125 Years Ago 1901
From The East Hampton Star, July 5
The young people of East Hampton had a beach party yesterday afternoon.
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A Warning
Twice within the last few weeks The Star has reprinted news dispatches from villages at the west end of the county telling of the manner in which the shore fronts in Bay Shore and Sayville are being sold or leased for the exclusive use of wealthy summer residents. Last week we printed an article from the Brooklyn Times which stated that the baymen and village people of Sayville are becoming greatly alarmed over the gradual narrowing of their long enjoyed shore privileges, and fear that the time is near at hand when the common people will be restricted from using the bay for any purposes whatever.
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The Fourth was a quiet day on the street. Even the small boy seemed to be missing, or else he had nothing to burn but punk. The only thing to disturb the quiet and serenity of the day was the arrival and departure of a noisymobile.
100 Years Ago 1926
From The East Hampton Star, July 2
Much entertaining is being done this week for Miss Michelle C. Bouvier, whose wedding to Henry Clarkson Scott on Monday next will quite overshadow all other events of the holiday week-end.
Mr. and Mrs. John Vernou Bouvier, jr., will give a buffet supper for thirty at their home this evening.
Tomorrow Mrs. Phelan Beale, sister of the bride-elect, will give a buffet luncheon for forty at her home.
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Just six weeks after a bolt of lightning shot from cloudy skies over our village and struck the historic liberty flag pole on the village green, destroying its beauty and usefulness forever, a new pole now rests within a very few feet from where the old pole stood, rising into the blue skies 142 feet. On July 4th, as our village fathers planned, Old Glory will not fail to make her appearance in the heart of the village as it has done without a miss since 1899.
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The congregation of the Methodist Episcopal Church installed a bulletin board on the church lawn Monday last.
The bulletin board, in the form of a handsome dark oak case, is supported on a framework stained and varnished to match the case. The board not only announces the service of the church, but carries a spiritual message in the form of a brief quotation from the Scripture, or hymn of devotion.
75 Years Ago 1951
From The East Hampton Star, July 5
For the second time in five years, John Ferrara, 51, has been arrested by police and charged with growing the narcotic weed — marijuana — at his place on Town Lane, north of Amagansett. He was arrested by State Trooper William Crowley on Monday, charged with a misdemeanor. The law provides that “A person who, without being licensed so to do under the public health law, grows the narcotic plant known as marijuana or knowingly allows it to grow on his land without destroying same, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.”
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Three Red Cross buses filled with New York City children convalescing from rheumatic fever arrived at the East Hampton Village Green last Friday for a summer of rest, wholesome food and supervised play in the sun and fresh air of the Hamptons.
The contingent represents the first of two groups of cardiac youngsters who will come to the area this summer under the sponsorship of the Pediatric Foundation.
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Montauk
School tuna have arrived and the Tuna Tourney will be at Montauk again this year. No better place for it. Gene W. Goble of Garden City, L.I., president of Fishangri-La, fishing alone, brought in fifty-three tuna, weighing from eight to seventeen pounds each, on Sunday. All charter boats fishing tuna grounds had good catches. The Caliban brought in 32 and Harry Alfandre, five.
50 Years Ago 1976
From The East Hampton Star, July 1
East Hampton will join the rest of the nation this weekend in a not-so-solemn celebration of the 200th birthday of the United States. The observance here will culminate in a grand parade Sunday. Forty-seven floats and groups will assemble on Buell’s Lane and step out onto Main Street at 1 p.m.
The line of march will continue at Main Street past a reviewing stand with assembled parade-judges in front of Chez Labbat restaurant. Then, in defiance of the usual East Hampton parade routine, the marchers will turn left onto Newtown Lane, rather than proceeding on down the highway to Hook Mill and Memorial Green.
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The Great Amagansett-to-Montauk bicycle race will be held for the fourth year on the Fourth of July and pedalers of all ages and ability have been invited to compete.
The cyclists will leave the starting point at Atlantic Avenue and Old Montauk Highway at 8 a.m. Sunday and pedal the 30 miles to and from the Lighthouse. A police escort will be in effect along the course.
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If you come to East Hampton for the ocean bathing and if you’ve been thinking since last week’s pollution scare that a rental on Mermaid or Neptune Avenues in Coney Island might be a better idea, forget it. The quality of the ocean east of the Shinnecock Canal was described this week as “excellent,” “very, very good,” and “fine,” by the various agencies that analyzed water samples, and the facts showed that the bacterial counts in the waters at Coney Island were between three and 30 times as great.
25 Years Ago 2001
From The East Hampton Star, July 5
Questions about the public’s role in developing East Hampton Town’s new comprehensive plan, a blueprint for land use over the next 20 years, have arisen since an open meeting last month at which delegates of 17 advisory subcommittees outlined their priorities.
There is concern in some quarters, and confusion, about the makeup of the subcommittees and the role of one group in particular — the hamlets and villages committee.
In addition, some Democrats are claiming that the subcommittees are “stacked” with members who have axes to grind on such important issues as housing, recreation, and business, and who do not truly represent the public interest.
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Former President Bill Clinton and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton will be on the South Fork on the weekend of July 21. They are expected to be guests of Alan B. Slifka of Apaquogue Road, East Hampton, at a 6:30 dinner that Saturday night, along with 250 Democratic supporters. Barbara Layton of Babette’s restaurant in East Hampton will cater the event.
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As the cornerstone of its 2001 campaign platform, released last week, the East Hampton Town Democratic Committee is calling for a referendum that would allow the town to spend up to $14 million in budget surpluses over five years to buy undeveloped land for small parks, recreation, and affordable housing.
Partly through the purchase of small lots with funds from the budget surplus, the committee also wants to cut in half the number of new houses that can be built in East Hampton and to dedicate 20 percent of the remaining developable land to moderately priced housing.
