Listen to this articleGurney’s Resorts
- Ultimate Hamptons insider Dan Rattiner started writing about the Long Island enclave in 1960.
- Rattiner, whose book “Hamptons Private” explores the area in pictures, shared his observations.
- From fisherman stomping grounds to ritzy beach getaway, the Hamptons has a storied past.
Today, the Hamptons is known as one of the most luxurious getaways on the East Coast.
The white-sand beaches on the tail end of Long Island, New York, are the stomping grounds of celebrities from Martha Stewart to Beyoncé.
Longtime Hamptons resident Dan Rattiner, the author of local rag “Dan’s Papers,” explored the beachy area’s charm outside of the glitz and glamor it’s known for in his 2021 coffee table book, “Hamptons Private,” published by Assouline. (It’s just $105, a bargain by Hamptons standards.)
Rattiner arrived in the Hamptons encalve of Montauk at 16 years old and, just four years later, began publishing a local newspaper surveying the happenings of the area. “Dan’s Papers” is now a go-to source for Hamptons news.
“I’ve interviewed lots of celebrities and lots of local people,” Rattiner told Insider, citing interviews with the likes of Donald Trump, Billy Joel, and Barbara Corcoran, as well as plenty of Long Island locals. He is, to put it concisely, the authority on the area.
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“I’d never seen a place so dramatically wonderful, physically. I fell in love with it,” he said.
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Yacht Kelpie
“The biggest yacht that ever was here was Donald Trump’s yacht,” Rattiner said. “It was so big it wouldn’t fit into any of the slips, so he had to anchor it offshore.”
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“It’s what they do, both locals and the well-to-do,” Rattiner said. “There’s horse shows, polo matches, and tennis tournaments.”
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The Hamptons, according to Rattiner, was at one time a frozen glacier that was part Greenland, part Canada, part Upstate New York, and part Connecticut. Now, it’s all posh.
Artists made their way to the area in the early 20th century, Rattiner said, particularly Winslow Homer, Jackson Pollock, and Andy Warhol. “They love the light up in this community called Springs, which just reminds people of the south of France,” he added.
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“It’s one of the most beautiful old 19th century social-set mansions,” Rattiner said. “There’s not that many places to stay. There had always been a lot of motels out here, but most of them have gone out of business because they were designed for middle-class people coming out for two weeks.”
Now, Rattiner noted, because of the disappearance of lower-priced accommodations in the area, many people who visit the Hamptons either own or rent.
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“We have high-class restaurants, and we don’t have any fast food stuff going on, except for one McDonald’s which snuck in,” he said.
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“There’s parties every weekend,” Rattiner said. “When we first got here, there were two social events: one was for the local hospital, and another one was for the cultural center — and that was it. Now there’s two summer events every day.”
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“Back in the day before modern medicine, people used to come out here for ‘the waters and for the health’ — the ‘health’ being in the countryside instead of in the big cities,” Rattiner said.
Gurney’s Resorts
“When I first got out there, the whole place was largely between local people who were fishermen and farmers,” he said. “And then there was a social set from New York City who came out and had hedgerows, and they lived behind them.”
From there, he added, “it just blossomed into a world class resort.”
