One of the “exclusive” beaches in Southampton
Arriving at the Hamptons is akin to getting to any beach town: you take the highway and then end up on a two lane road. The big box stores and malls suddenly fade away to small shops and fish places at about the point you can smell the ocean.
But that’s where the similarities between the Hamptons and most beach towns on the East Coast end.
Welcome to the world of money where a BLT sandwich will set you back at least $20, you’re considered “poor” if you only own a million dollar place and conversations at Sant Ambroeus, the Italian style coffee bar and hub of Southampton go something like this:
Woman: I can’t decide whether to buy something here
Man: Where else would to buy?
Woman: Manhattan… or Montana. I want it to be an investment property. But I’m not sure about the city. The commutes. I like quiet.
Man: So you buy in both locales and get an airplane.
It was hard to know if the man was jesting or not. This is, after all, a city where the homes along the beach all come with at least three acres and $20+ million pricetags. In some ways, the zoning laws in the Hamptons make sense: the closer you are to the water, the richer you have to be and you have to care for more land. It helps create a well preserved shoreline without boardwalks and a bunch of cheap rentals.
It also reinforces the wealth. In case you missed the exclusivity factor, there are “for residents only” beaches and the hedges get taller as the price tag of the property goes up. As you drive about a mile away from the shore, the homes are still expensive, but the lots are a lot smaller and the hedges only about 6 to 7 feet instead of 10+.
What’s striking to anyone coming from Manhattan is that Southampton is mostly white. There are plenty of people with French, Spanish and German accents, but any other race is rare. This is reinforced by the two main social clubs in Southampton: one of the Jews and one for the “WASPs” (aka White, Anglo-Saxon Protestants).
Some friends of mine, new homeowners in the $1 million section of town, unwittingly drove up to the Jewish club and innocently asked for a tour and information on how to join. They should have realized that their Volvo wasn’t quite in the same league as the $300,000 dollar vehicles in the lot. The woman at the front was bewildered, but managed to regain her cool and take their number to have the manager ring them later on. The manager did call…to inform them that the club was “by invitation only.” It’s the kind of place where Lloyd Blankfein is a member…and is famous for winning some swimming prize there.
The other thing that strikes you is how beautiful everyone is. I didn’t see one overweight person all weekend, and “former models” are even more common than celebrities. Plenty of people are out jogging, riding bikes and playing tennis if they aren’t socializing in town or at a club.
For all the novels and TV shows like Gossip Girl written about the Hamptons, there is more to this place than just a playground for wealthy teens. It’s actually more of a family friendly vibe in Southampton. The toy store is the second busiest place in town after the coffee shop, and strollers are commonplace.
Perhaps my friends summed the Hamptons up best: Truth be told, the Jersey Shore is probably a better beach in the sense of the quality of the sand, how the waves break against the shore, etc. But if you want a place that is quiet, with never more than a dozen cars in the parking lot and plenty of distance between you and the next umbrella, then you want the Hamptons. And at a mere 2 to 2.5 hours from Manhattan, it feels like a true getaway, even if only for a weekend.
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