Our Hamptons

Esperanza and Irwin tell the story of East Hampton's grandest estate in the early 20th century. Frank Wiborg was a self made millionaire by age 40, establishing offices worldwide for the distribution of ink and lithograph products. Originally summer renters in Amagansett and East Hampton, Wiborg ultimately became a land baron, with holdings encompassing and astonishing 600 acres. In 1909, Wibo...

Esperanza and Irwin explore Riverhead's changes when the Tanger Mall arrived in the 1990s.   Riverhead still lays claim as the Suffolk County Seat, despite most government departments moving to office space up island in Hauppague.   Did Tanger, and the subsequent onset of big box retailers and chain stores help to offset that loss at the expense of ushering in a more suburban r...

Esperanza and Irwin look back at the three lives of Bayberry Land in Southampton.   In 1916, the banker Charles Sabin and his wife, Pauline Morton Smith Sabin purchased these 314 acres for a country home, naming it after the low growing shrub prevalent on the east end.   The estate comprised 8 buildings, including a manor house, garage with chauffer's apartment, gatehouse, care...

Esperanza and Irwin

Esperanza and Irwin pride themselves on digging deep, and some of the episodes of Our Hamptons has been a bit off radar.  

Esperanza and Irwin explore the rich history of the Swamp, the iconic gay nightclub.   From the time Bill Higgins opened the Swamp in 1977 and its sister restaurant The Annex next door, he made his policy clear.   This is a gay male club said the sign outside the door.  The writer Steven Gaines said "Higgins thought having women around ruined things".   But the histor...

Esperanza and Irwin discuss the multiple lives of the Sea Spray Inn.  The Sea Spray's early days in the 19th century on Main Street, East Hampton led to its subsequent move in 1902 to the dunes near Main Beach, as the private home of E.D. Terbell.   The Sea Spray's heyday was from the 1940's to 1970's.  The Sea Spray had a capacity of 125 guests served by a staff of 55.  R...

Esperanza and Irwin welcome the writer Tim Ferguson for a free wheeling dialogue on all things East End. Tim's resume includes being a columnist and op-ed editor at the Wall Street Journal and editor for Forbes Asia. Impressive as his body of work has been, it is his present day writing and blog posts specific to eastern Long Island that caught our attention. We've actually touched on some...

Esperanza and Irwin discuss the fascinating story of the Montauk Shores Condominium.  From its beginning in the 1940's as a campground on the ocean, the evolution of Montauk Shores is yet another metaphor for eastern Long Island becoming the Hamptons.   A trailer park overlooking the Atlantic, and adjacent to iconic Ditch Plains, Montauk Shores was within reach of everyone.  &n...

Esperanza and Irwin go back 50 years to what may have been the brouhaha of the century on eastern Long Island.  The proposed Highway Bypass was to go north of Route 27 through North Sea, Watermill, Bridgehampton, Sagaponack, Wainscott, East Hampton and ultimately ending in eastern Amagansett.  "Build it and they shall come", was one perspective, saying traffic will be even worse.  F...

Esperanza and Irwin can barely contain their excitement for this podcast!  Elizabeth Barlow Rogers is best known for her work as a driving force behind the resurrection of Central Park.   1970's New York City was a time of strife.  Budget woes, crime, graffiti, defined NYC during this era, and the iconic Daily New headline, Ford to City: Drop Dead said it all.   &nbsp...

Esperanza and Irwin welcome Nilay Oza and Peter Sabbeth of Oza Sabbeth Architects of Bridgehampton.   Architecture is an art form that incorporates math, science and engineering.  But it's also a business.  Nilay and Peter generously share the delicate balancing act of sensibility to the site with the needs of the client.  The familiar Our Hamptons themes of commodity vs c...

Esperanza and Irwin travel back to 1957-1960 East Hampton.  Despite the death of Jackson Pollock the year before, the Abstract Expressionist movement was thriving.  Yet the East End was a more conservative place back then, and the Art displayed was more staid landscapes than abstraction.  At least until the artists Elizabeth Parker, John Little and Alfonso Ossorio decided to change...

