Eighty-three years after opening as the Jungle Inn, a Fort Pond Boulevard watering hole in Springs is once again a restaurant, a place to hear live music, and a community hub.

The Springs Tavern opened on March 30, succeeding Wolfie’s, an entrenched restaurant and bar for almost 30 years, from 1988 until its closing last year. Substantial renovation has yielded a brighter, airy atmosphere and the menu is reasonably priced, attracting a new, fast-growing clientele, fueled mostly by word of mouth, according to the owners, Dan and Charlotte DeSmet. While mounted flat-screen televisions are a nod to current times, the restaurant recalls an earlier, pre-Wolfie’s era.

 The Jungle Inn would soon be known as Jungle Pete’s, for its owner, Peter Federico. It was populated by year-round Springs residents and well-known midcentury artists, among them the painters Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning. Years later, as the Birches, owned by the guitarist Jim Demitrack, the artists Larry Rivers, on sax, and Howard Kanovitz, on trombone, played jazz there with others late into the night.

Mr. Federico died in 1964. His wife, Nina, with whom he ran the restaurant and bar, sold it in the early 1970s. Over the following decades, it was known as Jungle Johnnie’s, Vinnie’s Place, the Boatswain, the Frigate, and Harry’s Hideaway. Ms. Federico died in 1987.

The DeSmets signed a lease in November. Previously an advertising salesman, Mr. DeSmet said his new career as a restaurateur came “purely by accident” after his retirement. “After we went through one winter out here with me puttering around the house,” he said, his wife told him he had to “get out of the house and do something.”

One day, talking with fellow golfers at Montauk Downs, one asked if he would like to tend bar. It was Gino Bombace,” the then-owner of Wolfie’s. Although he had no experience, he accepted the offer.

Working the day shift, “the customers started telling me the history of this place. Some of them are 80 years old and they’d been coming here since they were kids in their pajamas, telling me stories of their parents carrying them, they’d all have dinner, the kids would fall asleep on the floor, and the parents would dance and party all night.”

Checking with longtime neighbors confirmed its history as not just a restaurant but also a dance hall, music hall, occasional art gallery, and social hub, Mr. DeSmet said. “That was what inspired us to want to do this: We saw that this place has a long history of providing all these roles for the community, and had only been doing one.” Mr. DeSmet said that although he “didn’t know the restaurant business,” he knew business, and “I saw this as an underutilized asset. If we could just clean it up and revive its role, it would probably be successful.”

That the gathering place had been popular over the years is seen in framed photographs. “Actually,” Mr. DeSmet said, “other than the TVs, everything on the walls has been donated by our customers.”

A patron’s first words, Ms. DeSmet said, are often some version of “ ‘I’ve lived here for 40 years, and I haven’t been here for 20 years.’ Often, when people come in, they see their neighbors, they see their friends. As trite as it sounds, it really is a community hub where people collect news, sit with friends. . . .  You can sit here for six dollars for an hour or two and chat with your friends.”

Unlike Mr. DeSmet, Ms. DeSmet comes to Springs Tavern with some experience. A Hauppauge native, she summered at Lazy Point, Amagansett, with her family who, with neighbors, operated Fish ’n’ Chips for several years, a long-ago restaurant on Napeague that later became Cyril’s Fish House, which closed last year. She also worked at the Clam Bar on Napeague and at Bay Kitchen Bar in East Hampton.

The couple said they were enthralled by the tavern’s rich history in the arts, noting Pollock’s regular visits in the last decade of his life, when he lived on Springs-Fireplace Road, and that de Kooning lived nearby, on Woodbine Drive.

The live music continues at Springs Tavern with the recent introduction of country music on Tuesday nights, featuring the Spaghetti Westerners. “That’s going really well. We’re now looking at adding late-night music on Fridays and Saturdays, but it’s tough because we have such a robust restaurant business now. . . . We’ll probably give it a shot more in the fall, when business is a little slower,” Mr. DeSmet said.

“To sum it up, ‘authenticity’ was our motive,” Ms. DeSmet said. “It wasn’t to put up beautiful sunset pictures or tchotchkes that we got from the liquor companies. It was to honor what it’s been, and document it. That really has touched the lives of a lot of people who come in.”

