(and getting there by subway at night?)

We might be visiting midtown Manhattan, and my friend has never seen a beach.. Ideally I'd take him to Montauk but we don't have the time, so I'm considering Long Beach. I can't find much information about how safe it is at night.

We'd be going to the beach probably a little past midnight and coming back around 6am (unfortunately the only time slot we have left). I've never taken the subway in new york day or night so I don't know how true the rumors are.

I've found some subway tips, but can any of you tell me anything about Long Island beach at night? Safe? Do you still have to pay $12 to get in? Are we even allowed to be there at night? Is the roundtrip fare still $18 or has that changed?

Please and thanks!

I'm trying to imagine why you'd want to be at the beach from midnight to 6am.
[www.longbeachny.org]{DA8E2736-5A34-4E0D-9EBD-228AB63E425C}
that page may help you with some information.
Are you asking about the safety of swimming during those hours, or just in general is it safe, like a low-crime area? personally, wouldn't do a lot of swimming at night like that. My impression of the long beach area is not that it is a high-crime area. However, I have never hung out on the beach in the middle of the night so I can't comment on how it is overnight.
There might be parts of the beach (like those near the LIRR station) that you can't even access during those times. You don't take the subway there, you take the LIRR long island rail road.