» Gosip, News and Life on Fire Island

“Summer lovin’. Had me a blast”

myisland — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 20:04:18 +0000

Five months, twelve weekends, thirty six days and unlimited men! Another Fire Island summer comes to a smashing close.

Last weekend as the housemates and I tossed out chipped martini glasses, Speedos missing drawstrings, designer sunglasses so scratched that the world was a blur and beach towels with mysterious stains we reflected and mused on the summer of 2009.

June was certainly off to a wet start as the swimming pool overflowed from the torrential rains and we bravely sat through “Chicago” for the umpteenth time, wrapped in blankets and drinking frozen margaritas. The upside of all that rain though was extended cabin fever that always ensured tea dance at the Blue Whale was packed and everyone was happy to talk with anyone other than a house mate. We heard Rhiana sing “Under my Umbrella” so many times at tea while queens proudly danced under their open umbrellas that is seemed likely this would be the new gay anthem of the summer.

The Invasion of the Pines and Pansy ushered in the hot, humid and finally dry weather that sent all of Fire Island racing for their board shorts and Speedos. And with the new weather came the sun deprived crowds. Every weekend the ferries were packed with day trippers lugging coolers and backpacks, last minute weekend guests with their designer dogs, matching luggage and bottle of Grey Goose, and homeowner couples bickering over dinner plans while wrestling large plants from Bayport nursery. Low, Middle and High Tea as well as AlternaTea with DJ Lina at Sip N Twirl were always packed and if your game was on you were able to jump up and down and wave your hands in the air to Beyonce’s “Halo”, Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing”, and The Black Eyed Peas “I’ve Got a Feeling” by DJ’s Vito Fun, Xavier and Corey Craig at least three times! If you grew weary of Planters Punches and navigating the gridlock of low tea July also brought on the “event circuit” where you could sip donated vodka in random flavors (Absolut Pear?) and also jump up and down and wave your hands in the air to Beyonce’s “Halo”, Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing”, and The Black Eyed Peas “I’ve Got a Feeling” for a good cause such as the Gay & Lesbian Center, SAGE, Stonewall Foundation, or Dancers Responding to AIDS.

Then it was August and when you are staring down the end of summer all holds are gone and the island goes into full acceleration. There are so many PreTea House party invitations that it requires a strategic navigational plan and an excel spreadsheet to make sure you don’t wear the same Diesel T-shirt twice. Extended weekends become so much the norm that Sunday night Tea Dances don’t look any different than Saturday -plus you are guaranteed to hear ”Halo” “Don’t Stop Believing”, and ”I’ve Got a Feeling” one more time. And, all of your Face book and Twitter friends begin not so subtly dropping hints by updating their status saying they have not been out of the city all summer. Coming right in the middle of the August heat is the hot, Ascension Party on the beach where this year DJ Tony Moran saved us from the hot hits of summer but left us with the undisputed gay anthem of the summer when Kelly Rowland brought down the crowd with “When Love Takes Over”!

So now as I sit in a Starbucks in Chelsea wearing a Fire Island hoodie I know there is a place only a few hours away where we can be proud, free and celebrate our gay heritage! And, in my case as I sit here next to my new boyfriend who I met in that Gay Summer Camp called the Pines I realize he is the highlight of summer 2009!

See you next summer!

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Our Gay Travels!

myisland — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:40:26 +0000

New York City area Gays & Lesbians have no shortage of weekend getaways where they can find other like minded homos. You can pack the Range Rover and head north to the Hudson River Valley where you can enjoy the breathtaking scenes that inspired the Hudson Valley artists while you sip Chardonnay on the porch of a 1776 Farmhouse; you can hop aboard the Long Island Railroad and head to Fire Island’s Cherry Grove or The Pines where you can drink Planters Punches at Tea Dance and stroll the beautiful beaches holding hands with the guy you met at last night’s Porsche show at The Ice Palace; you can split the cost of a Mini Cooper ZipCar with your friends and head south to Asbury Park where you can stroll the revitalized Boardwalk made famous by the Sopranos while you ogle hot Jersey hunks sprawled along the Fifth Avenue beach before topping it all off with Frozen Margaritas at the Empress Hotel, or you can take the Hampton’s Jitney to the Eastern end of Long Island where you will find the glamour and star studded Hamptons.

