Fascinating photos showcase New York City’s now forgotten beach oasis with its very own sandy shoreline

Fascinating photos reveal how there was once a beach in New York City, which city dwellers and tourists alike enjoyed for six years before it was developed.

The stretch of sand, which came to existence in the 1970s and was known as Battery Park Beach, neared the tip of Manhattan with the Twin Towers looming in the background.

Suellen Epstein, who lived in the Tribeca neighborhood at the time, told the Tribeca Citizen that she spent many weekends at the beach with her then boyfriend and it was great for those who couldn’t afford to travel further afield. 

She explained: ‘We didn’t have resources to go out to the Hamptons.

‘We were out there on the beach any sunny Sunday – as long as it wasn’t wet… You felt like you were not in the city – like it was the Manhattan countryside.’

One black and white photo snapped on September 23, 1979, shows how the beach was used to stage an anti-nuclear power rally and concert

According to a piece in The New York Times, the beach was actually ‘acres and acres of landfill’ and not intended for public use

The New Yorker noted that it ‘wasn’t the most luxurious sand,’ with a ‘gritty’ texture.

One black and white photo, snapped on September 23, 1979, shows how the beach was used to stage an anti-nuclear power rally and concert, with hundreds of revelers sat in the sand.

According to a piece in The New York Times, the beach was actually ‘acres and acres of landfill’ and not intended for public use.

But with a delay on construction plans, Manhattanites came to clam the sandy wasteland as their own space to play with. 

Some areas were fenced off but the majority was open to explore.  

Reminiscing about the sprawling site, another New York resident, environmental graphic designer David Vanden-Eynden, told The New York Times: ‘There was nothing there yet and there were spectacular views of the towers and across the river.’

Detailing what happened to the beach, the same article explains: ‘The first wave of settlers wouldn’t arrive in Battery Park City until the early ’80s.

‘By 2000, nearly all of the former landfill had been developed. 

British performance and fashion group Shock on the sands of Battery Park Beach in 1981

Musicians Avis Davis (left) and Joy Ryder at the beach for one of the No Nukes: MUSE (Musicians United for Safe Energy) Concerts in 1979

‘By 2000, nearly all of the former landfill had been developed,’ a New York Times article explains. Above the a shot of the beach with the Twin Towers behind in 1973

‘Shortly afterward, of course, the Twin Towers fell and residents were suddenly refugees.’

Several Times photographers were sent out on assignment to capture photos of the beach and some images shared to Reddit have garnered dozens of comments. 

Many commenters have deemed the scenes ‘wild’ and ‘surreal.’ 

Another Redditor mused: ‘I love these photos so much. 

‘I remember seeing these for the first time, and as a teenager born and raised in NYC my mind being blown that anything remotely like a beach ever existed in Manhattan.’