In the Hamptons 4Ever

Book excerpt: More stories of the outsized and the ordinary from the editor and publisher of Dan’s Papers. This is Dan Rattiner’s fourth collection of essays about the fishermen, farmers, celebrities, billionaires, and artists who live, work, and play in the Hamptons. As the founder and publisher of Dan’s Papers, a weekly community newspaper, Rattiner knows the Hamptons backwards and forwards, and stories of his encounters on the South Fork of Long Island give readers a greater understanding of how this community has changed over the years and the major figures who have shepherded these changes along. In addition to well-known faces such as Dr. Oz and billionaires like Ira Rennert and his wife—who built the second-largest private home in America—you’ll also read about motel owners, art gallery owners, an ad salesman for Dan’s Papers, and a philanthropist who at one time had nearly a dozen historical buildings on her $100 million property in East Hampton. The book also provides some of the hoaxes and tall tales that the author has fabricated over the years to entertain the readers of Dan’s Papers, including the moving radar tower at Montauk, the great Ecuadorian eel attack, and the Hamptons subway. “Dan’s book, as does his newspaper, creates a chronicle of the women and men who have chosen to live in this magical place over these different decades, so one gets a very personal picture of how it was and is. Dan’s seen it all and isn’t keeping it under his very real hat.” — from the Foreword by Barbara L. Goldsmith Praise for Dan Rattiner “Dan’s memoirs are like Dan’s newspapers: charming, whimsical, fun, and filled with insightful knowledge of the East End conveyed with a twinkle in the eye.” — Walter Isaacson, author of Steve Jobs “If there was an honorary mayor of the Hamptons it would have to be Dan Rattiner a raconteur with a wicked sense of humor and an eye for detail.” — Long Island History Journal “If a guy says it happened in the Hamptons, and Dan Rattiner doesn’t know about it, it didn’t.” — Tom Wolfe