The Long, Thin, White Line
Another Hamptons mystery to solve
 Morgan McGivern, Kate Maier, David E. Rattray Photos
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(8/21/2008) Was it the ghost of Jackson Pollock? The 52nd anniversary of his death just happened to be Aug. 11. It lacks Pollock’s chaos and use of color, but maybe two weeks from now, another mysterious line will be dripped by a bicyclist? A truck? A pedestrian? A studio-barn in the sky?
No progress appears to have been made since the first stroke of a single, yarn-thin white line of paint, which runs all the way from Montauk to Hampton Bays (and possibly farther), was first noticed two weeks ago (or more), but perhaps by summer’s end, we will have a better idea if Pollock, or his ghost, has returned.
The mystery line has been spotted along the north side of Montauk Highway in Montauk, Amagansett, East Hampton, Wainscott, Bridgehampton, Water Mill, Southampton, and along County Road 39 in Hampton Bays. It appears to start (or end) in front of the Tower on The Plaza in Montauk, continuing west on Montauk Highway before seemingly dying out where County Road 39 turns into Sunrise Highway. (There is no sign of the line east of The Plaza, according to two Montauk sources.)
It is painted (drawn? dripped? sprayed?) on the sidewalk, where there is one, and on the shoulder of the highway, where there is not. It even continues along the shoulderless stretches of County Road 39, on the side of a very small raised curb.
The line is imperfect, thinning in some areas almost to the point of vanishing, and doubling in others, like train tracks crossing. In front of The Star office on Main Street in East Hampton, for example, the line is about half as thin as it is in the center of town. It disappears and then re-emerges, like a pen running out of ink. Next door, in front of the East Hampton Library, the line not only thickens, but momentarily doubles.
When the mystery line was pointed out to Louis Myrick, an employee at the library, on Monday, he immediately recalled seeing a similar stroke in Bridgehampton. Mr. Myrick was amused to learn it had traveled all the way to (or from) Montauk, and continued all the way to (or from) Hampton Bays (at least). “That’s wild,” he said. “Somebody had a lot of time.”
In Bridgehampton, you see it in drips, he said, as if conjuring up the Pollock-ghost possibility. “As far as I can tell,” Mr. Myrick said somberly, “I think it was somebody who doesn’t want to get lost.”
When asked if she had seen the line, East Hampton Village Police Detective Sgt. Margaret Dunn said, “You mean the one that goes from your office to Ocean Avenue?” Sgt. Dunn said she only noticed it because she walks on the sidewalk there. She wasn’t aware of the line’s full course.
“I thought it was gum,” Renee Fertig, the longtime owner of Tennis East on Main Street in East Hampton, said Monday afternoon, as she assessed the mystery line, which passes on the sidewalk just a few feet in front of her store. “The people who did it are probably wondering when someone is going to notice.”
Ms. Fertig didn’t have any answers, but she was grateful, at least, for the break the investigation warranted. “I’m glad you stopped in and got me out for a couple of minutes. It’s like I’m decompressing now. This has been the busiest day — the kids are out of camp.”
Next door, Bill Franklin, a manager at BookHampton, offered a more bleak analysis. “It looks like paint,” he said upon a first glimpse. Then he took a closer look. “But you know what. I think it is,” he faltered, “I think it’s some kind of industrial material. Maybe it’s radioactive.”
Mr. Franklin, who hadn’t noticed the mystery line, believes that more than one person is behind it. “I think different people in different towns did it,” he said, suggesting a coordinated effort. “No one could have walked it.”
Helen Harrison, the director of the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center in Springs, weighed in. “It sounds more like a contractor with a leaky paint can,” she said Tuesday. “As much as I would have loved to have done it, I can’t say it was me. And, as far as I know, Jackson was out sick that day.”
“It’s definitely paint,” Luis Villacis, who works at Village True Value Hardware on Newtown Lane in East Hampton, said on Monday, inspecting the line with his finger. He thinks it might have been sprayed, citing a circle of excess paint, possibly caused by a heavy index finger.
An East Hampton Village Traffic Control Officer working the north corner of Main Street and Newtown Lane on Monday afternoon was aware of the line, but didn’t have any explanation. “Yeah, we think it goes all the way to Amagansett,” he said. “We’ve been following it.” According to his sources, it was first spotted about two weeks ago.
Scott King, the East Hampton Town Highway superintendent, knew nothing of the matter. “I haven’t noticed a thing,” he said Monday. “Now you’ve got me curious. I’ll have to go take a look.”
“Very interesting,” added Eileen Peters, a spokeswoman for the Department of Transportation’s Long Island office. “Somehow I doubt it’s us.”
There is one bump in the road: Three or four similar looking lines stream out of Riverhead Building Supply on Railroad Avenue in East Hampton, and continue along Gingerbread Lane and Toilsome Lane. They could not be traced to their cousin.