The Japanese restaurant Sen, a year-round fixture on Main Street in Sag Harbor for 25 years, closed on Oct. 1 to undergo a gut renovation, with the owners having thought the work would be completed and the restaurant reopened in April. Mid-renovation revelations about the soundness of the building, which dates to the 1800s, however, have made it clear that it will be at least mid-June until Sen can open its doors.

“We discovered that the front of the building wasn’t sitting on the foundation; it was floating,” Jesse Matsuoka said. He owns Sen in partnership with his brother, Tora, and Jeff Resnick, a businessman and former owner of the La Superica restaurant across the street. “Our contractor said he was amazed the building was standing up,” Mr. Matsuoka said. 

Not only did the renovation show that the building wasn’t well grounded, it was discovered that the entire building was tilted. “It was leaning 41/2 inches,” said Nick Zappola, co-owner of N. Zappola and Associates, the firm doing the work. “Basically, we had to re-engineer the whole structure. Now it’s set to go for another 200 years.” 

By the time the project is finished, everything in the restaurant except the marble of the sushi bar will have been replaced. And while the front part of the building will retain its historic look (as mandated by the village code), the back will have an up-to-date appearance.  

With the biggest construction head-aches out of the way, Mr. Matsuoka took time last week to discuss the economic benefit of having a bigger and better kitchen. “We had one of the smaller kitchens of the Sag Harbor restaurants,” Mr. Matsuoko said. It will soon have 600 more square feet, which will enable Mr. Matsuoko to enlarge the restaurant’s catering business. 

Expanding the restaurant’s bar area will be another result of the renovation. Since Mr. Matsuoko is a certified sake sommelier, the new bar will be particularly sake-centric. But, in addition, the space will be enlarged. “The bar filled up so fast that we would encourage people to go consume alcohol or bites somewhere else,” he said with a laugh. 

As for the dining area, it will feature sliding glass doors to allow open-air dining, but, otherwise, won’t seem all that different, he said. “I never wanted to adjust the restaurant itself that much. I want our guests to walk in and feel as if nothing happened‚“ he said. To that end, the décor will adhere to the natural wood and earth tones of the previous incarnation. All the materials that were removed were replaced in kind, Mr. Matsuoka said, “so if we pulled up pine, we put down pine.”

The need to update the restaurant also allowed Mr. Matsuoka to expand and upgrade the second and third floors of the building. These floors contain three apartments used for staff housing. “Providing housing is not only a necessity, but it gives us an edge to hold on to our employees,” Mr. Matsuoka said. “A happy staff equals happy service.”

Although Mr. Matsuoka was hoping to throw a reopening party when the work is finally complete, he said he wasn’t sure that would be possible since it will fall right in the thick of the summer season. Still, he’s looking forward to unveiling Sen’s new look and seeing loyal customers return. “We didn’t want Sen to change. We just wanted to accommodate more and faster.”

Legislation that seems to take direct aim at the village’s historic inns, which are popular for weddings and other large gatherings, received a thorough going over at an East Hampton Village Board public hearing on Friday. At its close, Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. announced that the record would be kept open for further debate.

Under existing law, a permit is necessary only for an event on private or commercial property with 50 or more people when the use of public parking is required or when an excess of refuse would be generated. The new law mandates that all events of that size obtain a permit and bans special events outdoors or in a tent on commercial properties in residential districts. 

The proposed law also makes explicit that a permit could be denied if the frequency of special events at a certain residence or commercial property was so great as to be “incompatible” with its neighborhood. This provision evoked strong reactions both in favor and against the measure. 

Patricia Handal, who lives next door to the Hedges Inn on James Lane, commended the board for attempting to rein in her neighbor. “In the last year and a half to two years, the whole atmosphere has changed,” Ms. Handal said. “Now what we’re seeing is a new party center.” She also complained about the noise generated by events at the inn. 

“When the tents go up, then you have anywhere from 145 to 175 to 250 people,” she said. Add to that a D.J. playing amplified music and “the decibel level goes up and up and up.” Ms. Handal cited an especially raucous celebration in September that she said compelled her to call the police. “Our house was literally shaking, I had a glass of water in my bedroom and that glass was wiggling.”

