HAMPTONS PRIVATE
Spend some time in The Hamptons with Dan Rattiner’s new book that delves deep into America’s posh playground.
Residents of Beverly Hills may disagree but for many, the most affluent and glamorous zip codes in America are to be found in The Hamptons. Places like Bridehampton, Sagaponack, East Hampton and Amagansett are where the seriously rich live in astonishing beachfront houses, play polo and tennis and perhaps arrange a profitable business deal over drinks after a sunset yacht cruise.
Dan Rattiner is a cartoonist, photographer and award-winning writer who moved to Montauk as a teenager and has lived in the East End area ever since. Host of a weekly radio show called The Hamptons Report for WQXR, Rattiner has written extensively about the posh part of Long Island. His latest book is Hamptons Private, from luxury publisher Assouline, in which he writes, “It is a truly beautiful peninsula. Although just a hundred miles from New York City, eagles swoop and soar overhead, and whales roll up to the surface to spout. The sea thunders and the sea whistles.” Rattiner gave Altitudes his top five favourite things to do in The Hamptons.
DINNER AT GOSMAN’S
Gosman’s Restaurant is perched along the west side of the channel that lead the boats into and out of Montauk Harbor. From there, you can watch the parade – elegant yachts, charter boats and commercial fishing boats coming in and out – as you enjoy clam chowder, crab cakes or a lobster dinner.
WALKING TO THE BEACH AT EAST HAMPTON
It is a leisurely one-mile walk from the forty-foot-tall Hook Windmill at the east end of this Old New England village to the ocean beach pavilion at the west. Window shopping the chic stores of downtown along the way, you will be sheltered by huge elm trees overarching the broad Main Street. Further along, you pass two other windmills, the village green and a town pond guarded by mute swans to finally end your walk to the beach.
TATE’S BAKESHOP
Tate’s chocolate chip cookies are known throughout the world. When Kathleen King was 11 years old, she started selling her homemade cookies at a roadside stand in front of her parent’s farm. At 18, her cookies became all the rage at the little bakeshop she opened in Southampton. Recently, she retired, receiving a reported $200m from Mondolez International. But you can still walk into her Southampton shop, smell the cookies baking in the back and buy a bag.
HAMPTON CLASSIC HORSE SHOW
The horse show is held for eight days at the end of August every year. My favourite day is the last day, Sunday, when the world class riders and their steeds jump the rails in the ring to win trophies, Olympic team points and hundreds of thousands of dollars. Overlooking the ring is a huge tent where individuals have purchased tables directly on the rail. Celebrities, the wealthy and the owners stroll the aisle between the tables meeting with friends and associates they may not have seen since the same thing last year.
BOATING FOR DINNER
Spending the day at the beach is one thing. But at sunset I love to take my family aboard a small rowboat with an outboard in front of my house for a 30 minute boat ride across Three Mile Harbor to tie up at one of the three waterfront restaurants for a special waterside dinner on a deck. When it ends, we motor home through the moonlight.
