DIFFERENT
PERSPECTIVES
Clockwise from top
left: Local windsurfers;
boats at the Montauk
Yacht Club; a sculpture
in the garden at LongHouse; a lobster roll
at the Montauk Yacht
Club. Below: Sunrise
over the Atlantic.
Even though the baked sand feels just as good
in September as in the peak summer months,
and the air and ocean temperatures fall by only
a few degrees, not everyone is a beach person.
For those who aren’t, there are side trips. One
afternoon, I took a short drive to the LongHouse
Reserve, an outdoor sculpture garden set on the
grounds of textile designer Jack Lenor Larsen’s
East Hampton home, tucked back on a winding, woodsy road. The LongHouse Reserve
is an ideal stop for those parties that contain
both art experts and novices, because the tour
weaves through 16 acres of manicured gardens
and hedges dotted with metal artistry. Tour
highlights include Dale Chihuly’s cobalt glass
reeds rising out of a pond, a white concrete
chess set with human-sized pieces created by
Yoko Ono, and the piece “Eye of the Ring” by
Takashi Soga that appears as if the ring atop a
beam is floating in the air. As we walked, curator
Wendy Van Deusen pointed out how the sun’s
light and grassy backdrops are constantly changing throughout the day and the seasons, casting
different perspectives on the sculptures.
“In another hour, the pieces will look different,” she says.
At the exit is a 7-foot-tall “Gateway Bell” by
Toshiko Takaezu with a wooden mallet resting
at its base. “Give it a hit,” encouraged Van Deusen. Bang! The move went against everything I
had been taught about not touching the art, but
it turned out to be a wonderful exercise in stress
relief. In fact, I did it again.
Keeping the Un-Hamptons Real
The Hamptons and “dive bar” are two terms
rarely associated with each other, but Montauk
has a stable of colorful, low-key joints not named
Sloppy Tuna. Most notable is The Dock, where
you’re just as apt to be told what you can’t have
as what you can. The list of prohibited items includes credit cards, cellphones, strollers, screaming kids, requests, dirt bags, whining, wimps and
chickenhawks.
“That list has grown over the years, the things
that annoy me,” admits proprietor George Watson. What happens if someone breaks a rule? “I
have a bullhorn,” says Watson, who speaks with
