Halloween Pasts

Man, I was walking down Main Street, Sag Harbor, this afternoon and there were at least 2000 kids with their parents trick or treating store to store. 40 years ago things were different. First, No Parents. You would go out in groups of 2 to 6. You would go to any house you wanted to. There was no candy available at the stores. You would only go out when it got dark. There was no worries about eating candy received from strange houses. Unless the kids were lazy, and had their parents drive them around, they would walk around town. Once in a while a cheap asshole would give you an apple, which we proceeded to throw through his front window upon exiting their yard. Then to, you could steal pumpkins off porches and smash them in the road. Up until about 1966 Pierson held a Halloween party each year with scavenger hunts and the like. Good to see people still into holiday, although the mischief nowadays is lame.

A typical house I went to trick or treat at

Fixing Up A Dump, Part 2

Man, progress is continuing on the dump on Noyac Road on the outskirts of Sag Harbor. I've removed 50 yards of junk the tenants left behind in the garage and basement. I have another 150 yards of brush I've cut down with a chain saw and piled up with a skid loader. Also got a decent pile of concrete. Haven't even touched the inside of the house yet. So far it looks like about 10 grand going to have this shit taken away. Will keep you posted.

One percent of the junk inside this joint

Pierson High School Renovation

Man, I was driving past Pierson High School and I got to thinking about the renovation they did back in 1981. What happened was the school was built about 1907 and up to 1980 really not much was done on the building. In 1964, a new gym and a elementary wing were built along with metal fire escapes on both sides of the building. Other than that, the building started to fall into disrepair. They did not bother to even paint it. Basically, it looked liked shit. In 81 they finally renovated the inside and outside of the building with a 3 million dollar bond. They did not add any additions other that making the old gym into a theatre. The hill was cut down 3 feet in front so a new front entrance could be installed, much to the dismay of sleigh riders. The school was designed in 1907 to handle 800 students and when I got out of the joint there were 750. This was before the Sacred Heart of Mary school was bought in 1971 and made into the Sag Harbor Elementary School. For some reason after the 81 renovation, the Pierson bell sat in the front of the Whaling Museum for over 2 decades until it was returned to lobby of Pierson where it belongs, and should never have left there. The custodian, Vinny Onisko use to ring the bell, which was located in the clock tower on top of the school, every day at 8 am and 1 pm to signal the start of school. The bell could be heard all over the village. I will post more about Pierson in later posts.

Talk about the building falling into disrepair!

Hamptons Drive-In

Man, I was thumbing through this art book today at Nina Bourne's pad on the ocean in Sagaponack, while getting her house winterized, when I came upon this 1974 painting of the drive-in below. Nina, approaching her mid-90's still works as a editor at Random House. Anyway the Hamptons Drive-In opened about 1955 on Montauk Highway in Bridgehampton. The place would be open from May to September and show two movies beginning at sundown. There was a refreshment stand and a playground for the kids. The place was popular with young couples in the 50's and families in the 60's. In the 70's it was a place to go to drink beer and smoke pot. Hurricane Gloria blew down the screen in August 1976. One evening about 1am after a night of drinking, I drove off with the speaker still attached to my van. Should have kept it. I hear they draw good prices these days. Anyway with the price of real estate being what it was, the place closed around 1982 and is now King Kullen shopping center. The screen was located where the Southampton Police sub-station is today. Wish it were still around.