Jennifer Lilja, the general manager of the Hedges Inn, countered the notion that it was a party hall and pleaded with the board to consider the financial ramifications of the legislation. 

“Events at the Hedges Inn represent a significant percentage of our annual revenue,” she said. “We’re talking hundreds of thousands of dollars.” Charging that the new law was “laser focused on eliminating an existing revenue stream for our business,” she said the financial harm would cascade down to other local businesses, such as florists, caterers, and photographers. As for loud music, Ms. Lilja said it was relatively rare. For six weddings scheduled to be held at the inn in the 2018 season, Ms. Lilja said, there will be “six musicians who will play for a combined total of 30 hours. Thirty hours out of 8,760 hours of peaceful enjoyment of 2018. There is no conscionable claim to be made that our 30 hours of music truly adversely affects the well-being of village residents.” 

Linda Margolin, a lawyer for the Maidstone Hotel who spoke against the law, took the criticism further, claiming that it violated the United States Constitution’s protection for free assembly and the right to privacy. On the other hand, John Kowalenko, the owner of Art of Eating, a planning and catering company, used his time at the podium to encourage the board to seek further opinion from the business community before formulating a final draft.

“We understand the sensitivity of the issue. But again this is a quality-of-life issue‚” Mr. Rickenbach said. He was keenly aware of the Constitution, he said, and believes the proposed village law is well within its scope. “If we wanted to usurp the constitutional process, we wouldn’t have even had this hearing today.”

Last Thursday’s meeting of the East Hampton Village Board began with a plea to change zoning to allow expanded uses of historic inns and reached a crescendo when one village business owner asserted that the business district was in the midst of an existential crisis and board members said proposals to remedy the situation would go nowhere.

The zoning issue was raised in a petition presented by Leonard Ackerman, an attorney working on behalf of the Maidstone Hotel, which is seeking to add amenities it says are necessary for survival.

“I’m currently at a crossroads,” said Jenny Baker, the owner of the Maidstone for the past 10 years. “There are constant guest demands that we cannot meet. We are struggling. We’ve been speaking to other inns and they seem to be struggling too.”

The negative assessment of the state of the business district came from Barbara Layton, the owner of Babette’s restaurant. Right now, Ms. Layton said, the village, with chain stores owned by luxury brands, “has become nothing more than the Rodeo Drive of the East End.” She compared the district unfavorably to Sag Harbor, whose streets, she said, “are alive with people morning through evening.” She said the decline in business in East Hampton during the summer “was strongly indicative of a dying village.” 

   Mr. Ackerman proposed revitalizing the historic inns by adopting what is known as a limited overlay zoning district, which would allow the Maidstone and others, including the Baker House 1650, the Hedges Inn, the 1770 House, and the Palm at the Huntting Inn‚ to break loose from the regulations that arise because they are in residential districts. As a result, they would be able to add amenities such as spas, gyms, beauty services, and children’s play areas. The proposed new zoning would also allow music and dancing, which proponents say would make the inns better suited for events like weddings and corporate retreats. 

The proposal for an overlay zoning district for inns received the backing of Antonella Bertello, the owner of the Baker House. In a letter to the board, Ms. Bertello said, “The numbers for Baker House’s January were the worst that we’ve had in my history as the owner.” Anne Chaisson, the executive director of the Hamptons International Film Festival, and Matko Tomicic, the executive director of the LongHouse Reserve, also voiced support. 

The members of the board, although expressing concern about the general downturn in economic activity, were roundly dismissive of a special zoning district, however. “I just want to remind everybody that the people who bought these properties bought them knowing their limitations and, in my mind, they’re requesting a considerable expansion of uses and facilities in detriment to the neighborhood, Richard Lawler said. Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. was more blunt. Calling the proposal alarming, the mayor sought to dispel any notion that the proposed new zoning district would be enacted. “It’s a dead issue,” he said, citing a negative impact that would arise on residents’ quality of life. “It’s not going anywhere.” 

Other topics of discussion were septic system upgrades and the future of fast food in the village. The board continues to debate whether to mandate low-nitrogen septic systems, but seems to be leaning toward piggybacking on the Town of East Hampton’s recent law, which requires low-nitrogen systems only for new construction and major renovations.