Less than a year ago, Jinna Rolf, who is 93, began painting. Although she and the other members of her art class have had a variety of hobbies during their lives, all of them discovered the joys of painting in their later years.

Every Thursday, four residents of the Windmill Village affordable housing complex in East Hampton attend a painting class taught by a fellow resident and artist. Seated at a round table, the group chats between brushstrokes while Robert Hettiger guides and critiques them. He challenges them to work in ways they never thought possible, always giving them tips — like painting trees upside down because it is easier that way.

Since September, Mr. Hettiger, a wildlife artist, has been volunteering his time to teach the hour-and-a-half classes. “I’ve been doing art for over 45 years,” he said. “One day it just came into my head, and I thought, ‘Maybe I can teach people.’ ”

With a little help from the social service coordinator at Windmill, Mr. Hettiger had 10 people sign up. Although teaching was new for him, he designed a lesson plan to assure that each week built on what was learned the one before it.

The first session began with adult coloring books; now they are working with acrylic paint on canvases. Although the number dwindled to four, the current group has learned much more than how to properly hold a paintbrush.

“I see everything differently now,” Ms. Rolf said. “I walk with my walker and I come by a lot of trees and deadlleaves on the ground, but I see them so differently than I did before.”

Not only has the class helped the participants look at their surroundings more thoughtfully, art is also influencing their lives in other ways.

For Carol Sherman, a poet and former fashion designer who said she struggled with the minute detail of sketches, Mr. Hettiger’s class has made her a more confident artist. While she had dabbled in watercolors because they were more forgiving, “I’ve been doing things I never did before,” she said. “Sometimes if I don’t have a book that I really want to read or I don’t want to watch TV, I pull out the art. You get lost in it.”

Sean Doyle, another member, also finds pleasure in the class. “This is very challenging for me, but for some reason carving wood is very easy . . . don’t ask me why,” he said. “Sometimes I suffer, but I look forward to it. I’m here every Thursday.”

“You know,” Ms. Sherman said, “when you get to a certain age, you’re not running out all the time, going to events and local readings and so on, so it gives you a whole other dimension.”

Similarly, Jennifer Farbar, a younger member of the class, is grateful for how it has affected her. Because of certain challenges, she looks for ways in which to appreciate her brain’s strengths. She has found coloring and painting to be relaxing, and while it can be difficult, she said it is good to be challenged. “I’m 52 and I’m mentally disabled, but look at what I can do,” she said. “That’s a really good feeling.”

Although the participants had different reasons for signing up, all have learned new things about themselves from painting. Regardless of age, they have become fond of a new activity that they each continue to do on their own outside of the weekly meetings.

As September slowly approaches, so does the end of Mr. Hettiger’s yearlong class. While he is not planning to continue teaching it, he is encouraging his students to keep painting. “I tell them they can come in as a group and keep this going,” he said.

With the July Fourth holiday weekend beginning on Friday and the Fourth itself not until Tuesday, the number of visitors in East Hampton did not quickly abate, and traffic, crowding, and egregious, even illegal behavior, remained a focus of town officials. By Wednesday morning, with the Independence Day fireworks over, the community was still “maxed out,” East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell said.

From police to fire marshals to ordinance enforcement and marine patrol officers, “Our people are out there enforcing the law. Obviously we have a lot of people in the community. We’ve got all hands on deck,” Mr. Cantwell said, “just trying to keep peace and good order.”

While East Hampton’s year-round population is around 21,000, it’s not news that the number of people here in the high season, and particularly on summer holiday weekends, goes up exponentially. A consultant who analyzed hotel occupancy, the number of additional seasonal visitors, and second homes for a recent economic study of the town found that East Hampton has the peak potential for more than 73,000 people.

Town police saw a lot of activity over the weekend, but Mr. Cantwell said the volume was not unusual. Between Friday and Monday morning, police responded to 447 incidents. There were 12 arrests, including three for driving while intoxicated, 18 traffic accidents, and 105 traffic citations issued for moving violations.

Police were “very busy,” Mr. Cantwell said on Monday, answering more than 160 calls in a 24-hour period and making half a dozen arrests. On Tuesday night in Montauk, “the fireworks were very heavily attended,” the supervisor said.

Noise complaints emanating from residential neighborhoods numbered 56, while there was only one complaint about noise from a commercial site. “The compliance level was excellent,” Mr. Cantwell said.

