hamptons july 2012

July gives way to August and hints of summer’s end ap-pear on the horizon, but there will be no

time nor space for midsummer malaise and ennui in the Hamptons art scene.

Yes, the dueling Bridgehampton art fairs have packed up their booths and gone home, but for those who can’t get enough of these pop-up mercan-tiles, on July 26 comes Art Southamp-ton, which will bring an additional fifty temporary exhibitors to the East End. While the results of the first two fairs weren’t available at press time, it’s safe to assume that no exhibitor pulled in as much as Mitt Romney, whose three stops in the Hamptons netted his campaign somewhere up-ward of $3 million.

One of those stops was a fundrais-er at The Creeks, the 57-acre Georgica Pond-fronted enclave of the late ab-stract expressionist Alfonso Ossorio, now in the heavily-guarded hands of equity titan and 2008 Obama mega-

donor Ronald Perelman. In politics, as perhaps in art, how quickly our tastes change. So it goes.

The richness of visual art in the Hamptons may appear small beside the embarrassment of the closely-held riches of its 1% residents, but the va-riety, novelty and aesthetic integrity more than balance the scale. Here’s a brief look of what’s on view now and throughout August:

In the museums“The Landmarks of New York” contin-

ues through September 4 at the Parrish Art Museum in Southampton. Curat-ed by noted landmark preservationist Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel, the exhibition consists of 90 photographs of both famous and lesser-known New York City landmarks and serves as the basis for an examination of preserva-tion and new development issues in New York. It’s a fitting final show for the Par-rish, which will move from its current Jobs Lane location in Southampton to larger, Herzog-&-de-Meuron-designed quarters in Watermill in November.

On Thursday evenings, the Parrish is holding a series of discussions exploring ideas of preservation, adaptive re-use in architecture and intelligent devel-opment. Robert Hammond and Joshua Diamond, the two men who spearhead-ed the realization of Manhattan’s High Line, will speak on July 26. They will be followed by Yale School of Architecture dean Robert A.M. Stern on August 9,

At the very tip of Long Island lies Montauk, a sleepy and scenic har-bor. The dozen or so marinas almost blend into the quaint atmosphere of this Hamptons hamlet, with its res-taurants, resorts, beaches, relaxed games of golf.

But Montauk Harbor is very much alive and happening. Beyond the post-card of a picture is a world that only a few know well and many skim over. A trip of just a few miles brings men like Captain Gene Kelly of Montauk Sport-fishing and those who accompany them to the breeding grounds of fish that end up on 5-star dinner plates and in record books.

The inlet that points north of the sound is a “natural fish trap,” ex-plained Captain Kelly, a fisherman of 40 years. “Everything comes in; all [fish] pass by here.”

According to Montauk Boatmen Inc (MBI), an organization of the area’s charter and open boat captains, Mon-tauk is the closest port to canyons and Gulfstream in the entire Northeast, which makes it a short trip to the big fish – tuna, shark, marlin. Montauk is surrounded by three different bodies of Water: Fort Pond Bay, Gardiner’s Bay, Block Island Sound, and the cur-rents bring in a large quantity of bait

and nutrients. It is the self-proclaimed and defended “sportfishing capital of the world” with both inshore and off-shore fishing and always with the op-portunity to catch trophy-sized fish. “If you haven’t fished Montauk, you’ve only been practicing,” MBI claims on its website, adding that Montauk has given up “more world record fish than any other port.”

Captain Mike Albronda of Charter Boat Montauk explained the unique formation of Montauk’s sound. Ten thousand years ago, Montauk was a part of Block Island until a glacier from Long Island broke off and cov-ered the land bridge. “Basically now we’re fishing on that land bridge and with the current that runs out of Long Island,” he said. The glacier also carved a huge hole about five miles south of the point. This area, known as Butterfish Hole, is what makes the waters so good for shark and big game fishing, he said, noting, however, that he hasn’t seen a white shark for many years. (He may have been happier to see the great white in Cape Cod on July 7 than the unfortunate kayaker who it chose to accompany inshore.)

Big game fishing emerged as a sport after the invention of the mo-torized boat in 1898, but it was some

time after WWI that Montauk became a hunting and fishing ground for the rich and famous, according to Cap-tain Albronda. It was at that time that mass fishing boats and permanent establishments began to appear. The Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) made it easier for the working class to come to the island in the the late ’40s and ’50s.