 As for fast food, the law prevents retail stores from preparing “individual portions of food on site” and from serving “food or beverages over the counter in a ready-to-consume state,” although a number of businesses throughout the village have been doing so since before the law was adopted. The board decided to take a closer look at how other municipalities define fast food and to reconsider the wording of a future prohibition.

Hilary Osborn Malecki, of the Wainscott Osborn family, will give a talk on the 1918 influenza pandemic on Friday, Feb. 23, at 7 p.m., the second in a lecture series on medical topics offered by the East Hampton Historical Society at Clinton Academy.

In addition to her abiding interest in the family attic, filled with old diaries and letters, Ms. Malecki is an intrepid investigator, having earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from the University of Maryland and having had a career at the Naval Criminal Investigative Service in Washington, D.C.

It was while going through her grandfather and great-uncle’s letters home to Wainscott from abroad during World War I that she started seeing references to the influenza, or “Spanish flu” as it was then sometimes referred to (despite, according to epidemiologists, most likely having originated in China). Her efforts to find other corresponding and corroborative data led her to realize that the pandemic of 1918 and 1919 had reaped a more terrible harvest here than she had previously understood.

At a time when the global population was about 1.9 billion people, the flu of 1918 infected some 500 million people worldwide, and, depending on who you ask, killed between 20 and 50 million people. Some 675,000 of them were Americans. Philadelphia was the hardest hit city in the United States, losing 12,000 people. The influenza of 1918-19 was more deadly than the Bubonic Plague, more deadly than the Great War itself.

Ms. Malecki feels that these figures would have been lower had it not been for the unfortunate confluence of circumstances during the last year of World War I, with millions displaced in Europe and legions of American soldiers flooding port cities in the summer and autumn of 1918 to travel to France, then packing the ports of France and England again to head home after the war’s end as the year drew to a close.

Some who suffered collapsed dead on the street, or were found dead in bed or in chairs, without ever having appeared sick. On the other hand, they could sicken over weeks and then slowly go into respiratory failure, as their lungs filled with fluid.

Here on the East End, at the height of the pandemic in the autumn of 1918, Sunday-school classes were canceled and the John Jermain Library closed until further notice. Public-health instructions were published in the pages of The Star, including a warning in the Oct. 25, 1918, edition, from Dr. Dave Edwards, the subject of the last medical-related historical-society lecture: In extra-large print, with exclamation marks, Dr. Edwards warned East Hampton that it was actually illegal to cough or sneeze without “turning away and covering the mouth and nose with a handkerchief,” and that it was also illegal to “spit on the floor of any public place, or public conveyance, or the sidewalk.” He urged readers: “Save yourself and save others!”  

Historians say that influenza was carried across the world by ship and then, from port, overland by railway. Ms. Malecki said that this was also true on Long Island, where Southold was one of the hardest-hit towns, with one of the highest death rates on the East End. One of the flu deaths recorded in The Star was that of a commercial fisherman who worked on one of the menhaden steamers out of Promised Land, whose contracting of the illness was attributed to a stop at port in Connecticut.

Babies, children, and pregnant women were said to be the most in danger, but adults of childbearing age were struck in the greatest numbers. Those who were left to nurse the ill were often those over 50.

The first wave on the East End began in September 2018, peaked by Oct. 21, and went down by Nov. 25. Then, between January and March 1919, a second wave appeared, with March being the most dangerous month in East Hampton, when there were 130 cases within town boundaries. There was a brief third wave after that. 

The Star carried many terse but heart-wrenching accounts of deaths from influenza in East Hampton, including those of children in Springs and Bridgehampton. Even Clifford Boughton, the son of the former editor of The East Hampton Star, died of the flu. As a historian at the time observed, despite all the public-health warnings, “The disease moved too fast, arrived, flourished, and was gone before many people had time to realize just how great was the danger.”within town boundaries. There was a brief third wave after that. 

The Star carried many terse but heart-wrenching accounts of deaths from influenza in East Hampton, including those of children in Springs and Bridgehampton. Even Clifford Boughton, the son of the former editor of The East Hampton Star, died of the flu. As a historian at the time observed, despite 

all the public-health warnings, “The disease moved too fast, arrived, flourished, and was gone before many people had time to realize just how great was the danger.”

