Хэппилэнд: 1906 жылғы көңіл көтеру паркінің тарихы

The Happyland Amusement Park, an enclosed park with numerous attractions and landscape features, opened on June 30, 1906, to a crowd of 30,000 people. Upon its opening, the park contained a beachfront of 1000 feet (305 m), a 1500 feet (457 m) pier, and a 30 feet (9 m) boardwalk, as well as a system of over 10,000 lights. The park's rides included a circle swing, a Magnetic House, a Foolish House, a L. A. Thompson miniature railroad, an airship ride, a carousel, a Shoot the Chute, a revolving 190 feet (58 m) tower. One source adds that "fortune tellers, card printers, and photography studios" began to open very close to the park. Other entertainment at Happyland included continuous vaudeville, a ballroom, bandstand, roller rink, shooting galleries, and penny arcades. More passive features included a Japanese garden, picnic areas, landscaped groves, and Venetian style canals. Patrons could watch the shows or listen to music for free, and the park gave visitors "pass out checks" so they could return later in the day without paying another fee. Competitions such as a "baby contest" and a schoolchildren's contest were held at Happyland, and by mid 1907 the park was seeing 20,000 patrons each summer weekends. One noteworthy incident in the 1907 season concerned the aviator Lincoln Beachey, who made two flights a day between Happyland and Manhattan for ten days in June 1907. On one of these flights, his plane's propeller got tangled with a balloon, and he was able to land safely in the East River near Randalls and Wards Islands. The amusement park continued to operate through the 1910s, with the addition of a Chinese show. By 1909, the park's admission had been repealed, and numerous independent amusements had been built adjacent to Happyland, including photograph studios, fortune tellers, two dance halls, a souvenir shop, card printers, and several games. Also built were numerous roller coasters, including a wooden roller coaster called Roller Boller Coaster. In 1919 the amusement area was damaged by a large fire that killed one woman, destroyed 40 buildings, and caused up to $200,000 in damage. Happyland was rebuilt, but never regained the prestige that it had in its earlier years. Much of the resort was razed in the mid 1930s to create the South Beach–Franklin Delano Roosevelt Boardwalk, which opened in 1937. One remnant of the amusement area, the South Beach Amusement Park at the northern end of South Beach, continued to operate through the end of the 20th century, though much of that park was destroyed in 1955. Beachland Amusements, an adjacent amusement arcade, operated from 1941 to 2006 and was the last amusement attraction on the South Beach–Franklin Delano Roosevelt Boardwalk. It relocated to Sand Lane in 1953 after the city banned commercial businesses from the boardwalk.

The City of New York built a public housing project in the neighborhood in 1949; it is one of three such developments south of the Staten Island Expressway. Service on the South Beach Branch was halted in 1953; by the 1980s the tracks of this line had been removed, and tract homes now stand on the original right of way in most places. Today, Railroad Avenue's name, the Robin Road Trestle, and the street grid are the only remaining pieces of evidence. The neighborhood's principal thoroughfare was originally named Seaside Boulevard, which ran parallel to the shoreline, with the South Beach Boardwalk flanking it on the shoreward side. This roadway, which was the only portion of the "Shore Front Drive" proposed by Robert Moses to be actually built, was later renamed Father Capodanno Boulevard, after a Roman Catholic chaplain who was killed in action during the Vietnam War, and runs from near the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge to Midland Beach. Two hospitals, one an acute care facility (the North Campus of Staten Island University Hospital), the other a state run hospital for the mentally ill (the South Beach Psychiatric Center), where reports of mysterious deaths of juvenile patients originated during the later 20th century, stand at the southern edge of the neighborhood (sometimes reckoned as the separate locality. The location of the two hospitals was marshland as recently as the 1960s. What is now the Staten Island University Hospital was later constructed on part of the former Warren Manor property; Staten Island Hospital was relocated to the site from New Brighton in 1979; in 1989 this hospital merged with Richmond Memorial Hospital in Prince's Bay to form Staten Island University Hospital. Immediately to the east of Staten Island University Hospital is the South Beach Psychiatric Center, a state institution for the mentally ill which opened shortly after the aforementioned hospital did. Wild turkeys appeared on and near the grounds of this facility in the 1990s, and have since multiplied and spread to other Staten Island neighborhoods, having been sighted as far away as West Brighton on the island's central North Shore. During Hurricane Sandy in 2012, much of South Beach was flooded and several homes were damaged. Many local homeowners later elected to buy out their homes to be demolished, although some residents planned on staying. A Key Food supermarket opened on the Beachland Amusements site in August 2013.