However, he described one major overcrowding issue in a restaurant and bar in Montauk. A fire marshal who visited the Grey Lady, which is on West Lake Drive, found an excessive crowd and brought in police and ordinance officers to empty out the place. Patrons were allowed to return, but only as many as allowed under the business’s maximum-occupancy limit.

Meanwhile, the resumption of service here by ride-hailing companies — Uber, Lyft, and other services called through an app — had little impact over the weekend, according to Mr. Cantwell. “Uber was present and working, but this weekend we were not overwhelmed in Montauk by Uber activity,” he said.

In an effort to impose order on an increasingly chaotic taxi situation last year, when many cabbies jockeyed for fares, East Hampton had adopted a law that made a business office in East Hampton a prerequisite for a town taxi license, effectively banning the so-called transportation network companies such as Uber. Uber launched a campaign among its customers protesting the law, but the town held fast until state lawmakers placed ride-hailing companies under state purview earlier this year, superseding local laws and clearing the way for these services to return.

Uber drivers, along with all other taxi drivers, are still held to town traffic and other regulations, and there were “a significant number of summonses issued,” Mr. Cantwell said, for cabs parking in public parking spaces longer than the 15-minute limit.

A free shuttle bus in Montauk, set up by the town and run by the Hampton Hopper, a bus company that has been operating among East Hampton hamlets for several years, was “off to a very good start,” Mr. Cantwell said.

On the first day of its Montauk loop, between Hither Hills, downtown, the train station, and the dock area, the shuttle provided 72 one-way rides. That number rose to 86 on Thursday, 180 on Friday, reached 448 on Saturday, and was 306 on Sunday.

Police responded to an additional 249 calls from Monday morning through yesterday morning and reported an additional 14 vehicular accidents in that time period.

Although the Montauk Chamber of Commerce has put on its Stars Over Montauk, Grucci Fireworks show for almost two decades, in recent years it has fallen short in its fund-raising goals.  

A day after the event, the amount raised did not seem promising, according to Laraine Creegan, the chamber’s executive director. Although donations had not been tallied up yet, she expects to know the total in the next day or two.

This year expenses for the show totaled over $25,000, but as of last Thursday, the Chamber of Commerce had raised just under $11,000. This was announced in an email sent to chamber members. “Every year our fund-raising gets more and more difficult,” the email said.

“We had some donations since, but we have to figure out expenses,” Ms. Creegan said by phone. “We may still be a little short.”

In the hope that members would donate, the email also explained that as a small gesture of thanks, donors who contributed $200 or more will be listed in a thank-you advertisement.

If the deficit of around $14,000 is not met, it will come out of the Chamber of Commerce’s budget, leaving less for other events, Ms. Creegan said.

Three students who graduated from high school in East Hampton, Sag Harbor, and Bridgehampton this month are a study in getting ahead despite the odds.

For Francesca Denaro, who graduated from East Hampton High School on Friday, the difficulty was that she was on her own, with only her older brother for support. Santiago Salvidar is the first member of his family to go to college, and perhaps high school. He explained that his father, hobbled by alcoholism, was dependent on his wages. The third student, Cristina Guadalupe Espinoza Paucar, arrived from Ecuador to join her father in Bridgehampton, enrolling in the 10th grade there although she spoke no English.

Francesca was born and raised in East Hampton. Her mother died when she was 2, and her father, a chef at the Ross School, cared for her and a brother who was seven years older, until his death shortly after her freshman year of high school.

“I don’t know how my dad did it on a single income. He worked magic,” she said.

Shortly after her high school freshman year, however, her father died, leaving the adolescent girl and her brother, who had recently turned 21 and worked as a fisherman, in a state of shock. What followed was an untimely glimpse into adulthood; her brother suddenly had to be a parent and she took on the role of household budget keeper, filing the family’s taxes and applying for health insurance.

She had a job at the Hampton Chutney Company in Amagansett, where she still works, and clocked in as many hours as possible. She has never resented being thrust into adulthood during what might instead have been carefree teenage years, she said, although when she is at work and sees parents and kids bonding over lunch, she gets wistful.

While college hunting, Francesca fell in love with Marist College, in the Hudson Valley. “The campus is breathtaking, and I loved everyone I met there,” she said. A hardworking student, she knew that despite receiving mostly “As”, the choice of college would depend solely on financial aid.