The Hampton's Drive-In as depicted in this 1974 painting

Old Summer Carnivals in Sag Harbor

Man, when I was a kid in the 1960’s, the carnival used to come twice in the summer to Sag Harbor. Once every July was the firemen’s carnival and once every August was the American Legion carnival. The carnival was usually held in the empty lot on lower Main Street where the Laundromat/Bookhampton building is located now. At that time up till 1965 there was a little brick building occupying that spot in which Louie the Shoemaker was located. After he vacated the building, it was last used in the summer of 1964 as a Goldwater campaign headquarters. I visited the headquarters and paid the rip-off fee of 25 cents for a can of Goldwater, which was actually ginger ale. Soda was a dime in those days in cans. The can itself, had I kept it and not opened it, would have been worth a lot more than 25 cents today. When the Laundromat was built, the carnivals moved to the lot now occupied by the Post Office, where they stayed until 1969 when the American Legion carnival was raided by state police for illegal gambling and that ended the carnivals in Sag Harbor for the next several decades, until being resurrected in the 1990’s by the fire department and held annually at Haven’s Beach until 2005. One exception to the lower main street location, they held one carnival in the summer of 1965 in Mashashimuet Park where the cement building housing the restrooms are today, for some reason. In those days the carnivals would open at 7pm on Monday nights and run to 11pm. They would be open 6 nights and closed Sundays when they moved to another town. There was a ticket booth at each ride where you paid 25 cents for a ride. Very inefficient as today one ticket booth can sell tickets to all rides and need only a couple of people to staff it. The rides consisted of the Ferris wheel; the merry go round, the octopus, among others. There were wheels with 36 numbers where you bet a dime and if it came up, you won a prize. These were the ones considered illegal in the 1969 raid. As kids, we use to watch the carnival being assembled on Sundays by a bunch of dirt bags as you would call them today. They had no port-a-potties at the carnival in those days, and if you wanted to use the bathroom, you had to walk over to the Danny McClain’s Shell station. Danny ran a tackle shop out of his gas station until he moved to Bay St and opened the Bayview Tackle Shop at the end of the decade. The Shell station itself stayed around until the early eighties and then became a restaurant. One nice thing, living on Garden Street, I could walk downtown in 5 minutes. The only other place to hold a carnival each summer was St. Andrew’s church, in their parking lot. It was not really a carnival, but more like a fair, as there were no rides, but they did have cotton candy, which every kid liked. The popularity of carnivals has seemed to dwindle somewhat today, but parents still bring their kids to them mainly for the rides. I attend the North Sea carnival once a year on July 4th weekends, but it’s only to let my kids experience the fun. I’m no longer suckered in, by carnies anymore.


The carnival hasn't changed much over the years

Big Fire at St. Andrews

Man, as I stated in my previous post, Steve and I always got back from Left Sagg at 6pm. In August 1965, arriving home on Division Street shortly after 6pm, the fire whistle went off. We were headed down street anyway as usual, and walking pass Cleveland's Superette, could see fire trucks down the road on Hampton and Union Streets. Arriving at the scene, heavy smoke was pouring out of the steeple of St Andrews church. We hung around while the firemen ran around and put out the fire which did extensive damage to the inside of the church. A few years ago I was sitting inside Ken Cullum's office, the village fire Marshall in East Hampton, and he showed me a old 8 x 10 black and white photo taken at the fire scene that night many years ago. There was old fashioned police car parked on Division Street and a large crowd standing in front of Stella Maris school. Unfortunately we were not in the crowd, when the photo was taken. We were probably in the back parking lot. It would have been cool to see ourselves in the old photo though. Oh Well.
St. Andrew's Church in the 1960's

Donkey Baseball at Mashashimuet Park 1965

Man, I was watching the World Series last night, when I was thinking about my cousin Steve who was down here for the summer of 1965 from Far Rockaway, staying at the family homestead on Division Street. Every day was set to the exactly same routine. Sleep until 11am, get up, eat breakfast. At exactly 2pm our aunt drove us to either Left Sagg, AKA Gibson Beach, or to Long Beach. We would stay there until 6pm and then come back home. If it rained, we always went to the Bridgehampton Candy Kitchen. At night were were free to do what we wanted and usually hung out down street. One summer night in 1965 they had a donkey baseball game in Mashashimuet Park. Guys would have to get on a donkey, hit a baseball and get to first base. We watched it from the old grandstand. Kinda stupid. After the game was over we hung around until the man in charge of the donkeys tied them up for the night to a tree in the park and went home. We thought about untying them for a joke but the donkeys were kinda of nasty and we thought the better of it. Stupid game but that was what summer of 1965 had to offer in Sag Harbor

Old grandstand we watched the donkey baseball game from

Post Office

Man, I was mailing a letter today and got to thinking that Sag Harbor has had several post offices over the years. Some on Main, one on Washington St. etc. In the 1960's the post office was was located in the brick building on the lower west side of Main Street that Jill's and another store occupy now. The boxes all had combinations locks in those days. The window where you got parcels was actually a window that raised and lowered. In those days, the post office lobby was open evenings until at least nine pm and Sundays all day. There was a bulletin board with FBI wanted posters and a desk. What happened was kids started hanging out in the lobby at night and weekends, rising hell and that is why you cannot pick up your mail in the evening anymore. Still a nice idea though. By the way, when the new post office opened on Long Island Ave in 1976, a jeweler named Dave Lee bought the old mailboxes and made them into clocks and banks. You could buy your old mailbox which I did. Finally, If you shoot down Nassau Street and look at the rear of Jill's, you can see the old platform and metal bar door still in place that was once the back of the old post office.

