DAN'S PAPERS, September 4, 2009 Page 34 www.danshamptons.com
Beach
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day. Wiborg was right down the lane. It had lots of parking. Yet it didn’t require a shutdown nor did it take on the feeling of a police state. By the following summer the beach had both a lifeguard station and bathrooms. And garbage cans. And fences—for plovers and to cordon off driving areas. Two Mile had gotten kind of ugly. But then several other things happened that I don’t believe anyone was able to foresee. The beach did not fall out of favor, it became more crowded. Families who wanted a less frenetic scene than that at Main Beach went to Two Mile instead. In addition, in the last decade, there’s been a tremendous increase in the number of families in the gay community. Many of the people who’d been coming to the beach since the ‘70s were now there with their partners and children. Now the beach was a homogenous mix of singles and families of all stripes, whose children played together. That influx of newcomers only pushed the rest of the crowd farther right, and farther left—right in front of Baron’s stead. And this is one theory of why he built a walled city. His almost five-year long best laid plan had backfired. Over the last few years, more and more people have gone to that beach. During the last year, the wall got higher and longer. Now a good part of it is gone, and chances are the rest may also end up being gone forever. But all the happy revelers at Two Mile Hollow, as time has told, are there to stay.
Cablevision
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Warner LeRoy, Jennifer’s father, had negotiated the last lease with the City in 1973 at a time when the City was in desperate financial straits. Warner was a grand, flamboyant entrepreneur with a great flair for showmanship and the city wanted him. They arranged a lease for just 3.5% of the gross on very favorable terms and they even agreed to give him the rights to the name of the place. Warner LeRoy built a great mansion in Amagansett on 10 acres, with not only a swimming pool and tennis courts, but also with a pond and waterfall. He was quite the man about town out here. LeRoy went through a bitter divorce in 1999 and in 2001, died at the age of 65. As there were still eight years to go on the lease, his daughter, Jennifer, took over to complete the lease and, if successful, negotiate a new
one. Poll has offered to do a complete renovation of the Tavern, from top to bottom. It will include a lounge on the second floor offering small plates, an outdoor café, separate entrances for the catering business and the restaurant business and a complete re-landscaping of the property. He estimates the cost of the renovation to be about $25 million and if what he has done with the Boathouse is any indication, he will do it quite well. Poll beat out not only Jennifer LeRoy, but also a third bidder, restaurateur Seth Greenberg, who owns Capitale. The Tavern on the Green grossed $36 million in 2008. The restaurant is unionized, which the Boathouse is not. Poll also will have to do final negotiations with the City and that could fail. The name “Tavern on the Green” belongs to the LeRoys and that could be a problem. The game may not be over. * * * When Bernie Madoff, who summered in the Hamptons, went public to confess he had been running a massive $65 billion ponzi scheme for 20 years, one of those badly hurt was Fred Wilpon, the owner of the New York Mets. Although the total of his losses is not known, estimates are that it was in the order of $700 million. Last week, a new book about (continued on page 36)