The southernmost tip of South Beach is called Ocean Breeze. Situated in a low lying coastal area, Ocean Breeze often experiences the worst flood related damage in all of Staten Island after heavy rain has fallen, and many of the neighborhood's side streets become impassable. Because of the flooding that results from the low lying terrain, the New Creek bluebelt, which collects rainwater after storms, runs through the area.

For census purposes, the New York City government classifies South Beach as part of a larger neighborhood tabulation area called Old Town Dongan Hills South Beach. Based on data from the 2010 United States Census, the population of Old Town Dongan Hills South Beach was 24,835, a change of 1,818 (7.3%) from the 23,017 counted in 2000. Covering an area of , the neighborhood had a population density of The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 74% (18,381) White, 3.1% (763) African American, 0.1% (36) Native American, 7.5% (1,860) Asian, 0% (9) Pacific Islander, 0.3% (69) from other races, and 1.4% (336) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 13.6% (3,381) of the population. The entirety of Community District 2, which comprises South Beach and other Mid Island neighborhoods, had 134,657 inhabitants as of NYC Health's 2018 Community Health Profile, with an average life expectancy of 81.2 years. This is the same as the median life expectancy of 81.2 for all New York City neighborhoods. Most inhabitants are youth and middle aged adults: 20% are between the ages of between 0–17, 25% between 25–44, and 29% between 45–64. The ratio of college aged and elderly residents was lower, at 8% and 18% respectively. though the median income in South Beach individually was $80,361. The 122nd Precinct ranked 2nd safest out of 69 patrol areas for per capita crime in 2010, behind only the 123rd Precinct on Staten Island's South Shore. as of 2018, with a non fatal assault rate of 40 per 100,000 people, South Beach and Mid Island's rate of violent crimes per capita is less than that of the city as a whole. The incarceration rate of 253 per 100,000 people is lower than that of the city as a whole.

South Beach is served by the New York City Fire Department (FDNY)'s Engine Co. 161/Ladder Co. 81, located at 278 McClean Avenue.

as of 2018, preterm births and births to teenage mothers are less common in South Beach and Mid Island than in other places citywide. In South Beach and Mid Island, there were 80 preterm births per 1,000 live births (compared to 87 per 1,000 citywide), and 6.8 births to teenage mothers per 1,000 live births (compared to 19.3 per 1,000 citywide).

South Beach is located within the ZIP Code 10305. The United States Postal Service does not operate a post office in South Beach, but the nearest post office is Rosebank Station at 567 Tompkins Avenue.

The New York Public Library (NYPL)'s South Beach branch is located at 21–25 Robin Road, near Ocean Avenue and Father Capodanno Boulevard. The branch started operating out of a location on Sand Lane in the mid 20th century, but was destroyed in a 1989 fire. The South Beach branch reopened in 1990 and moved to its current one story, location on Robin Road in 2000.

South Beach is served by a number of local and express buses. The local buses and express buses stop along Hylan Boulevard. The local buses and express buses travel along Father Capodanno Boulevard. South Beach was served by the on its South Side and by the on its North Side, but both were discontinued in 2010 by the MTA due to budget cuts. The operated briefly from August to October 2018 due to low ridership. South Beach was also served by the Staten Island Railway's South Beach station until March 31, 1953.