Villages

What’s old is new again: notes from the East Hampton zoning code battles of 25 years ago. And much else of interest from The Star of yesteryear.

When Leroy and Julia Kayser were married the Allies had not yet landed on the beaches of Normandy. “It Had to Be You” by Helen Forrest and Dick Haymes was a radio hit, and the movie “Casablanca” was about to win the Oscar for best picture.

In this circa 1900 glass-plate image from The Star’s archive, the Boughton family has gathered for a feast. Edward Smith Boughton, who bought this newspaper, sits at the head of the table.

From small litter like discarded face masks, bottles, and packages to bigger things like car parts, old appliances, and furniture, to the signs advertising tutors, nannies, soccer camps, and even lawn clippings and leaves, keeping up with illegal dumping and punishing the scofflaws is a challenge.

Record crowds turned out for New Year's Day polar plunges at Main Beach in East Hampton and Beach Lane in Wainscott, helping to raise some $40,000 for local food pantries.

A class-action court ruling on Halloween, stemming from an antitrust trial in Kansas City, Mo., is the talk of the town among real estate professionals here. A federal jury found that the National Association of Realtors and multiple large brokerage firms had “conspired to artificially inflate the commissions paid to real estate agents,” The New York Times reported that day, calling it “a decision that could radically alter the home-buying process in the United States.”

The day 125 years ago when George Strong, a carpenter working on the Maidstone Inn, plummeted 80 feet without breaking anything. And more drama ripped from the pages of your local paper of record.

Near a gap in the 30-foot-tall border wall that separates the United States from Mexico, Elissa McLean and Andy Winter found themselves wrapped up in humanitarian efforts to aid the hundreds of refugees who have been pouring into the U.S. daily, waiting — and hoping — to be picked up by Border Patrol agents so they can begin the process of seeking asylum, having fled extreme violence, corruption, and crime in their home countries.

In this photo from The Star’s archive, N. Sherrill Foster shows a visitor to Clinton Academy a clock that once hung from the Presbyterian Church’s belfry.

Part of the charm of the Sagaponack Post Office, whose building is now undergoing a major renovation, was the presence of over 600 brass post boxes, opened with a combination lock, and adored by residents. While the new owner has no control over what happens to the old boxes, she has sourced and secured 200 more, so that when the post office reopens, hopefully by the end of next summer, there are enough for every resident.

Low spawning levels have spurred the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to put forth a comprehensive management plan to rebuild the stocks of striped bass.

From The Star’s photo archive, this Christmas card sent by Lion Gardiner (1878-1936) and Ida S. Loomis Gardiner (1881-1973) shows the Gardiner House on Ocean Avenue covered in snow.

Concerned Citizens of Montauk has appointed Kay Tyler, who previously served as the organization’s director of development and marketing, as its executive director.

Tidings of comfort and joy from The Star of yore to you, dear reader.

Near-hurricane-level winds, tides, and rain blasted the East End on Monday, leaving downtown Montauk with far more damage than any other place in Suffolk County.

When Santa Claus visited Long Wharf on Dec. 9 as part of the Sag Harbor Chamber of Commerce’s tree-lighting festivities, what families may not have known was that the man originally slated to play the role, Ken Dorph, had been asked to return his red suit to the chamber three days earlier. 

From the Amagansett Historical Association, this 1967 work by Ron Ziel, the railroad historian, shows the train line that dates to 1893 and ran as far east as Sag Harbor.

It was a good run for the health food and vitamin shop Second Nature — almost 52 years in East Hampton — but on Sunday the shop closed its doors here for good. It wasn't the high price of rent but rather the lack of foot traffic that drove the decision, an owner said. “Southampton is livelier.”

A paved, multiuse recreation path has been completed at Boys and Girls Harbor Park, on the west side of Three Mile Harbor in East Hampton. It will accommodate users of all ages and abilities, including children learning to ride bicycles.

Twenty-five years ago, 800 students got an early Christmas break when the East Hampton High septic system experienced a logjam for the ages. And other tidbits ripped from The Star of yesteryear.

Mariah Miltier has been promoted to executive director of the Montauk Chamber of Commerce, promising “new, exciting directions while holding our traditions close.”

The sanctuary at the Jewish Center of the Hamptons was the first and one of only a few nonresidential buildings Norman Jaffe designed in his brief but illustrious career. The temple addition is seen here in a photo from The Star’s archive.

After breeding on the northern lakes, loons arrive on the East End in the autumn and increase in numbers through the winter as their breeding territories freeze. They can survive our winter water because they’re so well insulated.

“A steep rise in wage theft cases” since July is impacting East Enders working in the construction and housekeeping industries, Organizacion Latino-Americana of Eastern Long Island said this week.

If the Anchor Society of East Hampton has its way, the current reality of wintertime East Hampton Village, plagued by 55 seasonally closed storefronts, will change by next year as its “winter shops” program gains traction. The idea is “to help fill empty storefronts in the off-season with affordable retail, much-needed services, and other popular pop-ups residents desire.”

One hundred and twenty-five years ago it snowed so much roads and railways were impassible for days. May it be so again.

Montauk’s Memory Motel was shuttered and silent on a recent Sunday, but on an adjacent island 116 miles west of Montauk’s downtown, the party was just getting started at another Memory Motel, an East Village pop-up where the D.J. Alexandra Richards, daughter of the Rolling Stones’ guitarist Keith Richards, spun an exhilarating set of uptempo tunes for a throng of enthusiastic young Manhattanites. 

For Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights celebrated by Jews every winter, eight days of menorah lightings and other festivities are planned from Bridgehampton to Montauk beginning Thursday night.

With most first-responder courses taking place in Sag Harbor and Southampton in recent years, a rare chance is coming up that allows prospective emergency medical technicians living farther east to enroll in a state-approved E.M.T.-training program closer to home

The day in 1948 when the Bonacker captain Dead-Eye Dick Flach opened up on the basketball court for 20 points in the first half alone, blowing out Hampton Bays. And more from East Hampton’s colorful past.