Tom House, president and founding director of Hamptons Pride, told the East Hampton Town Planning Board last week that the charity was incorporated four years ago to bolster and preserve the legacy of the Swamp, “the last and longest-running gay club in the Hamptons.”
“We wanted to see something built where the Swamp was: a historical marker, an outdoor social area,” he told the board. “We incorporated to create and maintain this outdoor social area to continue the history there.”
Hamptons Pride inched closer to the realization of its founding project as the planning board indicated support, pending some very minor plan revisions. The town board had previously indicated its approval and altered the management plan for the park to allow for the incoming sculptures: a dance floor surrounded by colorful human shapes and a pink pyramid of disco balls.
“Founded in 1977 by Bill Higgins and business partner, Brent Newsom, the Swamp provided rare refuge, social opportunities, and entertainment for the L.G.B.T.Q.+ community in the Hamptons,” reads the Hamptons Pride website. “Distinct from the glitzy, elite discotheques of Manhattan, the Swamp boasted a bohemian appeal from its cozy Wainscott location.” It was also “the last member of the ‘Miracle Mile,’ a strip of L.G.B.T.Q.+ owned or friendly businesses.”
Mr. House was enthusiastic about the coming alterations to what has recently been known as the Wainscott Green, or Rick Del Mastro Memorial Park. His organization had hired the artist Gustavo Bonevardi to create a new experience of the space.
“If it’s done right, it could be world-class because there’s nothing like it anywhere. There is especially nothing celebratory in nature,” he said. “Most of the L.G.B.T.Q.+ monuments throughout the world are memorial. They have a somber tone to them.”
Apart from the sculptures, there will be plantings.
Jason LaGarenne, a landscape designer, told the board that they will all be native and sustainable. “Requiring no pesticides, no inputs, minimal water to get established, and it will be also quite beautiful and attract pollinators and native wildlife.”
Left to be addressed were elevations on a walking trail. Its specifications needed to match guidelines established by the Americans With Disabilities Act. An existing A.D.A. parking spot will likely connect it to the dance floor, which is located precisely where the Swamp dance floor once was.
“We really hope to build it this year,” said Mr. House, who indicated an application to the architectural review board was already in the works.