Esperanza and Irwin discuss the rich Ice Boating history on Mecox Bay.  According to the Water Mill Museum, the sport itself originated in Holland in the early 1600's.  The first known Ice Boat on Mecox was sailed by Daniel Hildreth and Charles Howell in 1837.  The Mecox Bay Ice Yacht Club started with 12 members and 5 boats in 1927.   Ice Boating was about speed, and the...

Esperanza and Irwin discuss the sheer beauty of Gerard Drive in Springs.  Best seen on foot or on bike, Gerard Drive runs between Gardiners/Napeague Bay and Accabonac Harbor, and the vistas change depending on the direction you travel.  But Gerard Drive's history is equally compelling.  Daniel and Carolyn Gerard purchased the 250 lots for $125,000 in the 1930's from the Town, who co...

Esperanza and Irwin welcome onelandscape.org founder Margie Ruddick.   With a graduate degree in Landscape Architecture from Harvard, Margie's projects have taken her from Shillim in Western Ghats, India to Queens Plaza in Long Island City, NY.   With onelandscape.org, Margie's focus is the conservation of wild landscapes by integrating science, art, policy, and community. &nbs...

Hard to believe, but 2022 marked the 50th anniversary of Bridgehampton Commons.  Esperanza and Irwin dive head first into the writer Tim Ferguson's article "When A Shopping Mall Came To The Hamptons".  One could argue that the Commons served as a metaphor for all the changes on the east end in the past half century.  A shift in demographics, land use, development, the benefits of am...

Esperanza and Irwin reminisce on the places and people they miss on eastern Long Island.  As the conversation progresses, memories are jarred, and a bit of Holiday Season nostalgia prevails, including a brief "can you top this segment".  We also reflect back on the past 18 episodes of Season One.

Esperanza and Irwin reflect back on a haunting 2011 Vanity Fair article on the White Family Farm.  Prior to becoming one of America's priciest zip codes, Sagaponack was primarily a farming community.   And the White's, one of Sagaponack's oldest families, have farmed their land since the 1600's.  The White's small cottages nestled in the Sagaponack dunes, were rented seasonally...

Esperanza and Irwin embark on a virtual Happy Hour back in time to the bars and taverns we love, and the characters that inhabited them.   From the literati at the original Bobby Van's in Bridgehampton, with Capote, Matthiessen, Knowles and Plimpton to John Steinbeck at Barons Cove in Sag Harbor.  Deep in the woods of Springs, Jungle Pete's had Pollock at the bar with baymen and Bon...

Esperanza and Irwin discuss Fair Field from the beginning to present day.  The plan to construct a 100,000 square foot compound on 63 oceanfront acres sent shock waves throughout the East End.  Fair Field had its own power plant, a 100 car garage and multiple outbuildings. Yet the compound violated no laws, in fact it taking up less than 10% of the property.   While its sheer s...

Esperanza and Irwin pick up in the late 1950's heyday of The Bridge.  Can-Am races, The Vanderbilt Cup, Nascar races all were happening in this era, with the world's greatest auto racers.  But unfortunately, economic challenges, Southampton Town rezoning, development pressures and changing demographics created problems for The Bridge. An unlikely alliance between The Bridge and environme...

Esperanza and Irwin discuss Bridgehampton's prominence as a mecca for auto racing in the early to mid 20th century.  Hard as it is to fathom, auto racing took place on the streets of Bridgehampton from 1915-1921 and again from 1949 to 1953.  After the NYS legislature banned racing in the streets, a group purchased almost 600 acres to the north, off Millstone Road.  There, a challeng...

Esperanza and Irwin welcome Build. In. Kind/East Hampton founder Jaine Mehring.  To “build in kind” means to renovate or rebuild a structure basically as it is—in the same form and existing footprint.  To those of us who live, visit or even read about East Hampton knows this is rarely talking place.  In fact, for years now, we’ve been seeing the opposite – it’s been mainly “all demo...

Esperanza and Irwin discuss 100+ years of Bell Estate history and folklore. Dr. Dennistoun Bell’s 21 room Georgian Manor house on a bluff over Gardiner’s Bay, with outbuildings, guest cottages and a funicular! His generosity led to 120 Town preserved acres at Albert’s Landing and Fresh Pond. The end of the 20th century brought the power couple Reginald and Loida Lewis as the final lords of the man...