Brian Shapiro was (among) the first in line at the East Hampton Emergency Services Building on Tuesday morning — having arrived at around 5:45 a.m. — as the village began its in-person sale of nonresident beach parking permits to town residents.
As the cars rolled in, the summertime beachgoers waited for somebody to get things started. Once someone finally did, everybody else followed suit, forming an orderly line outside. Milling about, the crew at the front of the line recognized some faces from previous years.
“It’s no longer who is the first one,” said Mr. Shapiro. “It’s who is the first one who gets out of their car. We’re all here, and then someone ultimately breaks the ice, and the one cackling over there is the one who broke the ice. Then, we all leave our warm cars.” To keep warm, Mr. Shapiro took a blanket.
His motivation was simple: “Paranoia.” While he does like town beaches, he buys a $500 village sticker because his friends congregate at Two Mile Hollow Beach: “It’s our social world on the weekends, and so we all get the passes.”
As for the sales system, “it’s like getting Taylor Swift tickets,” Mr. Shapiro said, referring to the digital lines that formed on Ticketmaster as fans tried to ensure they could get tickets to her Eras Tour. He suggested that the village make the permits available for purchase several years at a time.
His wife, Kimberly Shapiro, spoke to The Star separately, and she said she arrives at the building early so she can get it done before work.
“It’s like an event, and we look forward to it every year,” she said. “It’s a little ridiculous, but we love the village beaches — we’re residents of the Town of East Hampton. For us, we don’t pay taxes in the village, so I look at this as my tax to the village because I love the beaches.”
Friends of the Shapiros who don’t live in East Hampton have taken to asking, “When’s the beach pass day?” Then, Ms. Shapiro went on: “Brian was always the first one on line,” as he takes some “pride in being the first one everywhere he goes.”
By around 6:30, there was a line of almost two dozen waiting in the roughly 35-degree weather outside the building. One woman took off work to be present on Tuesday morning, and accordingly, she asked to remain anonymous.
“While I find this expense to be exorbitant, I live here, and as I’m getting older, I decided I want to just enjoy where I live and not kind of work around the hours, like I was usually going to the beach before 10 or after 6,” she said.
The permits are good at Georgica, Main, Wiborg’s, Egypt, and Two Mile Hollow Beaches between May 15 and Sept. 15.
Erika Perez, a house manager, was asked by some clients to pick up the passes for them: “Sure. Why not?” she told them. Last year, her pass was numbered “100,” but she pointed out that she must have gotten there earlier Tuesday because this year her number was “64.” She was done for the time being around 7:15 a.m.
At around 7, Mayor Jerry Larsen arrived, opening the doors to the building and letting the crowds flow in. In a room upstairs, village staff handed out passes so that people could come back at 9 a.m. and ensure their places in the queue.
“It worked really well last year,” Mayor Larsen said. “It’s similar to Fast Pass at Disney.” Each person receives a ticket, and the staff processes 200 people per hour. After the first 200 get their tickets, then the next group can come at 10. Village staff planned to be at the building until 6 p.m.
“It’s fun,” he said. “I enjoy it. You see, all the locals are coming here, and it’s fun to see everybody you haven’t seen.”
In total, between in-person and online sales, the village made 3,100 permits available for sale: It sold out of the 1,500 allocated for sale on Tuesday.
While the in-person sales were a one-day event, online sales of the remaining 1,500 will begin on Monday at 9 a.m. at a higher rate of $750. The link will be posted on the village’s website at 9 a.m. Permits will be open to anyone, regardless of where they live. There will be a 6-percent credit card processing fee added to the permit price.
With Reporting by Christopher Gangemi
