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In Melville's Footsteps

In this age, when luxury commerce seems to be the very definition of life in the Hamptons, it's easy to forget that the South Fork once was a picturesque, if obscure, haven for artists, writers, and other bohemians. Sag Harbor, in particular, has seen more than its share of notable writers over the centuries, and we revel in remembering when its bars and sidewalks were peopled by Steinbeck, et al. Here, then, is a literary-centric walking tour of the little whaling village that launched a thousand novels.

OVERHEARD: When You're Strange

The Star photo archive is an anachronistic system, a holdover, unchanged since the days when images were not digital collections of pixels traveling on ether, but material things printed on paper in a basement darkroom. And, to the delight of any reporter or editor who finds an excuse to wade, hip-deep, into the archive, there are — wedged in among the many mundane black-and-white photographs (too many mildly “arty” snapshots of ducks and decoys, wood fences and weathered barns) and among the treasures (rare glass-plate negatives of Amagansett whalers and candid shots of major literary lions) — lots of truly wacky souvenirs of days gone by.