Four Shelter Island veterans and the mother of a Shelter Island soldier killed in action in Afghanistan in 2010 will come together on the stage of Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor to share stories about their service, their lives, and their losses on Friday, Feb. 16, at 7 p.m. 

The production is a collaboration between the Telling Project, a nonprofit that uses theater to “deepen our understanding of the military and veterans’ experiences,” and the Joseph J. Theinert Memorial Fund, founded by the family of Army First Lt. Joseph J. Theinert. 

This will mark the third time that the two organizations have teamed up to bring veterans’ and military families’ stories to the stage and the second time featuring local veterans. Lieutenant Theinert’s mother, Chrystyna Kestler, is one of the participants. 

“We all need to talk about the things that profoundly affect us,” she said last week. “We really need to share our stories, and maybe we can come to some common ground, which is so important these days.” Her son was 24 when he was killed.

Joining her will be Michael Zachariah Mundy, a Marine veteran who was deployed once to Afghanistan; Tom Spotteck, a Marine veteran twice deployed to Afghanistan; Jim Colligan, a Vietnam veteran who served in the Army, and Howard Jackson, who served in the Army in World War II. 

At the outset of this year’s project, the five told their stories to a writer, Max Rayneard, who then wove them together “so you can see the connections and you can see how one dovetails with another,” Ms. Kestler said. “You see how their experiences are similar, but also different.” 

“It’s great therapy, telling your story, just getting things out,” she said. The resulting program makes for a powerful evening, both for the participants and the audience. 

This event is just one of many efforts the Joseph J. Theinert Memorial Fund undertakes to aid veterans and military families. Since its inception the organization has given out more than $100,000 in scholarships and has helped turn a New Mexico ranch owned by Ms. Kestler and her husband, Francis Kestler, into a retreat where active and veteran military members, their families, and Gold Star families can come together for team-building exercises. The Kestlers bought the Magdalena, N.M., property thinking Mr. Kestler and his stepson would use it for hunting; it is now called Strongpoint Theinert Ranch. 

The Telling Project presentation at Bay Street falls two days after Lieutenant Theinert’s birthday; he would have turned 32. 

“Joe’s not here to continue his mission, but we can,” Ms. Kestler said, through the organization founded in his memory. Its work has been both a tribute to him and a sort of salvation for those who knew and loved him. “When you’re in service to others, you get help yourself — you get out of yourself.” 

There is no charge for the Bay Street program, but a suggested donation of $20 per person will benefit the Joseph J. Theinert Memorial Fund. Seats can be reserved at jjtmf.org.

An application from Ron Perelman, the billionaire investor, to legalize the construction and alteration of multiple structures at the Creeks, his 58-acre estate on Georgica Pond, without building permits and in violation of the village code inched toward resolution on Friday at a meeting of the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals. 

To the disappointment of Leonard Ackerman, an attorney representing Mr. Perelman, the hearing was left open, however, as Linda Riley, the village’s attorney, insisted that the applicant provide specific information about what would be done, and when, to mitigate the numerous violations in exchange for variances to legalize the noncompliant structures. 

In asking that the hearing be closed, Mr. Ackerman cited the approaching spring and implementation of agreed-to mitigation. No, Ms. Riley said. “This has been going on since 2012. I think we need to get it right. I’m not sure that we are all on the same page about what’s going to be done when, and precisely what you’re going to be obligated to do when. . . . I want to hear that you’ve agreed to all of these conditions, if you have.” 

“We’ve come this far,” Frank Newbold, the board’s chairman, said. “I think we’re eager to nail this down. The prudent thing would be to leave the hearing open. We will get the covenants just described, they’ll be distributed to the board, our counsel will review them.” The hearing will continue at the board’s next meeting, on March 9.

Mr. Perelman seeks to legalize the enlargement of a small synagogue to 1,275 square feet, where the maximum permitted for an accessory building is 250 square feet, and for the building to remain at a height of 15.1 feet, where the maximum is 14 feet. He also seeks variances to legalize 160 square feet of additions to the main residence and for the earlier extension, expansion, and alteration of nonconforming accessory buildings containing cooking and living facilities. The additions are 100 feet from wetlands, where a 150-foot setback is required.

Variances would also be required to legalize the construction of a 5,802-square-foot barn with cooking and living facilities, which Mr. Perelman proposes in exchange for converting a 4,217-square-foot carriage house, also containing cooking and living, into an accessory building with storage space. 