Old Main St. Post Office Early 1960's

Feeding the Ducks

Man, I was looking for Otter Pond the other day. It's gotten so grown up around the pond, you can't see it much anymore. Sag Harbor Village should do something about this. It looks like shit. Anyway years ago a favorite past time of locals were feeding the ducks on the south side of Otter pond. You threw one duck a piece of bread and almost instantly 50 would show up looking for food. The big white ducks would beat up on the little ducks, a few would peck each other to death, all in the quest for food. Fun to watch their social skills. I notice nowadays fewer ducks hanging out since don't feed the duck signs have been posted around the pond. Apparently duck poop pollutes the pond. I noticed a cop one day sitting on Jermain Ave by the pond. I don't know if he was trying to catch people feeding the ducks, or clocking speeders. Anyway if you decide to feed the ducks and go to jail, don't say I didn't warn you. Another of our old past times taken away!


Ducks looking for food at Otter Pond 1970

North Haven/Shelter Island Ferry

Man, the old lady has been after me forever to take her on one of those cruises to nowhere out of New York. I keep putting her off and she ends up calling me a cheap fuck. Shit, I ain't got money. So for our anniversary last week , I thought I'd surprise her. I got the old picnic basket out of the attic, found some food in the refrigerator I put in it and bought a $3.00 bottle of apple wine. I took her down to the Shelter Island ferry, the same one I take on my sole jaunts to Foxwoods every week. Hell those casino dudes pick me up in a limo at the ferry and comp me a room most of the time. Anyway, I parked and we got on as foot passengers for two bucks. You see, the thing about this ferry is once you get on, you can stay on as long as you want as long as you don't get off the boat. I learned this trick on the Staten Island ferry when the price was a nickel years ago. The crew doesn't give a shit. Hell, we wined and dined until 1 am when the ferry shut down for the night. Man, the whole night cost me under ten bucks. Next year, I think I'll take her to the East Hampton Airport. They got a patio there where you can sit outside and watch the planes land and I can save two bucks on the ferry ride!
Shelter Island Ferry

Sleigh Riding Down Pierson Hill Early 1960's

Man I was driving past Pierson High School last winter after a brief snow and was surprised to see all the kids sleigh riding down Pierson Hill. I was also surprised to see all the parents cars there. Man, In my day, if I was sledding at Pierson and one of your parents were there you'd be labeled a sissy. It just did not happen. We use to go after school, pulling the sled along the road to remove rust off the Flexible Flyer runners and make the ride faster, Before the 1980-82 renovation of the school, the hill was three feet higher. The hill is one of the few in Sag Harbor that are decent, and after a while the snow packs and makes the ride faster. One day a kid told me he made it from Pierson Hill all the way to the Madison Meat Market on Union Street, via sled, but I still don't believe it. Some kids use to hit trees and destroy their sled, but nothing serious ever happened that I can remember. One of the fun, free things kids can still do in Sag Harbor, depending on the snow of course.