The unique thing about deep sea fishing, said Captain Kelly, is that, “There’s no other recreational [sport where] they can go out with and they can come out with getting almost they’re money back in terms of their food” he said. “On typical trips, like [trips for] striped bass… they’re prob-ably going to go home with 50-60 lbs of filleted fish, which costs them $15-18 a lb in a supermarket.”

Fish can keep up to a year if freezed properly, explained Captain Skip Ru-dolph of Adios Boat Charters, a fish-erman of 43 years who has spent the past twelve 12 years in Montauk. He primarily fishes striped bass on his trips out, but also goes after blue fish, sea bass and porgies.

“I do a lot of bottom fishing,” he said. “Porgie is a delicious eating fish.”

“They’re boney,” he admitted, “but don’t eat the bones.”

Captain Albronda releases most sharks, as blue shark are not good to eat. Mako and Thresher sharks he will keep, and they’ll catch a couple of striped bass to send home with their clients.

Fishing is as much about the gain as it is the experience of being out on

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s u m m e r s i z z l e s o u t e a s t

Hamptons livingMONEY, POWER AND THE CITY

July 30, 2012

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Fishing the Atlantic Off of East End Long Island~ By Melissa Wiley ~

I n s i d e

artSUMMER

Striped bass pictured here aboard Captain Skip Rudolph’s vessel are a popular catch off of Montauk. This one weighed 41lbs.

Amazing (2011) by Mel Bochner from the Gallery Valentine.

Sport fishing is a popular pastime for visitors to Montauk and the far East End.

Where’s the

art at?

Shark fishing boats off the eastern tip of long Island.

No signs of a cool down for

Hamptons art scene~ By Jeffrey Kopie ~

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and then by David Rockwell on the 23.In East Hampton, Guild Hall has

committed all of its exhibition space to “Beach Life,” a painting survey of Sag Harbor resident Eric Fischl. Initially gaining wide recognition for his pruri-ent, underside-of-suburbia scenes, Fis-chl has expanded his work to include society portraiture, bull fighting, im-pressions of India and, of course, the beach. Expect psychologically-fraught images and lots of nudity.

In the galleriesHalsey-McKay, a Newtown Lane

gallery operated by curator Hilary Schaffner and artist Ryan Wallace, continues its high-level programming of vital new art with work by Andrew Kuo and Sarah Greenberger Rafferty downstairs, and Ryan Travis Chris-tian on the second floor. Kuo’s paint-ings seem to take their visual cue from both high modernism (Albers, Mondriaan, Riley) and corporate bro-chure graphic design (pie-charts, bar graphs), their compositions deter-mined by his charting of emotion-al states and meditations, which are provided in carbon transfer informa-tional keys beside the images. The ac-companying confessional texts are, by turns, sardonic, bittersweet and hilarious. In contrast to Kuo’s strict

geometry, Rafferty’s large-scale, ma-levolent photographs on acetate are strenuously manipulated, with rep-resentational images morphing into near abstraction—the process inte-gral to the artist’s exploration of the body. In the upstairs space, Chica-go-based Ryan Travis Christian will exhibit large-scale graphite draw-ings, a potent combination of comic book imagery embedded in geometric chiaroscuro.

Following on August 10 and remain-ing on view until the 29, Halsey McKay brings in two Brooklyn-based paint-ers: Eddie Martinez and Jose Lerma. Martinez’s often-large canvases are packed to bursting with figures and bold, kinetic shapes and executed with a loud palette and muscular, urgent brushwork.

The subject of Lerma’s paintings is history—both of the political/social type and that of art. Often starting with the appropriation of images from historical portraiture, the artist uses a wide range of media (including carpeting, towels and key-boards) and references a similarly wide range of art historical techniques to re-interpret and personalize the past—

the boat and taking on a fish. “It’s rewarding for me,” said

Captain Rudolph, “when the people get off the boat and they thank me for the greatest day.”

The first week in July he had a three-year-old out on the boat who, with a little help from his mother and company, reeled in a 33/34-lb bass. “The look on his face,” he began. “He was hootin’ and hollerin’….”