In addition, area and wetlands setback variances are required to legalize six artworks and sculptures installed within the rear-yard and wetlands setbacks, the nearest directly on the rear-yard lot line and wetlands; the required rear-yard setback is 40 feet, the required wetlands setback 150 feet. 

Mr. Newbold prefaced the hearing by stating, “This is really just about our code and what the rules are.” Referring to a letter in last week’s issue of The East Hampton Star, he said, “We in no sense have to cut a deal,” as he said the letter’s author had implied. “We are here to judge it on its merits. There are many documented violations, where things were done illegally. We are here to judge each of these violations carefully, and look for substantial reductions and mediation to the property.” 

In going over the variance requests one at a time, the board and Mr. Perelman’s representatives agreed that the applicant will submit a covenant pledging that the small synagogue would not be used as an overnight dwelling and its shower would be removed. A workout room that was illegally enlarged by 71 percent, to 795 square feet, would also have to be reduced to its original size. 

Seventy thousand square feet of vegetation had been illegally cleared within the 125-foot wetlands setback, Mr. Newbold said. As mitigation, the applicant has proposed revegetating that area with an additional 63,000 square feet to be replanted. A “natural landscape practice” was agreed to for the entire site, he said, “which, with all the shoreline, is very important.” 

The applicant’s initial proposal to upgrade the sanitary system for much of the property now, with an additional upgrade in the future, was met with a cool reception, however. The board’s dilemma, Mr. Newbold said, was that “we want to make sure, since that is a component of the health of the pond, what are the teeth that we have to make sure that this has happened? There’s been a history of noncompliance on this property.” 

New, nitrogen-reducing septic systems are experimental, Mr. Ackerman said, and given the money being allocated to the project, a two-year window in which to evaluate new systems was advisable. 

“What does the village do,” Ms. Riley asked, “if by some chance . . . it doesn’t happen?” Would revocation of the property’s certificate of occupancy be appropriate?

“I suspect you’d issue a violation,” Mr. Ackerman said.  

“Which gets you a $250 fine in justice court,” Ms. Riley replied. 

Mr. Ackerman pressed Ms. Riley for conditional approval that would give her and the board “a level of comfort.” 

“I’m not steering this boat, the board is,” Ms. Riley answered. “I’m going to take my guidance from the board as I always do, but frankly I would prefer not to be left with the hearing closed and the attorney negotiating things without the input of the board.” 

Mr. Newbold asked for an opinion from Ken Collum, the village’s building inspector. His department does not issue certificates of occupancy, he said, “unless all the terms and agreements have been met that you have placed upon the property,” adding that certificates of occupancy are not generally revoked. Should the applicant apply to the coun

ty health department to install a septic system and not follow through, “the permit simply expires,” he said. “There’s no teeth to make them do this.” 

“So even, in theory, if the C of O currently is not valid because of these outstanding violations,” Mr. Newbold said, “they could continue to use and enjoy the property” for the permit’s duration. “We just want to make it as ironclad as possible that whatever is agreed to is completed.” 

Mr. Ackerman acquiesced, agreeing that Mr. Perelman would install state-of-the-art sanitary systems for the entire property within one year of receiving a permit from the Suffolk County Department of Health Services, rather than on a two-phase, multiyear timeline as proposed. That covenant, board members said, was important to a larger effort to improve the pond’s ecological condition. 

Four determinations were announced at the meeting. The board granted Ana Meier variances to allow the construction of a breezeway with a width that is less than half its length, which is not permitted by the code, and to allow the construction of a swimming pool that falls within the rear-yard setback at 18 Jones Creek Lane. The property is vacant; Ms. Meier’s father, the architect Richard Meier, bought the property in 1972, subsequently transferred it to his daughter, and designed the house to be constructed there.  

An attorney representing neighbors on Briar Patch Lane, the entertainers Jay-Z and Beyoncé, had objected to the application, stating that the pool’s proposed location was in her clients’ sightline of an open field owned by the Nature Conservancy. Jay-Z and Beyoncé purchased their property last year for a reported $25.9 million. 