St. Lawrence University, near the Canadian border, made her “an unbelievable offer,” she said, but she appealed to Marist and explained the constraints she and her brother faced. She revisited the college with the hope of convincing them to make a more substantial financial offer. She did and will head to Marist this fall, where she plans to major in finance, a subject she said her situation had helped her “become pretty good at.”

Santiago Saldivar grew up with nine family members from Mexico, crammed into three small rooms in an apartment above the Italian restaurant Il Cappuccino in Sag Harbor. His father was a dishwasher and money was always tight, said the 18-year-old, who will start a two-year program next month at Suffolk Community College in Riverhead.

That he is heading to college at all, he said, is entirely due to Pierson’s teachers and guidance counselors who were determined not to let him fall through the cracks when, as a 14-year-old, he grew rebellious and uninterested in school. Having worked to help his family since he was 10, he thought college was not for him, but for students whose parents were lawyers or business owners.

“My math teacher, Ms. [Linda] Sendlenski, was an angel. I was failing my math class and she called the principal and said she would tutor me every day at her house, for free. I ended up passing math that year,” he said recently while sitting outdoors in Sag Harbor with his girlfriend, Emily LeRolland.

Santiago explained that his mother left when he was about 5 and that he somehow believed it was his fault. He now knows his parents’ troubles were due to factors that he had nothing to do with.

“I love that school. They helped me so much when I had no one to turn to‚“ he said. In fact, his father became dependent on his son’s wages, which he earned by working long hours as a busboy at Il Cappuccino.

The money he earned helped pay for rent and, on occasion, his father’s fines for driving while intoxicated. “There was always something my dad needed the money for,” he said.

Santiago admits that seeing others show up for school in the latest Air Jordans, for example, made him jealous while he was reliant on clothes bought on sale at Kmart. But living in one of the wealthiest enclaves in America also helped him see what success looked like. He became determined to carve out a better future, he said, although he ended 11th grade with a C-minus average.

A Pierson guidance counselor, however, told him about the State University of New York’s Education Opportunity Program, offering academic support and financial aid to those who for a number of reasons could not gain admission. He got into the program. “I’m so excited,” he said. “They give you tutors and all the help you need to make sure you succeed. And it continues when you transfer to a four-year program.”

 Santiago’s girlfriend, who has attended private schools, said, “I’m so proud of where he has come from and what he has done.”

Cristina Paucar left Ecuador to join her father in Bridgehampton, where he worked as a mechanic. She entered school as a 10th grader speaking no English. Yet, this fall she will attend the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan, one of only 25 students selected for their textile/surface design program. She will also be the first in her family to attend college.

Cristina is grateful to Ninfa Boyd, Bridgehampton’s bilingual teaching aide, who worked with her from day one. “It’s not easy when kids come here as teenagers,” Ms. Boyd said. “In 10th grade, Cristina had to sit through discussions on capitalism versus communism — in English.”

Cristina recalled how stressful it was not to always comprehend what was going on around her. She had to force herself to concentrate, she said, and to work extra hard.

With small classes — there are 14 students in the class of 2017 — Bridgehampton helps English language learners by providing a bilingual education. They attend general education classes in English but have access to all materials in Spanish. Homework during the first year is done in both English and Spanish.

“It’s double the work,” said Ms. Boyd, but “very important for them to comprehend the material in their own language.” By the second year, they switch to English only.

Cristina’s high school resume shows that she made the honor roll in all three years, even winning outstanding achievement awards in almost all subjects. Today, any evidence of stress has been replaced by a seemingly permanent smile.

She said she had made her father extremely proud. Initially, he had wanted her to go to nursing school but was pleased that a Bridgehampton teacher recognized her talent and guided her toward art school.

Cristina said she hopes to return to Bridgehampton and help inspire other young students who come here in search of the American dream.

Over neighbors' furious protests against what they called an outsized sense of entitlement and Hook Pond Lane's deteriorating character, the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals granted a variance allowing a detached 748-square-foot garage in a front yard, which is prohibited by zoning. 