So it was that I found myself with a much coveted invitation for a weekend in East Hampton. Of course a weekend invitation also comes with a complete weekend agenda which in this case meant no fewer than three house parties, a benefit fund raiser and an invitation to stop by for drinks. This does create great wardrobe challenges- “Are big Polo pony shirts still in style?”; transportation logistics- “What do you mean the bar car is full?” and hostess gifts -”They are sea shell shaped soaps hand made in a small village in northern Brazil”.

Our party benefit invitation was for ”Dancing on the Beach” a benefit for the LGBT Center in New York City. This year’s event was held at a private home on Two Mile Hollow Beach in East Hampton and featured DJ Susan Morabito. My hosts and other houseguests dressed in tight Scoop T-shirts, shorts, and sneakers - a welcome relief from the usual crisp Linen, Madras and Ralph Lauren Polos that normally define the Hampton’s- snaked through the “Meat rack” type path through the dunes and to the party, where we quickly planted ourselves at the bar for “complimentary” Vodka Tonics. After some thawing out it was time to mingle. Feeling ever so slightly out of my element – which is usually board shorts, flip flops and “well” drinks I put on my charming smile and proceeded to make small talk - and after a discussion of gardening, the commute to the Hamptons and home decorating- I ended up chatting with a prominent Hamptons realtor, a cute, young theater producer and a charming 40 something man of dubious means but killer smile.

And, as the sun went down and Susan played the great Fire Island Classic “If you could read my mind” by Viola Wills while I danced close with the 20 something young producer I thought about how our Gay Heritage and shared experiences really do bind us all together no matter what gay destination we may find ourselves!

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Hot Bingo!

myisland — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 18:39:30 +0000

A Fire Island Boy cannot live on a steady diet of Planters Punches and Low Tea at The Blue Whale every day. So doing a service for our livers and the community, the men and women of the Fire Island Pines Volunteer Fire Department have resurrected Thursday night Bingo this season.

Arriving on the Island early last week, I joined three friends at home for a “dresser” (note there is no alcohol allowed at Bingo) and dauber exchange and then proceeded to the Fire House on the early side so we could get good seats- our hearing is seriously compromised from years of late Pavilion nights. Two of us are Bingo pros having played the South Florida Bingo circuit. However, joining us on this excursion was one young friend who was a Bingo Virgin-from France nonetheless- and completely perplexed by the entire event.

Fire Island is certainly not your Grandmother’s Bingo in Boca, okay you may find somebody wearing the same wig as your grandmother, but with numbers such as ”O- Swishy 2″, the crowd favorite “0-69″, and game formations such as “H” and “F- your interpretation” as well as Virgin Bingo- well you get the picture!

The surprisingly diverse crowd ranged in age from 8 something to 80 something and glancing around the room you spotted butchers from the Pines Pantry, local realtors, home owners, boys you dance with at Low Tea, entire families, and of course some “Daddy” firemen. And, to top it off legendary Jim Pepper was peddling raffle tickets for a 50/50.

Settling in to the rowdiness and no doubt helped by the “double dressers” we had at home our little group amassed a fortune of $15. However, we knew the end was near as our French pal searched for “B-58″.

And always remember, during the 10 minute intermission you can make a dash for Sip n Twirl next door where Patrick- no doubt used to this crowd- will serve you a beer on tap and get you back in time for round two!