John and Evelyn McNiff of 71 Apaquogue Road were granted a freshwater wetlands permit and variances allowing construction of additions to a nonconforming accessory residence, construction of a swimming pool within the side-yard setback, installation of a septic system within the wetlands setback, construction of a 322-square-foot second-story addition to an accessory dwelling within the wetlands and rear-yard setbacks, and to allow the accessory building to be 21.5 feet high where the maximum height of accessory buildings is 14 feet. 

The board granted Ron Vinder variances to construct a 42-square-foot addition to a residence and to make alterations to a pool house within the side and rear-yard setbacks at 10 Baiting Hollow Road. 

William Schottenstein of 30 Gay Road was granted variances to construct an addition to a residence that will fall within the side and rear-yard lot lines and result in floor area of 2,421 square feet, where the maximum permitted on the lot is 2,106 square feet.

Maureen’s Haven, the Riverhead provider of shelter and support services for the homeless, has ceased operation in East Hampton, though, its officials hope, only temporarily.  

Prudence Carabine, a volunteer who helped to operate the program in East Hampton, told the East Hampton Town Board last Thursday that while the number of people it served had declined to six or eight, the need remains. 

In East Hampton, the homeless were sheltered on an alternating basis at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church, the Jewish Center of the Hamptons, and the East Hampton Methodist Church during the months the program was in operation each year, from Nov. 1 to April 1. 

“The biggest issue,” Maryann Gensler, the director of Maureen’s Haven, said on Tuesday, “is we lost the transportation.” 

Ms. Carabine’s husband, Brian Carabine, had been the organization’s primary transportation volunteer, having secured use of a van owned by the Veterans Administration, for which he worked, to take Maureen’s Haven clients to one of the participating houses of worship. When he retired, the use of the van was lost. 

Participants in the Maureen’s Haven program must undergo an intake session in Riverhead, so that their physical and mental health, and individual needs, can be determined, Ms. Gensler said. “We have to screen everybody, ensure they’re not drunk or high and are reasonably stable,” she said. “That is for safety’s sake — theirs and our volunteers’.” 

After that screening, people are transported to whatever house of worship is hosting them, she said. “Because East Hampton is far away, after guests came here, we’d give bus tickets to those we felt had the skill set that it would take to make sure they were going to show up, be reliable.” Clients would take a public bus to the East Hampton train station, where Mr. Carabine would be waiting with the van. 

“Unfortunately,” Ms. Gensler said, “public transportation is very poor on the East End, so it’s nearly impossible. I met with coordinators from each church last summer, and we came to the collective decision to not run the shelter for this season — not forever — until we could figure things out.” 

Another reason, she said, was that clients frequently failed to make the journey from Riverhead to East Hampton. “I would send, say, 10 people, and 7 would show up. Then you have 15 volunteers standing around, disappointed.” 

Because of the small number served, Ms. Carabine said, the participating churches and synagogue “began to feel it was not a good use of their limited resources. You spend the same amount for 3 as you do for 15, in some ways, as far as heat, electricity, cleaners.”

Volunteers in East Hampton had worked with Maureen’s Haven since 2009, Ms. Carabine said. “We had several people who were homeless for a myriad of reasons,” she said, referring to the Great Recession and a lack of affordable housing in the town, among other conditions. 

Anyone from the East End can head to Riverhead and be sheltered, Ms. Gensler emphasized. “That was part of the decision, too — we have the capacity to have them here. The second thing that is very important is that, when the temperature drops below 32 degrees, the police department has the right to forcibly take somebody and ensure they get sheltered. Further, the county shelter system must take them, regardless.”

But that, Ms. Carabine said, was not often going to happen. “Our local homeless people, six to eight people, will not get on the bus and go to Riverhead to check in to that network. They are basically sleeping rough.” 

Undocumented immigrants, she added, were vulnerable because they were often reluctant to interface with such services, for fear of attracting the attention of the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. This, she said, could lead to tragedy. “In this extremely cold weather, it’s not good. We have worked with the police from the beginning. The police know where these folks tend to gravitate to, they have a fund for hot cocoa and coffee, and try to touch base with them once per night. But the reality is, when temperatures are terribly cold, maybe that won’t be enough.” 

“We are very sad about this,” Ms. Carabine said, “but we’ve come to an impasse. We are having meetings, discussing what we can do to offer services to these local people who are not going to change their ways. But we’re not sure at this point exactly what, if anything, we can do.”