Winter sledding down pierson High School hill

Cub Scout Tour, WLNG Fall 1963

Man, I was in the Cub Scouts, when I was ten, and in the fall of 1963 our den toured WLNG radio station on Redwood Rd. The station had just opened in August 1963 having constructed a small building on the waterfront on Redwood Road in Sag Harbor, and erecting a tower they had moved here from Connecticut. The station was on 1600 AM and broadcast from 6AM to local sunset with 500 watts of power. When were walked into the station it was a reception area with a secretary in the center. On the left was the studio with a glassed enclosed transmitter. On the right was a production room where they taped commercials. Very small, about the size of a large chicken coop. The DJ that November afternoon we were there, was Chris Johnson, and we got to watch as he cued up records and read commercials. The station also broadcast the Mutual News network in those days via leased landline, no satellites were yet available for these purposes. Other DJ's were Joe Ricker, Paul Sidney and Don Cannon who went on to work a 50 KW station in Philly. Probably their biggest show was Shop and Swap. I remember Joe Ricker the newsman telling me he got up and left his house on Jermain Ave. at 3:30 AM each morning and walked down to the station. He called all the local PD's to get news for his newscast on the half hour. About 1970 the station got a license for FM at 92.1 MHZ. and the building was expanded, I remember one night in the winter of 1977-78 a terrific snowstorm hit during the evening. The tide rose to such a level that the fire department had to evacuate the radio station around 11PM. This was all broadcast live until they had to shut off the transmitter for safety purposes do to the water entering the building to a height of about 6 inches. Later the station bought land on Millstone Road and put up a higher tower for better FM transmissions while keeping their original station on Redwood Rd. and linking it to their new transmitter site via microwave. A few years ago the station sold their AM 1600 license for a reported 750K and went silent forever so a New York Station could get better coverage on the 1600 KHZ frequency. WLNG is still around today. Hasn't changed much, and it's oldies format and DJ talk has seem to make the station a continued success.


WLNG station photo from Al Case website, circa 1982

Newsday Carrier

Man, in the fall of 1965 I made the mistake, needing extra money, of signing up as a Newsday Carrier as a lot of kids in that era did. I soon got the job of delivering papers on upper Main Street, Palmer Terrace, Jermain Ave, Oakland Ave and Fordam Rd. The manager assigned me 55 homes that got home delivery. Newsday then was a afternoon paper, costing 5 cents and was published six days a week. The manager would drop off my bundle of papers daily about noon at my house and I would deliver these on my bike after school. It took me one hour to deliver the papers each day, or 6 hours a week. Now the bad news!
Newsday paid me 8 cents a week for each of the 55 papers I delivered. Do the math. I made $4.40 for six hours work or about 75 cents an hour. Not if that was not bad enough, Newsday wanted their $4.40 upfront each week, so if some customers did not pay that week I had to come up with it out of my own pocket. Some people tip a dime or so, others would pay you the 30 cents and not a penny more. Then there were the assholes who, when i came to collect after not paying me for two weeks would lie and say,"Oh, I paid you last week, don't you remember?" Try that trick with me today and I would roll up the paper and shove it up their fucking ass. All the news that fit to shit! Tells you something about their character, ripping off a 12 year old kid. Scum Bags, Then there was the woman on Oakland Ave. who was going to sue me because she said I did not shut her storm door tight, after putting the paper on her porch and the wind blew it open and broke the glass. Probably was one of her dim wit daughters who left the storm door open, and she was trying to shake me down. Didn't get a dime from me. Fortunately she quit getting the paper after that. The paper had a colored comic section on Thursdays that you had to insert, and if I forgot to insert one, sure enough on Thursday evening some idiot would be calling me at home to complain he or she didn't get their stupid comics. One house I delivered to was the Napier house on Main St. opposite Palmer Terrace. It was a big old whaling mansion that had fallen into disrepair and the grounds were overgrown. Looked really haunted. Kind of place that neighborhood kids would not linger when they walked pass. Didn't bother me. It was painted the ugliest shade of faded red there was and was occupied by two elderly sisters and a nasty dog that tried to bite me every time I had to ring the doorbell to collect my 30 cents pay. I don't know why but I kept this lousy job for over a year, delivering on my bike in all kinds of weather, and pulling a sled in the snow. Finally I had enough and quit. The manager begged me to stay, but I told him to go fuck himself. Talk about child labor laws or lack thereof. And fuck you too Newsday for using young children for your greedy means! Think about it. When was the last time you saw a kid delivering a paper on his bike? At least the kids in later generations have wised up! Below is the old Napier house I had to deliver the paper to on Main St.