Howard Dean, the former governor of Vermont and candidate for president, whose family has owned a house for many years on the private lane that leads to Hook Pond, was among those who argued against the variance. Despite cries of "Enough is enough!" and Mr. Dean's complaint that development had "fundamentally changed the nature of the town that I grew up in," the board decided that approval was the better of two options. 

Jeffrey Schneider, a developer and builder who lives in the village, has a 6,450-square-foot house under construction at 20 Hook Pond Lane, which several neighbors said is far larger than any others on the lane. The code would allow a garage to be attached to the house, which Mr. Schneider pledged to do were his application for a detached garage denied. The result would be an even greater mass, board members said. 

Mr. Schneider, who said he has built nine spec houses in East Hampton, bought the property in January for $5.95 million. It had once belonged to Dwight Chapin, who was a deputy assistant to President Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal. The private lane forks just before the property, with one fork, West Road, wrapping around it, which technically means the property has three front yards. "That kind of threw us for a loop," said Mr. Schneider. "I didn't know we had three front-yard setbacks. Shame on me." 

Thomas Heine, the architect, told the board that plans for the garage, and a porte cochere between it and the house, had been submitted to the Building Department, but were withdrawn when the department delayed a determination about whether it was an attached or detached structure. "It wasn't as if we were trying to sneak around something in the code," he said. "We just chose to back the garage out so we could get started on the construction."

A garage connected to a main house by an open breezeway is considered detached, but its square footage is included in the permitted floor area of the principal structure, a provision of the code that aims to control massing. 

Mr. Heine was rebutting accusations from Mr. Dean, his brother, Jim Dean, and Linda James, whose house is next door, who claimed that Mr. Schneider was presenting his overall plan in segments, and was likely to return with plans for a tennis court, for example. 

The neighbors also objected to the size of the house, which they claim has irreparbly harmed the lane's character, although the house and proposed garage are under the maximum size allowable. 

The neighbors were also frustrated by the ongoing disturbance. Ms. James said that trees, including one at the entrance to her driveway, had been cut down or sheared, that construction crews making U-turns in her cul-de-sac had forced her to install a gate.

"It's a nightmare. I am shocked beyond words . . . that this owner-builder never, never came to address us. I think of all the things that are reprehensible about the project and about what's happening in East Hampton, it's this sense of entitlement," she said. 

While development in East Hampton “has been great because it creates a lot of jobs,” the former governor said, “at some point somebody is going to say we can’t keep doing this to ourselves. It’s not a matter of the community changing; all communities change. But at some point you lose the community.” Like several others, including Carl Irace, an attorney representing the Deans, he accused Mr. Schneider of segmenting the plans. “These kinds of maneuvers are what cause us to lose the community and I hope the board will take that into consideration.”

Jim Dean said that anyone visiting the house under construction would “see how imposing it is . . . how very out of character it is compared to the homes that surround it.” Construction had occurred outside of the allowable hours, he said, and trespasses resulted in damage to a tree. “We’re very, very concerned about how protected we are with a project of this magnitude that has done so much to affect all of us and many of the other neighbors.”

Mr. Irace read a recent amendment to the zoning code outlawing any portion of a detached garage within a front yard. The village, he said, “took significant action legislating an ordinance that explicitly prohibited exactly what’s being sought here.” The increased massing resulting from the garage, he said, would “make the neighborhood feel denser and more crowded with structure, and it will detract from the unique Hook Pond location and setting.” The variance would also negatively impact Hook Pond, “an area with very sensitive environmental concerns,” he said.

He asked that the hearing be left open for written submissions. But board members coalesced around a statement by Frank Newbold, the chairman, that if the application were denied, the “remedy is to build this larger structure as of right.” Mr. Heine had noted that as an accessory structure, the garage would be limited to a height of 20 feet, but if it were attached to the residence, it could be as high as 30 feet.

“You have to realize that if they get the variance, it’s smaller,” said Chris Minardi, a member of the board. “I believe it’s to the benefit of the community to approve this.”

Lys Marigold, the board’s vice chairwoman, said she would vote reluctantly to approve the variance. “This structure is huge . . . an affront to the neighbors in its rawness now. Hopefully, one day it will settle in and be hidden behind trees and bushes, etc. . . . I understand, endless construction crews and everything, but in the long run, for you and the neighborhood and the village, it would be better to have a smaller garage.”