“Nobody said we’re never doing this again,” Ms. Gensler said. “We’re trying to secure a van donation. That would be really helpful.”

Citing “constant issues with the overzealous East Hampton Village code enforcement” regarding outdoor seating and parking, Michael Gluckman and Shane Dyckman have sold the Service Station, the restaurant they opened at 100 Montauk Highway in 2016, to the property’s owners. 

The change in ownership was effective as of Monday, according to an email sent by Mr. Gluckman that day. 

Mr. Gluckman was referring to multiple citations issued by the village for the outdoor seating and tables on a patio at the property, which has housed restaurants over the years including Winston’s Bar and Grill, Nichol’s, and the Quiet Clam. The restaurant is a pre-existing, nonconforming use located in a residential district. As such, outdoor dining constitutes a prohibited expansion, according to village code. 

After being cited by code enforcement personnel, the restaurateurs, who had signed a 20-year lease for the property, applied to the zoning board of appeals for a use variance to allow dining on the patio — a use, Mr. Dyckman noted at a March 2017 hearing, that had been in practice for many years. Nonetheless, the board was adamantly against granting the variance and denied the application. 

“There always was outdoor seating there over the course of its existence,” Mr. Dyckman told the board at the March 2017 hearing. Many restaurants in the village offer outdoor dining, he said, and for its financial stability it was essential that his could, too, particularly given the importance and brevity of the tourist season. 

But the property had a long history with the zoning board, said Frank Newbold, its chairman. It had once included an adjacent house, he said, and when it was subdivided a stipulation was included that specifically prohibited outdoor dining. The property’s owner sought the zoning board’s permission for outdoor seating in 1977 and was denied, he said, and a 1986 determination included the provision that “There shall be no outside dining permitted on the property.”

“So they’ve just been doing that illegally for 30 years?” Mr. Dyckman asked, incredulous. 

That was a question for the Building Department, Mr. Newbold said. “As far as we are concerned, it’s an illegal use, an illegal expansion.” Further, he said, complaints had been registered with the village, and he described a letter and photos from an adjacent neighbor that also expressed concerns about the restaurant’s outdoor lighting and parking. 

The board was also mindful of setting a precedent: The building across Montauk Highway housing Cafe Max, which had recently closed, was undergoing a renovation at the time. Its owners “are watching this application to see if they can also apply for outdoor dining in a residential neighborhood,” Mr. Newbold said at the hearing. In 2016, the board had compelled the Highway Restaurant and Bar to remove some seating on its wooden deck and eliminate dining entirely from a smaller patio. 

After the restaurateurs’ request to legalize outdoor dining was denied, that use continued, and code enforcement officers continued to issue citations, most recently on July 28 of last year. Brian Lester, an attorney for the village, said on Tuesday that charges were still pending in East Hampton Town Justice Court, with an appearance scheduled for Monday. 

Emails to Mr. Gluckman and Mr. Dyck­man seeking comment had not been answered as of noon yesterday. Reached by telephone yesterday, a person who identified himself as Service Station’s manager hung up when asked about Mr. Gluckman’s announcement.

“The landlords will operate the restaurant as is for the time being,” Mr. Gluckman wrote. “It was a pleasure serving you and we hope to see you soon at our next venture.”

The Southampton Chamber of Commerce will hold a networking night at the Southampton Publick House from 5 to 7 this evening. Sponsored by the 118th U.S. Open Championship at the Shinnecock Hills golf club in June, the event will feature free appetizers and $5 alcoholic beverages, including pints of beer, house wines, and rack drinks. The cost is $15, and preregistration is required at [email protected] or by calling 631-283-0402.

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Jewelry Class

The Southampton Historical Museum is offering an eight-week jewelry-making class starting on Friday, Feb. 2, from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Pelletreau Silver Shop on Main Street. Eric Messin, a jeweler, will walk students through the steps — including sculpting wax and soldering stones in place — of making a finished, wearable piece of jewelry.

The fee is $385, or $365 for museum members, which includes supplies. Sign-up is by calling the museum or visiting its website.

