction and had no idea how to lead my family out if the wilderness. With dusk impending, I actually had visions of having to spend the night sleeping in the open with my kids! Thankfully I managed to find our way out.
One year I grew three plants of questionable legality in a well-hidden clearing (with a conveniently situated hose bib within thirty feet or so) in the brush at the back if the model airplane flying area. Not well-hidden enough though, I guess, because there disappeared a couple of weeks before flowering.
Other memories include watching gas-powered model car racing, horseshoe crabs engaging in incredibly long mating sessions on the beach, cricket matches featuring players who seemed way beyond amateur status, in-line skaters being propelled by parasails….the list of things that you never expect to see within the confines of the citiy goes on.
I dare anyone to goto the campgrounds near the eastern side of the “park” and witness the underworld of sub-hipster culture that exists there.
People live there, not camp, I expected to see kids with their dads and moms cooking up burgers and carving wood.
But no, there was a large tent that was spray painted with, “Kids we have candy.” A guy was drinking some brown liquid hooch, another tidying up his mobile meth lab and two girls romping around topless.
The stench was indescribable and nothing that any campsite could ever replicate.
Floyd Bennet is a great park. They’ve been using a portion of the space for athletic activities, a night club with food and drink, weekday senior activities, and, I think something like an Oktoberfest, for the past several years or more. It’s a great park. You can bring your bike and ride on a pretty untrafficked bike path, too.
There are similarly gigantic, former aircraft hangars next to a former military training area near New Dorp Beach in Staten Island. Those are unfortunately just used for storage.
COOOOL!
Never knew it was accessible to the public.
um, were there ‘No Trespassing’ signs and you ignored them?
Last time I was out at the Rockaways, looking for the beaches, we made a wrong turn onto Gov’t property and was stopped and questioned for 30 minutes. They’re weren’t pleasant about our mistake. Turned me off to going back that way. I would like to explore the rockaways tho. I need a guide. Maybe Benson.
This is a sad waste of space. They should build a huge residential development there. New York of the 21st Century type stuff.
I just don’t see it as a park.
So cool. Back when I used to direct lots of music videos I was always writing ideas that were set here. Nobody ever bit unfortunately but it is one of those places just made for a movie set.