East Magazine

You say ceviche, I say crudo . . . but what about aguachile, poke, and tartare? Bountiful are the ways to prepare uncooked fish from the briny depths of Long Island waters. Laura Donnelly takes it beyond tuna and offers a few gorgeously simple summer recipes.

Skaters these days, they’re spoiled for choice. It wasn’t so in 1977, when skateboarding — like other youth subcultures, from punk on the Bowery to DJ Kool Herc in the Bronx — was still very much D.I.Y. As The Star reported on August 11 of that year, boarders on the East End really only had two destinations when they wanted to ride: “unused swimming pools” and “smooth, paved hills” like that at Mako Lane, down which the blond-haired boys of summer would bomb on their Santa Cruzes, scaring the bejeezus out of the grownups.

The best table in the Hamptons isn’t a table, it’s your lap. Make a reservation with friends for bare feet in the sand, sunset over the bay, and drinks in a jelly jar. Nina Dohanos shares a few picnic-paradise memories and tips.

July feels like the right moment for a little disorderly conduct, maybe a few improprieties. Rowdy summers, dontcha know, are an East End tradition.

Things can get tense out there, with SO many TERRIBLY Important People jostling for elbow room in parking lots and expostulating on why they deserve the table with the sunset view. Here, THEN, are a few much-needed tips on public etiquette.

William Norwich — chronicler of society, appreciator of beauty — clocks the changes on the South Fork.

Heather Rose Rauscher of Wainscott designs a high-style home-and-fashion line based on gorgeous mash-up prints.

A payphone still stands in East Hampton, behind Town Hall on Pantigo Road. Pick up the receiver and you’ll get an actual, albeit staticky, dial tone. Got your quarters ready? Thanks to 20-plus years of inflation, you’ll need two. A working payphone, in 2023 — is this really happening?

Bruce Cullum may not be the very last rabbit hunter on the East End, but he’s one of very few that remain. A century ago, rabbit hunting was common.

Don’t happen to own a luxury power lobster yacht or a Clyde-built wooden ketch? Never fear. There are so many fun ways for the public to get out on the water — party boats for everyone!

Summer is fleeting and life is short. Grab the sweetness of the moment by indulging in farm-fresh berries. Eat them at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. In salads and margaritas and barbecue sauce. Ku-plink, ku-plunk them on everything.

Just how damn crowded is it, anyway? Spoiler alert: No one actually knows! If the flawed 2020 census were correct, our population would only be about that of the town of Aberdeen, South Dakota, but if the town planning department is correct, East Hampton in summertime is somewhere between New Haven, Connecticut, and Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

It seems like the prerequisite to starting a luxury tequila brand is to be famous. George Clooney, Kendall Jenner, Eva Longoria, Michael Jordan, and Adam Levine have all done it; the list goes on. The guy behind Montaukila, however, has broken that mold.

You’d recognize a bright Lilly Pulitzer shift at 100 paces — but do you know who actually created those magical Palm Beach-to-Southampton prints?

Let's revive the midwinter house party, pre-millennium style.

As a weird cheating scandal rocks the game at its highest levels, kids take to chess in increasing numbers. Tom Gogola reports on opportunities for the next generation of players.

Here’s an old photograph that will call out — like the sound of echoing ice, crack! — to those who spent the winter afternoons of their adolescence cruising Town Pond on skates as the sun went down. It’s a Saturday or Sunday, we’d wager, and — judging by the Fair Isle sweaters, the fuzzy earmuffs, the cut of the jeans — probably around 1980.

Beulah Pollock tells marvelous stories of a childhood in the English countryside, her acting days, the good times she had with her late husband. But when asked what kind of advice she has to offer younger generations, she gets a bit shy and denies having any. In describing a life lived to the fullest, though, some tidbits of unintentional wisdom revealed themselves.

You’ve seen these five uniquely fashionable East End neighbors out and about on the social scene, and wondered, Who is that? In a world of generic good taste — delivered by UPS with free returns — it’s a terrific thing that certain talented civilians still make us smile with the uniqueness of their fashion sense.

Photographs by Geir Magnusson; words by Christine Sampson

Paul Davis, painter of iconic public art, reflects on a unique career characterized by luck and love.

A cashmere wrap printed with an X-ray art piece from Steve Miller of Sagaponack? We’re in.

Successful hosting involves careful preparation, lovingkindness, and making your guests feel welcome but disinclined to return. Spencer L. Schneider helps you to thread that needle.

The wicked-witch-cold, stone-sky months are coming in, and turning the calendar page can be a bit psychologically depressing. Here, a few tips and tricks for making it through to spring.

Bookmark this page! It’s our specially curated compendium of the most festive holiday happenings from now ’til New Year’s Eve.

A shopping list of party essentials, for a kick-up-your-heels New Year's Eve.

It’s super-easy to make surprise-filled, party-popping holiday noisemakers for your festive table — stuffed with paper crowns, a joke or riddle, and all sorts of trinkets. Here’s a how-to.

There’s a letter in a box in a garage in Sedona that may one day soon find its way to the Montauk Point Lighthouse Museum and, if and when it does, it will tie together disparate historical strands of a long-ago romantic tale involving a man, a woman, a horse-drawn sleigh, and a wild ride through the snow from Montauk to East Hampton.

It’s snowing peppery flakes this winter, as chefs make the most of hot-chile recipes for cold weather.

Need a party cake or fancy pie? Look no further than Dorothy’s Baking Company of Sag Harbor — the stuff sugarplum dreams are made of.

Gingerbread is the quintessential Christmas treat, but when mom is a Scandinavian baker and dad is a gifted painter, cookies are elevated to an art form. Nina Dohanos looks back on childhood holidays — and divulges some family secrets for better baking.