With mask mandates ending, and vaccination politics subsiding, the east end world is springing back to life. That means live shows and big parties along with fancy galas will no longer be considered health-risking events. I have always been a people watching person, and the east end in prime season is the Super Bowl of people watching. It will be wonderful to see people’s smiles again, something those health masks hid.
When I lived in the center East Hampton Village for one year, I just couldn’t believe the diversity of the wardrobes east end weekend folks wore. It was like living through an episode of “Inventing Anna.” Back then there was a phrase used for weekenders, “Hamptons Wannabes.” Yes, there were the first-time visitors walking about in the latest styles all over the towns and hamlets. Then there are always the hard-working local folks, who make the east end function, going to their second or third jobs, creating quite a juxtaposition.
Nowhere in the whole of the U.S.A. do charities throw huge outdoor yet tented parties like the east end of Long Island. “Hamptons parties,” has become a phrase used in movies, TV shows and books. The best people watching pre-covid had to be at the big benefits. Men wearing various blue blazer sport coats and white pants sipping cocktails is practically a summer Hamptons tradition.
It is always amazing how folks can mix summer colors with white. Then there is the jewelry and other accessories adding glitter and sparkle. Waiters walking around with trays with numerous flumes of just-poured chilled champagne or Prosecco. I have a sailing buddy who actually has a scale to rate the hors d’oeuvres.
A few years back, on August 27, 2016, VH-1 threw a huge gala to help support music programs in schools, called “Save the Music.” I was assigned to cover it for hamptons.com and comped two all-access tickets. Of course, I took my wife Cindi and we gussied ourselves up. I put the address in my car’s G.P.S. and off we went. Finally, the G.P.S. voice said, “Your destination is 500 ft. on the right.” I pulled up to a valet who parked my car on the lawn of a huge home right off the ocean.
We walked to the front door where we were greeted by a young woman with an iPad who asked for our names, looked at the device said, “Oh here you are, have a wonderful time.”
It seemed we were early because there were only a dozen folks there. Right behind us was a man with his wife and two daughters with two friends. He came over and asked if I was here for the VH-1 party and I said yes. He said, “Me too, my firm is donating the refreshments, but I don’t see them set up anywhere.”
Then a huge gentleman in a suit came up and asked us both if we were here for the VH-1 party? When we said yes, he looked at us sternly and said, “You will have to leave, that party is the next property east of us!”
Embarrassed we put down our drinks and exited. Arriving at the VH-1 party merely 50 yards east there was a field with hundreds of cars. Then there were golf carts to take patrons to a station to get wrist bands and other credentials. Oh, and the live entertainment was a new women’s singing group on the charts called “Fifth Harmony.”
One must hope that the live audience indoor live theater shows make a huge comeback this summer. Local actors, artistic directors, along with live-theater enthusiasts have suffered through covid when that medium of entertainment was virtually shut down. (Pun intended.)
So far, the audiences have been slow to return to the usual pre-covid numbers. Now that the show your vaccination card and wear a mask era has ended, theaters can again be filled to capacity. At one of the first reopened plays I attended the audience actually stood and cheered when the live show started. There were tears.
Thankfully the parades and the concerts are scheduled already. The top-name acts along with the local musical favorites will be playing live music both indoors and outdoors triumphantly again.
The east end, along with the whole of the country, needs to learn how to step out safely and confidently again. The shows must go on again. Life is to be lived, especially not with the fear of dying prematurely.