Tradition also plays a large part in the allure of the sport. While Captain Rudolph caters to all kinds of people, families to corporate, he has cultivated a strong family clientele base on word of mouth.

There are small scales on the boat in addition to the larger scale on the dock to weigh the fish, which can turn into a point of friendly competition among people on the boat.

Perhaps Captain Rudolph’s most memorable trip was back when he was a mate on Phil Lewis’ boat, when they worked

together for an hour and a half to haul a 937-lb bluefin tuna out of 80-foot water. The tuna was down inside lobster traps, and they had to maneuver the fish through the traps before they got him. “It was a pretty cool battle,” he reminisced.

“It requires dedication, a certain attitude,” he admitted. "Sometimes the fish come easy, some days you have to work for them.”

Of what he has learned from fishing over the years? “I’ll say it one word,” he said. “Patience.”

“And humility,” he added, laughing.

Out there on the water, you are at the mercy of nature. “You may have the president of IBM on the boat,” he explained, “but when his rod is bending, he’s got to listen to you.”

This year, due to the warm winter, has been very produc-tive. There are “tons of porgies in every spot, a load of sea bass; the main body of flukes came by already, they’ll move back a lit-tle later… but all in all there has been plenty of fish,” Captain Ru-dolph said.

Market demand comes and goes, he reported, but Cap-tain Rudolph estimated that he makes around 180 trips a year. These include half-day and all-day trips. Captain Albronda just last year made his 6000th trip.

Captain Rudolph has fished quite a number of waters and has friends up and down the coast, from Florida and Maine, yet defends Montauk as a fish-ing haven. “A lot of places claim to be the sportfishing capital in

the world. There are very good locations of course all through-out the planet, but for the avail-ability, the price, I think we are probably the fairest-priced trip that produces fish, maybe on the

entire East Coast.” The key characteristic is per-

haps its consistency. “We can land a lot of something every-day,” he said. “It would be al-most impossible not to catch something, and I think that’s why Montauk stands out.”

Captain Albronda echoed

this sentiment. First-time cus-tomers are surprised, he said, when “they realize how good Montauk is. Most of them have fished here and there—they tell you, 'Well we’ve been to Cap-tree, we’ve been to New Jersey, and we’ve had limited success'—but when they came to Montauk, they came once, and they [were] hooked.”

Closer to very few points in the world can one experience the wonders of the deep. Cap-tain Albronda’s son, who works on the boat, had heard stories of the 2397-lb shark that his fa-ther caught back in the ’80s (a photo of him and shark appears at the top of his website, under which the caption appears: “Smaller fish upon request”), but had never seen one. They were hanging a blue shark one day when a white came up and bit the head off it at the same time as it lodged about half-a-dozen of its teeth in the bot-tom of his then wooden boat. Captain Albronda cited it as the shark’s loss.

and collapse it into the present.At Glenn Horowitz Bookseller, Prince

of Flatness Ryan McGinness will show two related series of drawings from August 4 through September 4. Start-ing with sketches of the female nude, he simplifies and compresses the origi-nal images via digitalization to focus on their underlying geometry. The deliber-ate precision of these works is loosened up in the second series of “cyano-types,” in which the same imag-es are utilized, but the printing process is through sun expo-sure, allowing chance and environmental conditions to influence the results.

At the Drawing Room, a gal-lery that focuses on work creat-ed by both past and present East End residents, Watermill denizen Mary Ellen Bartley will be showing her photographs of book arrange-ments from August 2 through Septem-ber 3. Shot in extreme close-up, her photographs capture the ethereal es-sence of her subject matter. Offsetting Bartley will be sculptures by the late Costantino Nivola.

East of Newtown Lane, just down and across the road from the Pollock-Kras-ner House, The Fireplace Project will present “yes pleased,” a new sculpture by Terence Koh. Details about the ex-hibition would not be divulged at press

time and, given the enormous breadth of his past installations, it’s difficult to know what to expect. A hyper-flamboy-ant, shamanistic, queer, art world provo-cateur, his paradoxical oeuvre projects a sense that everything and nothing is sa-cred. His installations and performance work have ranged from the ascetic to the decadent and, while his shock value is

high, there’s sincerity and humanity underneath it all.

