[ Photo courtesy Vanity Fair via PatrickMcMullan.com]
Vanity Fair once again brings us an analysis on the State of the Hamptons, taking a look at village du jour, Montauk. The VF verdict: Montauk needs saving, and the Great Recession may just do the trick. Worried that the fishing capital is 'becoming the Miami Beach of the North' (just as Carl Fisher had imagined it in 1928), our author hops from Surf Lodge to Fisher's own Montauk Yacht Club in search of answers. The Great Depression toppled plans for a Gatsby-era building spree in the late 1920s, but it remains to be seen if our own recession will have much effect. Surf Lodge seems to be as popular as ever, and the revamped MYC has gone ahead with all plans for this year's reopening. Even the former Shepard's Neck Inn, now the Solé East, has become a hipster haven, holding pool parties for our fedora'd friends from the city. We're reminded that the locals, or 'townies', are not fans of their new economy-boosting neighbors, and the police keep a close eye on the size of Saturday night crowds, but otherwise everything seems par for the course on the eastern tip of the island. If Vanity Fair is hoping to see Montauk's charm saved with the downturn, it seems unlikely, but no one said that Surf Lodge didn't come with a charm all its own.
· How the Great Recession Could Save Montauk [Vanity Fair]
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