Harry's at Water Taxi Beach, Long Island City

Overview

By Chris Lukic

Truckloads of sand trucked in from Jersey create a beach scene with views of Manhattan.

Truckloads of sand trucked in from Jersey create a 15,000 square foot beach with views of Manhattan. Add cheap beet, elk burgers, and black angus hot dogs into the mix and you've got an outstanding if somewhat surreal time.

Why you should go

Laying out on the beach eating a fresh grilled hamburger looking at the view across the water of the Empire State Building - Priceless.
Kielbasa, Angus Hot Dogs, Elk Burgers Fish Tacos!
Beach Volleyball!
Fresh ice cold frozen fruit drinks!

What you should know

Bring your own beach chair or blanket. Finding bench space can get pretty competitive.
Wear a bathing suit. You won't want to swim in East River, but this is a great place to catch a tan.
Due to the PBR shortage, Beach Beer is filling in this year in its stead.
Easy access by Water Taxi (from 34th st) or Subway. Directions

History

Sand, then sewers, then sand again

Water Taxi Beach had sand, a view of the Manhattan skyline and no swimming¹. What it had instead was Harry's, serving burgers, hot dogs, beer, wine and tropical drinks^{1, 2}. New York Water Taxi built the beach in 2005 on an East River wharf in Hunters Point, hauling in over 1,000 tons of sand, as an experiment to draw Manhattanites to Long Island City^{1, 2}. Our old review had the sand arriving by the truckload from Jersey.

Time Out described Harry's as a team-up between Tom Fox, president of New York Water Taxi, and Harry Hawk, owner of Schnäck; Hawk, Tony Rosciglione and partners ran the beach^{2, 3}. In March 2008 more sand stretched it to about 44,000 square feet, and that May Harry's won first place in a contest for the best burger in the boroughs².

In 2009 the city acquired the property, putting it under the Economic Development Corporation². The beach closed after the 2010 season for construction tied to the Hunters Point South development². In April 2011 Eater confirmed that the much-beloved original was closed for good: the waterfront space had to be razed so the city could build storm-water sewer outfalls for the new development⁴.

The site is now part of Hunters Point South Park, which opened in 2013 with an urban beach near where the old one stood².

Sources

Researched October 2026.

Harry's at Water Taxi Beach

In 2026