The older you get, the more special summers become. At one time, we waited for school to end so summer could start. I still remember that feeling on that very last day of high school each year, cleaning out my locker and taking the lock home.
Summer jobs, of course, I had to work. I enjoyed the one year where I had to maintain the tennis courts at the New York Athletic Club. I replaced an old German guy who died unexpectedly. That job was truly fun, with a club patio lunch every workday of anything on the menu. It was that year that I drove out to Southampton and sampled the Atlantic Ocean at Cooper’s Beach for the first time.
This April, I was in Wimbledon, England ) to see my daughter and my two grandchildren. Twice I made my way into London with my wife Cindi to see the usual tourist sites. Places such as Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, and London Tower Bridge. We literally stumbled onto the location where Shakespeare’s Globe Theater once was. At that time, how could one not attempt to try to recite Sonnet 18, “Shall I compare thee to Summer’s day?” I did also shout out, “To be or not to be!” That just about covered all my Shakespeare, perhaps adding, “All the world’s a stage.”
So the late-July question is; To be or not to be in the Hamptons? I choose to be. I try to get to my sailboat in Three-Mile-Harbor, EH, a few times a week. Gardiner’s Bay is my stage. Too many times, I am the only sailboat out there as the sun sets. I am OK with that. The funny thing is it used to be too crowded out there on weekdays. That’s just not the case these days.
Recently, when I was coming back from the beach right by my home in East Patchogue, I realized Shakespeare was wrong because nothing compares to a great summer’s day, anywhere and everywhere. Since it is late July, it’s great summer’s daytime all over the U.S.A. However, I just love the energy out on the East End. That is why I have spent my last twenty summers in the Hamptons. No trips to anywhere else.
All of us sixty-something-plus folks have great memories of those family summer trips. My family loved to go to Montauk to fish in the 1980s. We either travel out on my dad’s 43’ Egg Harbor or drive out to meet up with him at the Montauk Marine Basin. This was back in the mid-1980s, before we all had children of our own. The guys would sleep on the boat, the gals in motels. It was during these trips that I learned about Gurney’s Spa, Shagwong, John’s Pancakes, and Gosman’s. Then there was John’s Drive-In for ice cream. My dad insisted their homemade rum raisin was the best he ever had. He was like a kid eating it. I guess we are all like kids again when we are eating ice cream.
Back in those days, Montauk businesses did not take credit cards. Cash was king. I remember watching my dad pay for our meals; sometimes, that would be eleven family members at dinners at Gosman’s. Besides full dinners, we all had multiple drinks and always had dessert with coffee too. Even back then, the bill was a big number. It was always well over $1,000, and no credit cards were accepted. Funny, I still remember my dad insisting I get the lobster or that night’s special.
Eventually, in the mid-1990s, it was me and my own family eating around Montauk. We had to stay at places like the Crow’s Nest that allowed dogs, as we took the family beagle, Casey, everywhere. In those days, you were allowed to fly kites next to the Montauk Lighthouse, something my daughters loved to do in their single-digit-aged days.
While in Montauk, it was always Gin Beach on the Block Island Sound. This was so the kids could swim without the drama of the rough waves at the ocean beaches. It was bizarre watching my children ordering pasta dishes at Gosman’s, they just were never into fish. Our tradition was at least one beach ride per year on the horses at the Deep Hollow Ranch.
However, now my favorite summer days in the Hamptons are with my wife, Cindi. She would actually sleep a few days on my 22’ sailboat every summer. That proved how much she loved me because accommodations were less than luxurious.
Of course, in Sonnet 18, Shakespeare is talking about love. Let’s face it, we all love a wonderful summer’s day on the East End. It’s best if you spend it with someone you love. I have had the privilege to spend summer’s days in the Hamptons with my folks, my daughters, and now with my wife, Cindi. I suppose, “so long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,” the east end in the summertime is the place to be!
