This Lizzie Grubman deal got me thinking about “the hamptons”. What exactly are the hamptons? I understand it is some sort of upscale mountain(?) community on the east coast, somewhere near new york.
I live in the SF bay area on the west coast. Forgive my ignorance, but the east coast is foreign to me.
All I know of the hamptons is what i have gathered from pop culture (movies, tv shows, etc). It is presented as some place where class-conscious obnoxious blue-nose rich people go for the summer. To vacation, or whatever. As an example of how the mass-media depicts the hamptons, and hamptons goers, a couple of examples spring to mind - The seinfeld episode where george attempts to impress his fiance’s parents by claiming he owns a house in the hamptons.
And just this morning howard stern was going on and on about his house in the hamptons. The media depicts Liz Grubman as rich daddy’s little girl, who naturally gets huffy when the hamptons are invaded by undesirables.
So… I have the following questions:
What are the hamptons?
Are they really populated by obnoxious rich people?
Why is it considered a status symbol to “summer in the hamptons”?
What exactly is the attraction of going there? As opposed to other places you can vacation…
Are there any west-coast versions of the hamptons? All I could think of is palm springs, but it doesn’t really have the same “us vs. them” obnoxiousness from palm springs visitors.
I was as clueless as you until this past year when I went off to the east coast for school, and at my particular school there are an overwhelming number of people from long island, so i can now answer your question with at least some accuracy
“The Hamptons” are on Long Island, and aren’t a mountain resort so much as a series of nice coastal communities where there are a lot of really nice houses where various celebrities/rich people spend time away from the hubbub of the city. There are various parts of california that are like this, among them is my former home Pebble Beach (oh to live there again) and then i’m sure places in so-cal too but i don’t like so-cal so fuck them.
The person I knew best from taht area was not rich, but was middle class, and did assert that many rich people lived in the area. He always bragged about his brother doing construction on Jennifer Lopez’ house and all these other people he’d seen over the years. I think he said Billy Joel or somebody like that is out there too
As far as all your other questions, it’s nice cause its quieter than the big city but you still have a bit of a “celebrity scene” so you can do your celebrity/rich thing if you want to. I’m sure the rich people out there are obnoxious just like they’re obnoxious anywhere else (with an extra obnoxiousity just from being EAST COASTERS)
Incorrect. Grubman herself is one of the “undesirables,” being a nouveau-riche…she’s spending her Daddy’s money, not her great-great-grandfather’s. Also, she’s Jewish.
The “early settler” summer people out there were not obnoxious rich people (unless you count them as obnoxious simply becuase they’re rich), but the old-school Ivy League rich people…quiet rich people…rich people who drive cars in muted colors, and subscribe to chamber music societies…who went out there to sit in the shade or lie around on the beach, far away from the hustle and bustle of Wall Street and their Upper East Side townhouse.
Within the past 20 years, the Loud Rich have taken over. The McMansions have been erected, the night clubs and pretentious restaurants have gone up, the remaining potato farmers have been driven away.
BTW, the Hamptons are far enough from NYC that it’s not practical to commute from there (although I’m sure some people do). So if you work in Manhattan and “own a house in the Hamptons”, you probably own two places, which gives you another “bragging right” if you’re into that sort of thing.
Being a beach princess from Southern California, I resent that quite a lot.
Simply put, the Hamptons are popular on the East Coast for the same reasons that places like Malibu are popular on the West. They’re exclusive, reasonably secluded, relatively inaccessible (fewer problems with paparazzi stationing themselves outside the front gates), and the scenery is fantastic. No great mystery there.
Of course, if you want to live the life of the uber-rich (at least at the end of the nineteenth century), you need to go to Newport, RI. Now that crowd knew how to live!
A few towns on the south shore of LI (easthapmton, southhampton, etc.)
Are they really populated by obnoxious rich people?
Not really but some of them are there. It is a popular beach ‘resort’ destination for NYC folks (and the NYC metro area). Some rich people fly out on a sea plane (that really pissed off the locals) into hampton bay. Most people drive. There is a LIRR (train) stop and express bus services (Hamptom Jitney). The rich status is now diluted by common folk.
Why is it considered a status symbol to “summer in the hamptons”?
It used to be a rich thing but now (too) many people come. It’s more like the happining place to be.
What exactly is the attraction of going there? As opposed to other places you can vacation…
bars,Small town atmosphere and great water quality
Are there any west-coast versions of the hamptons?
I don’t know
I personally hate the hamptons - would never go there during peak times - causes massive traffic problems on the entire island. There are very nice beaches that rival it in water quality and are closer and less crowded. (moriches).