Welcome to the home of Hector Figueroa, a.k.a. Ultimate Inventor, the creator of, among other things, the Store & Oar boat/roof-mounted cargo carrier on top of the minivan at left.

Has Hector really "found the total solution to finally stop poverty in America" with his inventions? Can he bring prosperity to all with his Quick Cool line of rotating multi-cup drink coolers, his Roll N' Lite matches with built-in cigarette papers, and his Electro Babywalk U.S.A. remote-controlled baby walker? Check out his website to learn "what the news media doesn't want you to know".

(Here's a collection of photos I took of the various posters and signs displayed on his property. This one is as good a place to start as any.)

Bound for JFK

Rarely used by passenger trains, this is the single-track connection between the two main legs of the Hammels Wye (what's a wye?) that carry the two branches of the Rockaway Line onto the peninsula. This connection was, however, notably put into passenger service after Hurricane Sandy as part of the route of the H train, a temporary shuttle that provided free rail service along the peninsula while the tracks across Jamaica Bay that connect the Rockaways to the rest of the subway system were being reconstructed.

Founded by Holocaust survivors, Madelaine was the largest employer in the Rockaways before Hurricane Sandy hit, employing 400 or more people in the peak seasons before Christmas and Easter. It's reopened since the storm, but it's operating on a smaller scale with just a fraction of its former work force, and it's considering moving out of the city if it can't secure the funds to fully restore its production facilities.

stand three Sandy-damaged bungalows still in disrepair.

at Veggie Island

This 1989 statue was the city's first monument to honor the women who've served in the US military during wartime. It was commissioned by a local American Legion post, which planned to install it in Rockaway's Veterans Memorial Plaza, next to the World War I doughboy memorial (cast in 1927; reportedly the peninsula's oldest sculpture).

However, the city's Art Commission (now called the Design Commission) rejected the statue as ''not strong enough artistically", preventing it from being permanently placed on city property. So the Legionnaires made a stopgap arrangement with the Parks Department to temporarily install the monument across the street from the doughboy (placements of a year or less were not subject to Art Commission approval) while they searched for a permanent location.

But the statue, now known to some as "the doughgirl", still stands across from the doughboy today. It seems that its popularity with the community has led the city to overlook the fact that it's not really supposed to be here — at least that was the case as of 2003. (This brings to mind the story of the Fred Lebow statue in Central Park, which is briefly relocated each year to maintain its status as technically temporary.)