The neighbors were clearly disappointed, although Howard Dean was among those who thanked the board for its efforts. “As you know, I have a long history in public service. You never end up in a process like this with a lot of friends.”

Other Decisions

Four determinations were announced at the meeting. Peter Morton, a co-founder of the Hard Rock Cafe restaurant chain, was granted variances to allow swimming pool equipment and a dry well seaward of the coastal hazard area line and within a side-yard setback at 57 West End Road.

The board granted the Everit Albert Herter Veterans of Foreign Wars, whose building is at 290 Montauk Highway, a special permit to install four air-conditioning condenser units on a lot containing a pre-existing nonconforming restaurant (Highway Restaurant and Bar) in a residential district.

Anne Maffei and John Eaton were granted variances to allow alterations to a pre-existing nonconforming garage, which is to be used as a pool house and for storage, at 6 Meadow Way. Variances were also granted to permit construction of an attached pergola. Both structures fall within required setbacks.

The board granted the Patrick Alfred Hines Trust variances to legalize two air-conditioning condenser units and allow construction of an attached deck, all within the rear-yard setback, at 16 King Street.

Today is the day that Uber, Lyft, and other “transportation network companies” can begin operating legally on the South Fork, as the result of a law approved in Albany earlier this month that removed them from local regulation, giving it instead to the State Department of Motor Vehicles.

The law effectively killed an East Hampton Town regulation that required every taxi company to maintain a local office, and another in Southampton Town that required drivers to have local permits.

Today is also the day that the big ride-hailing companies, which allow riders to use an app to summon cars and pay for rides, are undoubtedly going to discover local competition. A new service, TAHA Limo, an East Hampton company, is now an option, as is an app called Skedaddle.

As with Uber, customers can request a car on the TAHA Rider app, and even more, they can choose a sedan, S.U.V., limo, luxury van, or party bus. TAHA will accommodate big parties by accepting requests for up to five cars at a time. Customers can also reserve a car up to six months in advance.

Among TAHA’s distinctive services is “Don’t Drive Drunk” (D.D.D.), which will send a car with two drivers to a specified location, helping a car owner and his or her vehicle to get home safely.

Also getting in on the action is Skedaddle, is a crowdsource app that allows users to create their own mass transit routes without being charged until everyone has paid. Skedaddle will offer free service this Saturday and Sunday to anyone who downloads its app. Instead of payment, riders will only need to show proof of the downloaded mobile app to the driver.

This Saturday, the 35-person Skedaddle-summoned bus will shuttle people to and from Southampton Main Street to Cooper’s Beach from about 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. In the evening, the bus will loop around to popular Southampton bars and clubs, including the Publick House, 75 Main, Southampton Social Club, and AM Southampton. On Sunday, Skedaddle will move to Montauk, taking customers from the heart of the hamlet to Ditch Plain during the day and to such nightlife locations as the Surf Lodge, Sloppy Tuna, Montauk Beach House, and Ruschmeyer’s. 

While not exactly an app, but perhaps the closest thing to it, texting to call for a car has also begun. Instead of using an app, customers can text 668 MTK Taxi to arrange rides. “Our phone number receives texts, and the text goes to the nearest driver,” Adnan Arshad said of the new company. Its phone number is 631-668-1040.

Just how all the new services will affect local taxi companies is as yet unknown. Phoning one of them, or safely and lawfully driving yourself, are still alternatives.

A jewelry sale that was to be held Friday at Grey Gardens, the West End Road residence made famous by its connection to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and a 1975 documentary about its inhabitants, has raised questions about the use of private houses for commercial ventures.

Wednesday morning, East Hampton Village officials sent a cease-and-desist letter to American Express, which has rented the property, and the Sally Quinn Trust, which owns it, stating that such a sale would violate the village’s zoning code.

By the afternoon, the village had been advised that the sale will be relocated outside of village limits.

An invitation to “the iconic Grey Gardens Estate” for “an afternoon of shopping” with the jewelry designer Jennifer Fisher that was to take place from 2 to 5 p.m. was distributed last week. The sale was also advertised in print media. The invitation lists American Express Platinum as the host.

“What they are planning to do does violate village code,” Rebecca Hansen, the village administrator, said on Monday. Ms. Hansen said that village officials had learned of the jewelry sale on Friday afternoon. “We have informed the jewelry company that retail shows are not allowed in residential areas, and asked them to relocate,” she said. “What they are looking to do is not permitted.”