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Weekdays on Fire Island

jay — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 04:55:53 +0000

I was a bit hesitant to come out Cherry Grove on a weekday—my experiences on Fire Island for the past four years have all taken place between Friday evenings and Monday mornings, when the island is crowded, populated with those on weekend getaways. But, since I got a full share to have the option to come out here whenever I want, and in the spirit of my job’s “use ‘em or lose ‘em” vacation days, to be taken before the end of our fiscal year on June 30th, I decided to take a Thursday and Friday off, and come out to the island on the 9:30am Thursday ferry.

The town center was a ghost town when we arrived; so quiet that we could hear the ocean from the minute we stepped off the ferry. I was immediately enveloped in the peaceful serenity that the island’s silence brought.

I took my friend on a “tour” of the Grove, since she had never been here before, and we took the time to explore the entire town and read every bulletin board full of events. I told her about some of the back story of the Grove, and the history behind the abandoned house at the corner of Doctor and Lewis walks—or what the legend behind it is. “History” is a fuzzy word out here, as it implies absolute truth, which, in a place as mystical and magical as the Grove, is hard to pin down.

We took a stroll on the beach and marveled at the completely empty expanse of sand before us before settling on a spot and plopping down for a nap.

“I feel like I’m on vacation, a million miles away from everything,” she said. And I felt like I was on vacation, too, not only from my life in NYC, but also a vacation from the usual weekend life in the Grove, too.

For an entire day there was no pressure to do anything—to drink, to barbeque, or to meet friends arriving on a later ferry. I wasn’t even wearing a watch.

At some point, we fell asleep, and the only thing that woke me up was the jingle of the collar on a small dog that staked out some nearby sand.

As we sensed the approach of dusk, we went to the market and bought some snacks for our cocktail hour, and some items for a late dinner we planned on cooking together.

We decided to go over to the Pines for low tea, and made our way through the deserted meat rack, wondering if there would even be anyone at tea. Lo and behold, there were! A whopping ten people were there! The staff at the Blue Whale hadn’t even cleared the tables and chairs to make room for any dancing. It was such a change of pace from the usual hustle and bustle of those crowded weekend teas.

At first I was disappointed by the lack of people there—I wanted my first-timer friend to experience the fun of a traditional Pines low tea dance. Instead, we stood on the dock nearby and spent time taking gorgeous pictures of the bay and harbor at sunset. She even taught me about some of the features on my camera that I didn’t even know I had.

Whereas I would spend low tea on a weekend trying to get drunk and laid, my friend and I took the time to meet new people and learn about their lives. It was a welcome change. Some of the people we met worked in the Pines; others were schoolteachers whose season had just ended; another used to be the owner of a store that I used to go to as a kid growing up in Brooklyn (it has since closed). We even met someone who asked us on board his yacht, docked in the harbor, for delicious blueberry pina coladas and warm conversation with our new friends.

After sunset, we walked on the beach back to the Grove, and my friend admitted it: she’d fallen in love with Fire Island. Another convert.

We went for a drink at Jumpin’ Jack’s Seafood Shack, where the friendly staff and talented pianist made for a wonderful evening. Rather than watching them rush around and serve drink after drink, as they do on weekends, the weekday atmosphere allowed us all the time to get to know each other and chat. One of them even came back to my apartment with my friend and I for our barbeque.

Today, Friday, people are arriving, and while I initially thought that this would be a welcome relief that would breathe life into a dead beach town, I find myself now wishing it weren’t yet the weekend so that I could have the island “to myself” for just a little bit longer—to get to know more people, to get to sleep on the beach without the disruption of anything but a toy poodle, to get more unobstructed photos of sunsets, to let life just go by.

Luckily, there is still the rest of the summer ahead…

I would highly recommend checking out Fire Island on a weekday. The Grove Hotel’s rates are significantly lower than on the weekends (www.grovehotel.com), and Dune Point offers “Hump Day” Wednesdays, where you can stay the night for free (www.dunepointfireisland.com).