Along Main Street in Amagansett, first-time

gallerist Sara De Luca launched the contempo-rary gallery Ille Arts at summer’s start. After an

opening group exhibition of the gallerist’s friends and

family as well as solo shows by Sydney Albertini and Liz Marcus, the gallery is currently showing “In the Arms of Time,”

by Brazilian-born photographer and documentary filmmaker Vivien Bitten-court. Shot in both black and white and color, Bittencourt’s unpeopled images are observations on time’s passage and her subject matter ancient living olive and cedar trees extant in Italy and Leb-anon, while a second series focuses on ruins in the two countries.

Following Bittencourt, from August 11 to September 11, Ille will present paintings and furniture by Bridgehamp-

ton resident Mary Heilmann, master abstractionist whose work, over a ca-reer spanning more than thirty years, has quietly, but unwaveringly, traveled from underappreciated and undersung to a near-canonical status. Her insouci-ant, exuberant paintings are based on high modernist principles, but they’re painted with an energy and looseness that dissolve any sense of modernist stricture. They’re fully-resolved paint-ings painted by a true believer, per-haps best savored while rolling around in the artist’s plywood and nylon strap caster chairs.


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Summer art

WHAT LIES BENEATH

‘You may have the president of IBM on

the boat, but when his rod is bending, he’s got

to listen to you.’ Captain Skip Rudolph

The Haberdashery Installation at Eric Firestone Gallery.

Terence Koh.

Female Sensibility (1973) by Lynda Benglis at Guild Hall.

This young man’s striper weighed almost as much as him he did.

Congress of Wits Study (2007) by Eric Fischl. Inset: Mr. Fischl working in his studio.

A John Chamberlain piece from Gallery Valentine.

C 2 | July 30, 2012 | The New York Observer Hamptons living

Continued from page C1

The New York Observer MPTONS LIVING | July 30, 2012 | C 3Hamptons living

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Shelling Out ClamS tO Save the ClamS June 23Group For The East End Galawww.groupfortheeastend.org

Despite the carbon footprint of the high-performance vehicles driven by guests to the event, the “green” cause triumphed on Sat-urday at the Group For The East End’s 40th Anniversary Gala.

The fundraiser was held at the stunning Wölffer Estate Vine-yard and set out to prove that man apparently cannot live on wine alone.

Group For The East End Presi-dent Bob DeLuca said that water is now environmental priority number one. “What we did with land protection and preserving tens of thousands of acres we are now doing with water,” he said. “The long-term sustainability of our surface water is essential not only for safe drinking water, but to prevent the loss of fish and shellfish.”

Designer and Benefit Co-Chair Nicole Miller has lived for 16 years here on the wetlands, with kayaking and clamming among her favorite activities. The group’s mission hit home when her favorite local clamming cove was shut down for contamina-tion concerns. “You don’t want to poison your dinner guests,” she reflected.

Alec Baldwin is a force of na-ture himself with huge street cred in the Hamptons, having donat-ed six figure sums to the causes he believes in. He arrived with daughter Ireland, a stunning wil-lowy beauty who looks very much like her mother, Kim Basinger. She now speaks her ‘truth’ albeit as a tattoo gracing the back of her swan-like neck. In terms of Bald-win’s expanding family with new wife Hilaria Thomas looking radi-ant in red, no word. However, we did see him carefully monitoring his silent auction bid on the Lex-ington Company beach-chic ta-bletop setting for eight.

Major mariner Billy Joel also lent his support to his favorite cause. For fans looking for a new album, he shared, “I’m always writing something.”

Thank goodness that’s music and not checks to ex.

In the Hamptons, where hedge fund managers have redefined the preservation of open space to mean unused portions of their 10,000 square foot homes, it is rare to find such an environmen-tal advocate as benefit Co-Chair Marco Birch. Mr. Birch, who is a partner in the $15 billion Moore Capital Management hedge fund (and a second generation Hamp-tons homeowner), credits his in-volvement with Mr. DeLuca’s ability to deliver. “He’s engaging and hands-on and down-to-earth,” Mr. Birch said of Mr. DeLuca. “He knows how to identify a goal that is a stretch but not a dream.”

Alongside the worthiness of its cause, each Hamptons benefit is defined by its silent auction. With items ranging from energy heal-ing for pets to a ride on a Clydes-dale to a Maidstone threesome (get your mind out of the sand trap) to a fresh water filtration system used by restaurants like Le Bernardin, Per Se and Daniel Boulud valued at $18,000, we have to say green thumbs up.