On Tuesday, Ms. Hansen said that representatives of American Express had contacted Village Hall that day. “We conveyed our concerns to them,” she said, “and there seems to be a differing of opinion on what will be transpiring there this summer.”

The cease-and-desist letter, signed by Kent Howie, a code enforcement officer, informed the owner and tenant that, “As provided in village zoning code, with the sole exception of home professional offices, home occupations traditionally conducted by owners in a portion of their residence, and plant nurseries, no commercial uses of land are permitted in any residential district of the village either by right or by special permit. Accordingly, you are hereby ordered to cease and desist all commercial activities in this residential district.”

Sally Quinn, a journalist who writes for The Washington Post, bought and restored the property with her husband, the late Ben Bradlee, The Post’s longtime editor, in 1979. The nine-bedroom house is listed for sale on the Corcoran Group’s website at $17.995 million. The initial asking price was $19.995 million.

Grey Gardens was a shambles when Ms. Quinn and Mr. Bradlee bought it for  $225,000. Its previous occupants were an aunt and cousin of Ms. Kennedy Onassis and Lee Radziwill, Edith Bouvier Beale and her daughter, also named Edith. The Beales, who had lived there in increasing states of squalor over four decades, were nearly evicted by the Village of East Hampton in 1971. Interest in their story sparked a 1976 documentary by Albert and David Maysles, “Grey Gardens,” a musical by the same name that premiered in New York City in 2006, a 2009 HBO film starring Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore, and numerous other smaller projects all lending to the intrigue around the property.

As of Tuesday afternoon, East Hampton Village expected American Express to continue with plans for the jewelry sale Friday, “but we’ll see what happens after they receive the letter,” Ms. Hansen said. “If the village continues to feel that events that are in violation of code are carrying on, the village shall seek recourse in the courts.” Calls and emails to American Express officials in Manhattan had not been returned as of noon Wednesday.

American Express has another presence in East Hampton this year: The company has partnered with Eleven Madison Park, a Manhattan restaurant that is closed for renovations, to open a pop-up called EMP Summer House, on the Pantigo Road site that most recently housed Moby’s. Reservations are exclusive to American Express card members.

The grand jury that indicted Valon Shoshi last week in an assault earlier this month on his former girlfriend raised the legal stakes for him significantly by adding two new felony charges to the two he was already facing. The added charge of aggravated sexual abuse is classified as a violent crime, and carries a mandatory sentence of three and a half to 15 years in state prison.

Mr. Shoshi is also charged with criminal contempt of court involving violence, aggravated contempt of an order of protection, and forcible sexual abuse, felonies, and two misdemeanors, forcible sexual touching and assault.

He has been held without bail until he can be arraigned. His scheduled arraignment on Monday has been put off until Friday, July 7, to allow him to hire a new lawyer.

Updated, 12:17 p.m: East Hampton Village Police Chief Mike Tracey said police have located the owner of the Mini Cooper that was found abandoned on an embankment Friday and will be issuing a summons. 

Judith Haselton of Amagansett told police she was driving east on Pondview Lane at about 9 p.m. on Thursday when she failed to negotiate a turn, hit a curb, and went down the embankment, landing in the brush. She said she walked to a friend's house and got a ride home. The vehicle was not discovered until 10 on Friday morning. 

Because she did not report the accident, in which there was damage to her vehicle, she will be given a summons. 

Originally, 11:52 a.m: Police are looking for the driver of a Mini Cooper that was found abandoned down an embankment on Friday at the edge of a Hook Pond tributary in East Hampton Village.

Village Police Chief Mike Tracey said someone walking past spotted the Mini at about 10 a.m. wedged in some bushes alongside the Pondview Lane bridge, out of sight by passing motorists.

"There is no sign of the driver," Chief Tracey said.

The Mini had apparently been coming from the Main Street direction toward Egypt Lane when it went down the embankment, Chief Tracey said, on a curved portion of the narrow road. "On the second part of the S turn, the car just went straight down the embankment." It came to a stop just short of the water.

The Mini's front and side airbags deployed. There was no immediate evidence in the empty vehicle that anyone had been hurt.

A tow truck was called to remove the car.