East Magazine

Beulah Pollock tells marvelous stories of a childhood in the English countryside, her acting days, the good times she had with her late husband. But when asked what kind of advice she has to offer younger generations, she gets a bit shy and denies having any. In describing a life lived to the fullest, though, some tidbits of unintentional wisdom revealed themselves.

You’ve seen these five uniquely fashionable East End neighbors out and about on the social scene, and wondered, Who is that? In a world of generic good taste — delivered by UPS with free returns — it’s a terrific thing that certain talented civilians still make us smile with the uniqueness of their fashion sense.

Photographs by Geir Magnusson; words by Christine Sampson

Paul Davis, painter of iconic public art, reflects on a unique career characterized by luck and love.

A cashmere wrap printed with an X-ray art piece from Steve Miller of Sagaponack? We’re in.

Successful hosting involves careful preparation, lovingkindness, and making your guests feel welcome but disinclined to return. Spencer L. Schneider helps you to thread that needle.

The wicked-witch-cold, stone-sky months are coming in, and turning the calendar page can be a bit psychologically depressing. Here, a few tips and tricks for making it through to spring.

Bookmark this page! It’s our specially curated compendium of the most festive holiday happenings from now ’til New Year’s Eve.

A shopping list of party essentials, for a kick-up-your-heels New Year's Eve.

It’s super-easy to make surprise-filled, party-popping holiday noisemakers for your festive table — stuffed with paper crowns, a joke or riddle, and all sorts of trinkets. Here’s a how-to.

There’s a letter in a box in a garage in Sedona that may one day soon find its way to the Montauk Point Lighthouse Museum and, if and when it does, it will tie together disparate historical strands of a long-ago romantic tale involving a man, a woman, a horse-drawn sleigh, and a wild ride through the snow from Montauk to East Hampton.

It’s snowing peppery flakes this winter, as chefs make the most of hot-chile recipes for cold weather.

Need a party cake or fancy pie? Look no further than Dorothy’s Baking Company of Sag Harbor — the stuff sugarplum dreams are made of.

Gingerbread is the quintessential Christmas treat, but when mom is a Scandinavian baker and dad is a gifted painter, cookies are elevated to an art form. Nina Dohanos looks back on childhood holidays — and divulges some family secrets for better baking.

The recipe here is for a sturdy, spicy, and very crisp cookie. It holds up well, and will not get soggy or stale. Follow the directions as written, practice your rolling, and make sure you have a good, airtight container. Don’t skip the dot of blue coloring in the glaze, and if you want to hang them, make the hole in the dough with a toothpick before baking. This cookie recipe can also be used to make gingerbread houses.

From Steven Amaral, proprietor and chef at North Fork Chocolate Company, comes this take on spicy hot chocolate.

Eight adults gather around a dining table in Southampton, early evening, early summer. It isn’t a book club, but the group uses one as its guide: 2040: A Handbook for the Regeneration by the Australian author Damon Gameau, based on a documentary of the same name.

Mind Offline has a wide assortment of clothing, crafts, and yarn for knitting, as well as a soothing and welcoming atmosphere in this online-heavy world we live in. Recently, the shop embarked on a journey to produce yarns and hand-knit garments in the most close-looped, eco-friendly system possible: sourcing, milling, and producing fibers no more than 300 miles from the store. The result is Local Wool Co., and it’s fast becoming a vital element of Mind Offline’s offerings.

Before there were free electric-buggy rides offering ice-cold mineral waters on your way to Main Beach — before the instant chill of ducking into a brisk Ralph Lauren boutique to escape the blazing rays, before anyone had ever heard the words “climate change”  — there were ice houses. 

Baby needs a new pair of shoes — now that the weather’s changing and school’s about to begin, here’s a shopping guide, from Montauk to Southampton.

Sushi and sashimi — they're fun to eat, fun to look at, and fun to make yourself. With the right combination of tools, tutorials, practice, and products — mostly accessible on the East End, with maybe a little help from the internet gods — it’s not all that hard to pull off your own night of Japanese cooking.

If there’s a way to be here and not here at the same time — like a ghost you can hear laughing, or a well-dressed omniscient narrator — Mike Lavin has figured it out. A photographer and filmmaker, podcast engineer and videographer, Lavin has been building a name for himself as the talent behind the camera that has captured some of today’s hottest comedy and rap stars.

There is an artifact that is now housed in the Long Island Collection at the East Hampton Library — framed, and hung on the wall behind protective glass — that dates back 323 years. It measures just under four-and-a-half inches long and less than half that high.  It is only a small fragment of cloth, woven of silk, cotton, and metallic gold and silver thread. Yet, this remarkable remnant of sumptuous silk is the very stuff of pirate legend. 

As all good foodies (and school kids on field trips) know, apple-picking time is upon us. Nina Dohanos speaks to a farmer for tips on choosing, storing, and cooking East End apples — the best apples on God's green earth.

Sometimes time telescopes and a personage from one epoch appears in a contemporary context causing cognitive dissonance: Harriet Tubman, for example, lived until the age of the Model T Ford. And so it was perhaps with some puzzlement, if not awe, that Hamptons art-world habitués must have regarded the Ukrainian poet and painter David Burliuk, the “Father of Russian Futurism,” when he appeared in the somewhat poky-prosaic setting of art openings at Guild Hall at midcentury.

Hot cars have always raced between the hedges on Hamptons roads. But a few special societal factors — from the aging of Boomers and Gen X to the idle hours of the Covid-19 pandemic — have coincided to create a moment when demand for a classic Porsche, Cadillac, or Model “A” is outstripping supply. EAST investigates an obsession

The bobwhite makes both a song and question with its name. This is appropriate, since questions abound about this bird. Long Island is at the northern edge of the bobwhite range, but they have disappeared. Where did they go? Will they come back? Locals haven’t heard their familiar song for decades. Even its name —  northern bobwhite, bobwhite, common bobwhite, quail, or partridge — is tensile and open to interpretation.

Most would agree that Dora Frost, unmarried and unburdened by children, is a true 21st-century woman. At 71, Frost still paints daily in her West Palm Beach studio and posts an artistic offering a day on Instagram, to the delight of her followers. 

Samantha French's subjects are clearly not lounging poolside, but on a beach. It’s a moment that we recognize, here in our beach town: We know they know one-another intimately;  a pair of sisters, perhaps, lifting their eyes from their books as they talk, while the boyfriend’s attention is elsewhere?

For decades, East Enders feeling the pinch from out-of-control real estate prices have felt the pull of Riverhead’s affordability, but declined to go west: “It’s a great price,” they’d say, “but it’s in Riverhead.” Now, however, people who have spent decades on the South Fork are increasingly finding shelter in Riverhead and loving it so much that the narrative is starting to change.

Part art studio and gallery, part boutique and café, Poppy Heart in Montauk is just one of those places with feel-good energy all around.