BeaCheS & BayS Benefit galaJune 30 The Nature Conservancywww.nature.org

Guest enjoyed an evening of cock-tails, dinner and dancing at the Nature Conservancy center in East Hampton in support of the organi-zation. The party raised funds to help protect the East End’s natural environment.

SearChing fOr Sugarman with aleC BaldwinJuly 6Hamptons International Film Festival SummerDoc Screeningwww.guildhall.org

The Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF) is known for its sur-prises, and Director of Program-ming David Nugent has an eye for the breakout films. The festi-val has previewed Academy Award winners Slumdog Millionaire, The King’s Speech and The Artist. As part of their SummerDocs program at Guild Hall, which includes dis-cussions between Alec Baldwin and the documentary filmmaker, HIFF again surprised audiences with Searching For Sugar Man from Di-rector Malik Bendjelloul. “This is one of the strangest, most amazing films I’ve ever seen,” Baldwin said.

It’s truly one of the best examples

SearChing fOr Sugarman (COnt’d)

of urban legend meets magical mys-ticism meets fairy tale since The Riddle Of The Shadow Martini. Two South African fans are on the hunt to find out the story of ‘60s prophet-ic singer/songwriter Rodriguez who was famous for blowing his brains out onstage at a particularly bad gig. What Rodriguez didn’t know is that, while he sold very few albums in the U.S. (this is before there was iVinyl), he was a superstar in South Africa, inspiring youth and the anti apartheid movement with his com-pelling anti-establishment lyrics.

The film offers its own series of surprises. If you don’t want the se-cret revealed à la “I talk to dead peo-ple” and “the girl is actually a dude,” stop reading here.

Rodriguez, who is alive and well, made a surprise appearance at the East Hampton screening, playing a few tunes to a standing ovation. Re-ferring to the amazing twists and turns of this real life tale, Mr. Bald-win looked at Mr. Bendjelloul and asked, “Now come on, how did you find this story?”

The 20th Anniversary Hamptons International Film Festival runs Oc-tober 4 – 8, 2012.

unmaSked Benefit hOSted By alexander SOrOSJuly 7 Global Witness www.alexandersorosfoundation.com

In a Bridgehampton meadow with a view of swans on Mecox Bay, the thought of children in mines in the Congo might feel far away. For sum-mer Hamptonites, human rights abuses often consist of usurious prices for lobster salad and spray tans gone wrong. Conflicts over nat-ural resources often manifest them-selves as fights for beach parking.

But under the tent at the Alex-ander Soros Foundation benefit for Global Witness, guests were trans-ported to poor countries where rich natural resources cause battles and destruction to the native popula-tion and the environment.

Alexander Soros met director of Global Witness Patrick Alley when he was traveling with his father,

George Soros, on a trip in 2010 to talk about climate change and the tropical forests. Mr. Alley reported, “We met and got along. As a cam-paign, this has been a dream to find someone genuinely committed to making an impact, especially as we are not a massive organization, but come from humble origins.”

Mr. Alley also pointed out that the 17-year-old Global Witness Founda-tion is not just about pioneering campaigns against natural-re-source-related conflict and its abuses, but also the willing in-ternational buyers of the re-sources who play a part in it. (Do you know where the miner-als to create your cell phone come from?)

Attracted by the stories told by Mr. Alley and the willingness of the workers at Global Witness to risk their lives, Mr. Soros wanted in. “I wanted to help in my own modest way,” he said. “I’m honored to be on the board. In terms of effectiveness, there’s not a better organization.”

Producer Ed Zwick (can we admit: our “thirtysomething” addiction) lent Hollywood heavyweight to the event. Mr. Zwick discovered Glob-al Witness as part of his research for the blockbuster Blood Diamond with Leonardo DiCaprio.

“When their name first came up, I didn’t know what it was,” said Mr. Zwick. “We developed an intense relationship with our research on conflict diamonds. I also was con-cerned with other issues and stayed on their advisory board.”