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At Rogers Memorial

The Shtrykov-Tanaka Duo — Maksim Shtrykov on clarinet and Misuzu Tanaka on piano — returns to the library on Sunday from 3 to 4 p.m. to perform pieces from a debut album, including a clarinet sonata by Brahms. The event is free, and a reception will follow.

If you missed “Dunkirk” in theaters, the library will screen the newly christened Academy Awards best-picture nominee on Monday at 3 p.m. It chronicles the evacuation of 330,000 Allied soldiers in a legendary World War II battle.

For those looking to delve into online dating, the library’s tech specialist will explain the basics of using the most popular websites next Thursday from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The tutorial, which costs $10, will cover how to create a profile and the mechanics of searching for a match.

Registration is at myrml.org or by calling 631-283-0774, extension 523.

At a standing-room-only talk at Clinton Academy on Friday night, the feeling was more of a family reunion than a lecture.

“Dr. David Edwards and Dr. Doris Zenger: Healing a Village,” the first in the series titled “Doctors, House Calls, and Hospitals: Keeping Well in East Hampton,” was almost full well before the 7 p.m. start time, and interested residents and visitors, young and old, kept arriving even after it began.  Barbara Strong Borsack — who was delivered, along with her siblings, by Dr. Dave, as Dr. Edwards was called — introduced the usual speakers, including Hugh King, who had taught history to several audience members, and Ken Collum, who has been a presenter at the lecture series for many years and whose father had painted Dr. Zenger’s shingle. Richard Barons, the historical society’s curator, had placed Dr. Edwards’s kit, a surgeon’s roll and 45 tools, in a case near the lectern for people to see.

Dr. Zenger grew up on Abraham’s Path in Amagansett and was the first woman doctor to practice in East Hampton. Her bedside manner was described as firm but reassuring. She graduated from East Hampton High School in 1937 and had been a patient of Dr. David Edwards’s as a child. Hers was a childhood marked, from the age of 8, by osteomyelitis, a bone disease. It was likely this circumstance that piqued her interest in what made people ill and what made them better.

Before antibiotics were developed, she was given treatment with maggots raised in germ-free conditions, whose job it was to eat the diseased bone tissue. She had flare-ups for many years. Dr. Zenger graduated from the University of Michigan with the class of 1948 and did various internships. She also worked for more than two years at Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in Manhattan. She ascribed her admission to medical school to the war and the need for more doctors, rather than to her own ability.

After moving back to East Hampton, Dr. Zenger worked briefly with Dr. Edwards before opening her own practice, which she ran while rearing two sons. Nellie Hildreth acted as her housekeeper, nurse, secretary, and second mother to Dr. Zenger’s boys.

Two of Dr. David Edwards’s grown-up grandchildren were in the audience. His family had settled in East Hampton in 1650, and their descendants are many. Dr. Dave practiced as an orthopedic surgeon and obstetrician for almost 63 years here, starting in 1901, having graduated from Bellevue Hospital Medical College in 1899. He was also appointed the town health officer and was acting assistant surgeon of the United States Public Health Service at the Port of Sag Harbor; he cared for personnel of the U.S. Life Saving Service (later the Coast Guard) from Montauk Point to East Moriches.

Dr. Dave’s long career overlapped the two world wars and, in addition to bringing thousands of Bonac babies into the world, he treated soldiers and airmen in the whole area. As the only physician between Montauk and Southampton for many years, he often rode on horseback to visit his patients. He was the first physician to recognize the existence here of “tick fever,” or Rocky Mountain spotted fever. 

Ann Roberts and Russell Bennett, each a grandchild of Dr. Dave, told anecdotes about the time they had spent with him. He was exacting, it seems, but “never let his work get in the way of his life.” When she was only 13, he allowed Ms. Roberts, who lived with him for 10 years, to drive him to Southampton and, as they were leaving East Hampton Town, said, “Keep it to 55.” When a boyfriend had been banished, he told her, “There are plenty of pebbles on the beach.”

Dr. Dave owned a series of Brittany spaniels, Ms. Roberts said, each one named Doc. While eating dinner with the family, he would have the phone at hand and would answer it, asking, “How is your beloved? . . . How are your bowels?”

The next talk in the historical society’s series will be given by Hilary Osborn Malecki on Feb. 23 on the topic of the deadly influenza epidemic of 1918.