Photos by Susan Galardi
DAN'S PAPERS, September 4, 2009 Page 31 www.danshamptons.com
A Day at the Beach An Ominous Ship, a Blue-Eyed Fish, and a Crumbling Wall By Susan M. Galardi Sometimes, things are not what they seem. Sometimes they are. And sometimes they are much more than what meets the eye. On a recent Tuesday morning, I went to take some photos on the beach in East Hampton for the paper. It was that perfect day—upper 70s, brilliant sun, blue sky. In addition to what I was looking for, I uncovered a few other things. Out in the distance on the ocean, an ominous, huge ship the size of a Navy destroyer was just hanging there, protecting our coastline. Against
what? I hadn’t checked the news that morning. Was there a recent threat to national security? I watched it through the mist. It looked like it would be on the horizon for a while, so I took a photo and continued on. Lying on the sand, at the edge of where the waves lap up on the beach, was an odd looking fish. It was about six inches long, with wing-like fins and spooky bright blue eyes. I took a photo. Farther east, over the dunes, plain as day, was the enormous concrete wall built by Ron Baron. A construction vehicle on the property side appeared to be taking away huge slabs of con-
crete—a row of the wall was being plucked off like LEGO blocks. I knew of the wall. But this was the first time I saw it for myself. This was a day of mystery and intrigue for sure. Here, on a beach I’d been going to for 25 years, were two things I’d never seen before, and one that, even seeing, was hard to believe. I took a few photos then headed to the office do some investigating. The ship, it turned out, was a passenger cruise ship heading into port in New York, not a destroyer. Less interesting, but for the better. (continued on next page)
CABLEVISION, NY METS, WATER MILL & MADOFF By Dan Rattiner If you’ve ever doubted that the real estate prices in the Hamptons are among the highest in the country, even in these tough times, all you have to do is look at the list published in Forbes Magazine last week involving real estate prices. Forbes examined all 25,000 zip codes in America, looking for the median price of real estate for sale in each community—the median being the price where half the homes on the market are higher and half the homes on the market are lower. They didn’t publish the results for all
25,000, but they did publish the top 500, in descending order. Thirty-four of them are from Long Island and almost all the communities in the Hamptons made the list. The most expensive zip code on Long Island is Water Mill. The median asking price for a home there is $2,966,907. Second is Bridgehampton, which is about $18,000 behind Water Mill. Fourth is Amagansett and fifth is Wainscott. (Mill Neck, in western Suffolk, is third.) The most expensive zip code in America for the asking price of real estate, by the way, is Alpine, New Jersey.
* * * In Manhattan, it appears likely that the owner of the Boathouse Restaurant in Central Park, Dean Poll, has outbid Jennifer LeRoy for the new lease for Tavern on the Green. The City announced on Thursday that, after hearing proposals from both of them, it is Poll and not LeRoy whom they will negotiate with to determine the future of that place. The LeRoy family has had the lease for this famous restaurant for nearly 40 years, and the LeRoys have roots in the Hamptons. (continued on page 34)