Guests ranged from proud Papa Soros to MC Hammer, who got the crowd dancing.

lOve healS at luna farmSJuly 7Alison Gertz Foundation for AIDS Educationwww.loveheals.org

You know an organization is dedi-cated to safe sex when they make sure every goody bag contains a “Proper Attire Required For Entry” condom, designed by host Charlotte Ronson. The 13th an-nual Love Heals event held at Luna Farm in Sagaponack attracted 650 guests and raised over $300,000.

“It’s the ultimate birthday party for the 20th anniversary of Love Heals,” Love Heals Executive Director Jasmine Nielsen said. “We’ve reached 530,000 young people about AIDS education. It’s a big deal for a small organi-zation. We’re getting an amaz-ing younger crowd.” Indeed, naer a blue-blazered senior could be found. “It’s not true that they are not a philanthropic generation,” she added.

Host Andrew Saffir there with Daniel Benedict admitted, “I’m semi-allergic to Hamptons events. [But] this is always one of my fa-vorites. Dini is so tirelessly ded-icated. It’s an honor to help in a small way.”

Notable attendees included DJ Kiss, supermodel Nicole Trun-fio, pianist Chloe Flower, design-er Rebecca Minckoff, Rodale’s David Zincenko, news anchor Chris Wragge, SCENE magazine Editor-in-Chief Peter Davis, Scott Lipps, Avis Richards, Teresa Sor-kin, Martin and Nina Varsavsky, Eric Villency and Niche Media’s Samantha Yanks, among others. Alison Gertz’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jerrold Gertz, were also in attendance.

empire State pride agenda hamptOnS tea danCeJuly 14The Ark Projectwww.prideagenda.org

DJ Lady Bunny kept over 1,000 guests dancing for this year’s ben-efit for the LGBT rights organiza-tion, which attracted prominent political figures and industry and design leaders who support LGBT initiatives.

vent planning and catering doyenne Janet O’Brien knows the secret to success for memorable Hamptons events. Ms. O’Brien speaks the language of her sophisticated clients and infuses her fresh local menus with international flare. Her

magic is to create a polished, seamless event without it feeling staged.Her A-team of loyal purveyors exudes excellence from top to bottom

with her hands on guidance. If the devil is in the details, Ms. O’Brien has him by the tail. Every design element from the tent to the coor-dinated color palette to the garnish is carefully orchestrated. Ms. O’Brien notes, “My ordinary is other’s extra-ordinary.”

Janet O’Brien Caterers and Events headlines everything from an in-timate reception at Elie Tahari’s East Hampton store for Guild Hall’s Patti Lupone and Mandy Patinkin to the Azuero Foundation Earth Project Benefit for 400 guests this Labor Day Weekend. Look out for her as she takes on Amy Winehouse Foundation’s August 4 event. Here, Ms. O’Brien and her partner in crime, Heather Buchanan, dish on their most recent Hamptons social engagements.

Pachute, a two-year-old women’s boutique located in Manhattan’s Upper East Side, has dived into the East End’s retail market by opening its pop-up location, Pa-chute East, in the bohemian town of Sag Harbor.

Owner Sharone Komoroff partnered with mother-in-law and longtime Sag Harbor summer resident Au-drey Orell, to open the store. Pachute, which translates as “simple” in Hebrew, is a perfect match for Sag Har-bor’s laid-back, Hamptons aesthetic.

At the boutique, shoppers can discover a custom-ized selection of women’s clothing, jewelry and acces-sories in fun summer styles. “I love all of the brands we carry,” said Ms. Orell. “There isn’t a thing in the bou-tique I wouldn’t wear! Some of my favorites include Pas de Calais, Pip-Squeak Chapeau, Loup Charmant and Ivan Grundahl. For jewelry, MCS Design and Sarah MacFadden are my go-to designers right now and Amy Kreiling for bags.”

The Observer asked Ms. Komoroff to pick three out-fits currently available at the store and match them with their perfect Hamp-tons outing, here are her responses: Pachute East, 78 Main Street, Sag Harbor • 631-899-4888Open daily from 10a.m. to 7p.m.

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Ns p ec i a l a dv e rt i s i n g s ec t i o n fo r t h e n e w Yo r k o b s e rv e r

“Pools have evolved, but one thing re-mains unchanged—the tranquility, sensuality and escape they offer,” said notable New Yorker Kelly Klein on the launch of her seventh glossy tome Pools: Reflections. In the book, she ex-plores various pool styles in regards to their design, architecture, style and opulence. It features beautiful imag-es—many taken in The Hamptons— by renowned photographers such as Bruce Weber, Steven Klein, Robert Mapplethorpe and Juergen Teller. The Observer tracked down Ms. Klein, a seasoned Hamptons dweller, to learn more about the new book and the ins and outs of her life out East.

