Plum Beach

elaine: 14th Jun 2005 - 06:09 GMT

i've never seen crabs like these. i could do with an affair right now, illicit or otherwise, perhaps i will go there and lay my eggs in the sand

elaine: 14th Jun 2005 - 09:01 GMT

pthpthpthpthpthpthpthpthpthpth, to you. i am, after all a cancerian and it is my birthday soon. i will lay eggs in the sand, and being a uk national i will wave my big crabby claws in the air and froth at the mouth too if i like

kc: 14th Jun 2005 - 14:10 GMT

happy birthday soon, cancerians! Although I think actually I think the horseshoes are in the spider family, but I could be wrong.

elaine: 14th Jun 2005 - 14:21 GMT

they look like bugs to me. even spider crabs look wrong to me, i lead a sheltered life.
yay peter, cancarians unite and froth at the mouth. bet you have scruffy table manners too...

KingHorse: 14th Jun 2005 - 15:34 GMT

Beautiful essay and photos. I'm still a little afraid of them, illogically, the way I'm afraid of zombies. I remember reading or hearing that their lineage is prehistoric in some way, maybe that they're one of the few remaining species that survived and look exactly the way they did in the dinosaur age.

GGP: 14th Jun 2005 - 15:38 GMT

love these lyrical shots. love these ancient, prehistoric, vulnerable survivors.

elaine: 14th Jun 2005 - 15:47 GMT

i think their scariness is a bit like arachnophobia, scuttle-y fast creatures that could get all over you in a body full of holes anxiety kind of a way. maybe that's why i have trouble pulling?

Anonymous (user-12hdr7o.cable.mindspring.com): 14th Jun 2005 - 19:12 GMT

This entry is beautiful.

rita: 15th Jun 2005 - 00:23 GMT

horseshoe crabs are actually nothing to be afraid of. they don't have any teeth (their mouth contains bristle-like things that rub together to grind up food) and do not sting at all. their pinchers don't hurt. they're basically harmless. there are horseshoe crabs at the ny aquaruim that you can touch and learn more about. i guess you could touch those in the pictures too, but you'd probably feel better with someone who can handle them around.

and they are really old, they live no longer than 65 years?? but they have been said to be around since the dinosaurs and are related to spiders. their blood is also very useful and is used in medical research.

kc: 15th Jun 2005 - 04:08 GMT

well, once you start handling them, you can get obsessed with turning them over. I'm not sure if this is good or not! I didn't know they could get that old. They seem to get to people. I was flipping them last time I was out there and a woman came over and asked if they were dangerous, because her boyfriend had been chasing her around with one and saying the tail could sting. And a little boy seemed very tempted to bash one with a stick.

jeeff: 15th Jun 2005 - 05:44 GMT

wow, i'm learning a lot about horseshoe crabs. thanks!

Peter: 15th Jun 2005 - 14:22 GMT

if you flip them, they lash their tail around and around until they are able to flip themselves over. they are very protective of their undersides, and as such, have adapted to become very good at flipping themselves right-side up...

GGP: 15th Jun 2005 - 16:22 GMT

i think kc meant 'flipping them over' as in rescuing the upsidedown ones to help them out. :)

elaine: 16th Jun 2005 - 15:09 GMT

and can i say, by the way, that i particularly like the whole article, including the shopping trolly. it is classic citynoise, you wouldn't see this breadth in a magazine or whatever

jack: 30th Jun 2005 - 16:46 GMT

years ago plum beach was the site for people to site each other. it was polluted in the 50's and worse now. although me thinks the pollution is less, since the crabs still live and breed but so do a lot of strange people. pictures are great. people are the ones to photograph, the hidden ones in the dunes, lurking, looking for an interlude.

kc: 30th Jun 2005 - 16:59 GMT

i suspect the people are the ones....haven't learned how to put black bars over the faces yet, though....are there any legal issues about these kinds of things? There would be for a newspaper, I believe...

Peter: 30th Jun 2005 - 17:02 GMT

considering no one would ever see it here, and if they did they wouldnt know who psoted it, im sure youd be safe. id love to see some of that sort of stuff.

i post photos of random people doing random stuff al lthe time, as do most others here. no one ever cares :)

Sarwar Jahangir: 5th Jul 2006 - 15:44 GMT

Excellent document. May I use copy these pictures for teaching.

Looking forward.

Sarwar Jahangir
Professor
sjahangir@kbcc.cuny.edu

anon (c-69-249-66-117.hsd1.nj.comcast.net): 17th Jul 2006 - 16:18 GMT

Pat: I heard stories of Plum Beach from my family. who said they could only get to and from it in their Model T at low tide. My grandparents (2nd generation), father (born 1910) and my Uncle Bob went there in the early after World War 1 on weekends. I have seen pictures of the towel strew bungalo, with my grandparents on their tiny porch. When my parents started dating they went there with a club called "the gang from the holler" The holler was the land depressed area behind the Elk's building on Queens Blvd backing to the LIRR tracks. My Aunt Helen told me before they left for home in Ridgewood and Elmhurst, cousins Otto and Bob had to "bury the Kaiser", move the outhouse.

I know where it is I will will take a peek. Thank you. Pat

don\\\'t worry about it!: 22nd Oct 2006 - 14:00 GMT

I went to plum beach a couple of times,sadly it's dirty and if u walk all te way down (away from the bay) it gets a little less filthy. There are thousands of them! They are very nice animal. My mom had red nailpolish and one always followed my mom in the little pond near the curve if u keep walking.

Mike Dyno: 23rd Oct 2006 - 19:19 GMT

OH YES....I know about the spot as a very "cruisy" zone for gay men to seek anonymous sex.However,since it now closes at night at 9 pm.much of the action has disappeared.Back in the day, pre-2001,it was hot in the evening after midnite.

Richie Riley: 23rd Oct 2006 - 19:24 GMT

This is very true...bank when the lost was open 24 x 7,it was the hottest cruise spot for gay men for every age and race to get laid good. Why ? Located in a clandestine spot and offering many venues for remain incognito,like trails,dunes and forests,it offered a greart spot to meet someone and fuck-BIGTIME.Sadly,after someone was murdered in the liot around 2001,the parks dep't starting closing the lot at 9PM.Now,another horrific tragedy has caused the local councilman to recoomend shutting it at dusk.Thus,all the hot gay sex is virtually gone from there now.

ribsny: 21st Jun 2007 - 16:52 GMT

Thanks heaps for the photos - I had no idea about the area - I heard about it for kiteboarding - sounds a bit scary though!

anon (cache-dtc-ad08.proxy.aol.com): 11th Nov 2007 - 04:44 GMT

Thank you for the great site!!!! I went there by accident on the way to my sister's home in Franklin Square. I was amazed. Do you have any information on when the building there shut down and what was in it? Seems like there were restrooms in this building and maybe a gift shop and snack shop.

Louie: 8th May 2008 - 18:17 GMT

I loved the article well written and so true. Its to bad NY politicians arent interested in caring for the beaches and they arent cleaned up.

A high school extra credit outing of cleaning up the beaches would go long way better still get the useless NY politicians kids to clean them up