Gay Fire Island Gay Fire Island Is Fire Island a gay beach resort?...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

My First Time!

myisland — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 18:49:15 +0000

A house in East Hampton, an apartment in the city, a Golden Retriever, a SUV and a boyfriend who just dumped me after thirteen years so he could find himself with his Latino personal trainer. Yes, the winter had not been a pretty one and I spent it in tears, raging anger, then therapy, and finally a disastrous rebound relationship. So now it was summer and I needed a complete change of scenery. Through the winter soul searching I joined a volunteer program with Momentum Aids where I worked in a food pantry in the South Bronx one Saturday a month. While filling plastic bags with canned goods and fresh vegetables (may as well channel that anger into some good) I met a couple of guys who had a share available in their house in Fire Island Pines. Being an ex-Hamptonite (he got the house in the divorce) the entire share experience was foreign to me. I had not shared bedrooms and bathrooms since my college fraternity days and although the sexual fantasies that conjured were hot, I had another voice in my head telling me this may not bode well in my late 30’s with an unruly Golden Retriever (I got the kids). However, after two Kettle One martinis and a virtual tour on the house website I not only understood what a “quarter share” was, but also understood the check I was now writing included unlimited alcohol and a clothing optional hot tub. The concept of Low Tea and High Tea still eluded me though. So, on a cool night in mid May I found myself on the Sayville ferry juggling an anxious Golden Retriever (we both needed a Xanax for this) three bags ( I had wardrobe worries) and a bouquet of disheveled flowers (a good first impression is imperative). Arriving in the Pines on a Friday night is akin to arriving in New York on one of the great ocean liners during the 1950s with throngs of people waiting to welcome you home from a grand tour of Europe with champagne, flowers and great hugs. However, the entire scene filled me with anxiety- as I realized I knew no one on the Island and quite possibly would be branded a loser as I dragged my luggage and dog through the crowd with a fixed smile on my face. Imagine my great surprise when I saw my “house mother” standing on the bench in the crowd brandishing a cocktail shaker and glasses and waving in my direction. That was five years ago and it was that feeling of camaraderie and of belonging to a greater community that shares and celebrates being gay that has made Cherry Grove and The Pines the unique place they are and has kept me coming back every year! Oh, and now there is a Middle Tea to grasp as well!

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Got wood now get coffee!

myisland — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 18:21:12 +0000

There was a time in the not so distant past when 7AM in Fire Island Pines would have found me with glazed eyes and covered in sweat stumbling home from the Pavillion in my jeans and sneakers and no clue where my Tshirt was last spotted. But alas, time does change and nothing does that faster than a “gay child”. In my case a stubborn Cocker Spaniel who feels he is entitled to a 7AM walk regardless of what shame I inflicted upon myself the night before. So now I sit at Bay Bar on Saturday and Sunday mornings flirting with the cute baristas who sometimes appear amazingly more hung over than me and drink Grande Starbucks. Alone though? Never. This time of day you will see dozens of sleep deprived dog walkers sipping their Iced Coffees while their designer French Bull Dogs, Min Pins, Labradoodles, and Katrina rescued mutts tug at their Burberry leashes along side truly hung over boys who day tripped yesterday and then thought it a great idea to skip that Midnight ferry and just keep partying. On these mornings the harbor is sparkling and blessedly quiet, the boats are rocking in the waves, sexy runners wearing only skimpy gym shorts and Ipods jog on the boardwalk and you are reminded that this is the “real” part of Fire Island, far from the Tea’s, house parties and dancing until dawn and what really matters. Of course, knowing that you spent most of the night making out with a hot guy from Tea does make it better!

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Fire destroys 2 homes in Fire Island Pines

admin — Sat, 23 May 2009 02:20:09 +0000

Summer 2009 was off to a hot start as a fast-moving fire destroyed two homes in Fire Island Pines. The homes at 244 and 245 Baywalk were destroyed but thankfully no injuries were reported in the fire.

What the video of the Fire Island Pines Fire Summer 2009!

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.