Which is your favorite party in The Hamptons each year?My favorite party is the ACRIA Cock-tails at Sunset benefit. They always have such an interesting mix of guests and it is always held some AMAZING location. Last year it was held at Steven Klein’s farm, and this year it’s hosted by Ross Bleckner. ACRIA happens to be one of my favorite charities, and I am donating all the proceeds from my new book, Pools: Reflections, to the or-ganization. My other favorite is The Hamptons Classic, which really isn’t a party, but rather a weeklong event that I attend each summer.

Which towns do you think people should explore more? They are all so different and each has its own unique charm…I live in East Hampton and love to walk around and explore in Amagansett. Recently there have been a lot of unusual, cute new stores that have opened there. I also love going to Sag Harbor to shop the home stores.

Where do you go for fresh produce? My favorite farm stand that I always go to is on Sagaponack Road. I don’t know the name of it, or even if it has a name, but it is the right off Route 27. They have the best fresh-cut sunflowers, and the best home-grown tomatoes, strawberries and sweet corn. Recently, I started my own vegetable garden and am hoping that I won’t have to go fur-ther than my own back yard for vegeta-bles soon! I’m also excited for all of the summer berries that are just starting to appear in the markets.

What is the most divine beach out East?

I take a two-hour walk on the beach every day for exercise, and I have al-ways loved Gibson Beach in Saga-ponack, so I walk from my house in East Hampton there and back daily.

What is your favorite activity to do in the Hamptons?I love going to spinning classes at Soul Cycle. For me, they are the best classes anywhere! Most of my time is spent visiting or hosting friends, which seems to revolve around fresh food and cold, crisp wine. Other than that, it seems most of my time these days is spent taking my five-year-old son to his activities, tennis and swimming.

What projects are you currently working on? This fall will be spent promoting the book through events and book sign-ings in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Houston, Palm Beach and The Hamp-tons. I am also working on my personal photography as well.

Any great suggestions for fine dining in the East End? The truth is I don’t go out for dinner that often, but when I do, one of my fa-vorite places to go is Gabby Karan’s restaurant, Tutto il Gionio, in Sag Harbor. The pasta is fresh and amaz-ing, and the atmosphere is so charm-ing and comfortable. I feel very much at home. Another place I like to go to in Sag [Harbor] is Sen.

Take a Dip with Kelly

Klein~ By Benjamin-Émile Le Hay ~

Hamptons Simple~ By Benjamin-Émile Le Hay ~ 1

2 31 This linen Normandy dress by Pip-Squeak Chapeau is great for spending an afternoon at the Polo matches.

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Clockwise from top: The tents at Ark Project’s Pride party; Janet O’Brien canoodles with Jacob Stovall at the Unmasked Soros Benefit; Designer Rebecca Minkoff strikes a pose at Love Heals; Billy Joel and Bob DeLuca at Group for The East End gala; Lady Bunny brought the juice at the Empire State Pride tea dance; revelers at The Nature Conservancy gala; The likes of Ruth Appelhof, Hilaria Baldwin and Alec Baldwin graced the step-and-repeat at HIFF’s Summer Screening.

2 I love this organic cotton gauze maxi dress by Loup Charmant for the Bay Street Theatre Benefit.

3 This aqua blue print bandeau bikini by Deedee would be perfect for a relaxing day at Peter’s Pond.

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S A L E S | R E N T A L S | R E L O C A T I O N | N E W D E V E L O P M E N T S | R E T A I L | M O R T G A G E | P R O P E R T Y M A N A G E M E N T | T I T L E I N S U R A N C E

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“Cash is the new black! It’s not unusual for buy-ers to pay all cash for homes here,” explained Paul Brennan and Sachiko Goodman, Hamptons Re-gional Manager and Managing Director, respec-tively of Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate. “Whether $1,000,000 or $20,000,000. It’s the best currency for the strongest deal – and sellers re-spond well to it!”

“I would say that a large percentage of my trans-actions are structured as a ‘cash’ deal,” echoed Associate Broker Brian Buckhout of Prudential Douglas Elliman’s East Hampton office, “but it is extremely rare that someone actually shows up with a bag of cash.”

“More often than not, the buyer will have some sort of financing, but they are comfortable enough with their financial situation that they do no need to make it a contingency of purchase,” he said. “It basi-cally strengthens their offer from the outset as the buyer does not have the financing as an out clause.”

While cash may make for strong deals, there are al-ways a few deals that fall through the cracks. “We had a last-minute request from a nightclub owner that we know for a Memorial Day weekend rental for one of his friends who is a big name ce-lebrity and his entourage,” Mr. Buckhout shared. “We got the call on Friday and had a client who was going to be out of town for the weekend and agreed to rent his house for $25,000. The group showed up on Friday night but only had half of the money, so myself and the owner’s son, who is a local attorney, had to go the house the next morn-ing and collect all of their debit cards, go to the village and withdraw the remaining money.”

“The stories are legendary,” he said, adding, only somewhat jokingly. “If I told you, I’d have to kill you.”

Though we may never know all that goes on in the real estate market, to experiences like this, Mr. Buckhout said, the best agents are the ones that respond with “verve” and “professionalism.” At least, these are the ones “that come out smiling.”

To insane demands? “We’re in the service busi-ness, after all,” he said. “So nothing is impossible, the answer is always ‘yes!’ with a big smile.”

Drama doesn’t always involve difficult hur-dles put forth my finicky clients. Even four-legged

creatures can add an unexpected twist, requir-ing realtors to act with swift compassion. Terry Thompson, a Licensed Sales Associate at Pruden-tial Douglas Elliman said that one of her most out-rageous tales in the Hamptons involved a dog from a disheveled property.

“I ‘won’ a listing after six other agents were in-terviewed. Then the work began,” she recalled. “First, I along with Nancy Hardy, also [a broker at Prudential Douglas Elliman] from the South-ampton office rescued two dogs from this owner that were crated all day!” Ms. Thompson took mat-ters quickly into her own hands and emailed vari-ous Hamptons agents and found both dogs a new home upstate.

“The home was extremely cluttered so I made the owner order a 20-yard dumpster… and transformed

the home into something we could put on the market,” she told The Observer.

Saying yes with a smile seems to stay the policy, even when beautiful, relative-ly new homes on the market are completely bulldozed by new owners. “I’ve sold several homes on the water that have been bulldozed or completely gut-renovated, even though they were in relatively great condition,” said Mala Sand-er, Senior Vice President and Associate Broke of Corcoran Group. “There’s so little wa-terfront out there, so people that don’t find what they want are prepared to rip down and start over.”

And what it is that peo-ple want from their homes in The Hamptons is varying

more and more. While many real-estate options in the area subscribe to its “quaint,” vacation-es-cape atmosphere, there are always a few that push the definition of what it means to live in the The Hamptons, the Water Mill property, Ito Estate, de-signed by famed architect, sculptor and artist Set-suo Ito (pictured), being one of them.

While surrounded by verdant pastures and pan-oramic ocean and bay views, with a half-mile drive-way surrounded by white pine forest, the property somehow pulls off working a 32-foot-high steel pyramid into the picture. Inside, Japanese-style bedrooms and a rare open-glass fireplace intro-duce a new level of zen to the pastoral outside. A rare 22-acre horse farm is also available for pur-chase a few blocks down the road. Talk about com-bining the best of both worlds.

‘The group only had half of the money, so myself

and the owner’s son ... had to go to the house the next morning and collect all of their debit cards, go to the village and withdraw the

remaining money.’ Brian Buckhout,

Prudential Douglas Elliman

Hamptons Real Estate Confessions

Clockwise from top left: The phenomenal Ito Estate in Water Mill; 707 Pleasure Drive just off Flanders Bay; the grand entrance of Brown Harris Stevens’ Sandcastle Estate in Bridgehampton; the living room of one of Brian Buckhout’s East Hampton listings; a marble bathroom inside Sandcastle Estate.


Realty PRos’ sHaRe stoRIes

~ Written by Melissa Wiley • Compiled by Benjamin-Émile Le Hay ~

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hamptons july 2012

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