Man, great shade of red

Harry Youngs Bicycle Shop

Man, every kid in Sag Harbor, who before he closed up shop in 1966 knew Harry Youngs. Harry owned a bike shop on Main Street in, what is now the southern part of Fisher's Antique Shop. Harry, and his partner Harry Wallace, fixed bikes and sold gas from a pump out front for 22 cents a gallon. These dudes, for some reason always dressed in black clothes and caps and reminded me, in appearance of the Wright Brothers as you seen on TV on their first flight. Harry was quite deaf and you had to shout to make him hear. He was also very old, as was Harry Wallace. Anyway, I got my first bike when I was five. I lived down by the Whaling Museum and had to walk back and forth to the Pierson every day. I started kindergarten and the first day, my mother had a neighborhood high school girl walk with me to school. I was only four. On the second day, the girl stopped at Cleveland's market on Henry Street to talk to some boys, so I proceeded on to school myself, and didn't need her anymore as I knew the way myself. Anyway, I figured I could cut my time in half to and from school if I had a bike. That's how I became acquainted with the Young's Bike shop. I was always racing around, crashing into trees at the bottom of Pierson hill, etc. so my bike was in the shop alot getting repaired. I broke the pedal off one day and Harry charged my mother 25 cents to weld it on. I remember there were always a hundred or more bikes laying around the shop. I guess the baby boom generation keep Harry busy with work. Next to Harry's shop was Ben Fisher's candy and coin shop. and just south of that was a barbershop owned by a man named Conklin, I believe. I did not really like getting a haircut from him so I usually hit Marty's or Sam's.



Harry outside his bicycle shop. Circa early 1960's
From the highly recommended book, Voices of Sag Harbor, Edited by Nina Tobier, Publisher: Harbor Electronic Publishing 2007

Big Fire at Hilltop Acres

Man, the fire siren sounded 3 different times yesterday in Sag Harbor and my dogs were pissing and moaning about the sound. Must of been a busy day. It got me thinking about some big fires in Sag Harbor's past. One was Hilltop Acre's. One Saturday evening in the fall of 1970 around 6pm, the fire whistle went off in Sag Harbor. I had a scanner at the time and turned it to the fire frequency, where the dispatcher was reporting a fire at Hilltop Acres on Brick Kiln Road on the outskirts of Sag Harbor. It was a old hotel, that while remaining open throughout the 1960's, had started to fall into disrepair. It had recently been purchased by a local family who were renovating the place. They had been painting rooms there all day. I immediately drove up there. No fire trucks had arrived yet, but some firemen in private cars were already there. What hit me was the heat. I was standing on Brick Kiln and the heat was so intense it burned my face, 100 feet away. Every room on each floor was ablaze and the fire alarm had only sounded 5 minutes earlier. I member one fireman had parked a convertible near my car and the cinders had already burned a hole in his cloth top. At this point I decided to spit the scene, not wanting to get stuck there when the trucks arrived. The hotel was located high on a hill, and as I drove down to Long Beach, sitting in my car, I could get a spectacular view to the building, fully engulfed. The next morning Sunday I returned to the site and nothing was left but a smouldering foundation. I don't remember if officials ever found a cause of the fire. A couple of private residences sit on the site today. A photo of Hilltop Acre's also known as the Seaview House is listed below. I will post other fire stories in the future!

Hilltop Acres, AKA Seaview House

Early Telephone

Man, now that you know about TV service I'll tell you about phones in Sag Harbor. They sucked big time. From the late 40's till spring 1965 most people had a black phone without a dial. You picked up the receiver and the operator said "Number please?" If you were calling someone in Sag Harbor all you had to say were the last four digits of the telephone number, not the SA5 or later 725 prefix. Most people had a party line with one to three other houses, so if someone else was yapping you couldn't make or receive a call. If it was a emergency such as a fire, you simply told the asshole who was using the telephone party line at the time, to get the fuck off the phone so you could call for help. In those days the operators, located in the telephone office at the intersection of Union and Church St would blow the fire whistle. A responding fireman would call the operator and get the location where he wrote it on a chalk board for other firemen arriving at the firehouse downstreet to see. Long distance in those days was expensive, about a buck a minute. In the Spring of 1965 the telephone Co. built a new switching center on the turnpike across from Sag Harbor industries and everyone had direct dial. The operators in the Union Street office were reassigned to other towns and the bldg. closed and later was sold to a private buyer. Later when the laws changed, you could buy your own wiring and phones and the telephone co. was only responsible up to where their wire entered your house. Nowadays you have a option of telephone service from Cablevision, cell services among others and the old phone company is no longer a monopoly!

An early 1955 Sag Harbor telephone book

Television in Sag Harbor 1950's - 1970's

Man, I just picked up my second Panasonic 50 inch plasma, HD TV and it's great. Got me to thinking what we use to have. We got our first TV set about 1956. It was one of those wooden console sets with a small black and white screen. I think my father bought it from Sag Harbor Electronics, a store on upper Main Street nowadays occupied by a book shop. The store was run by two men, Jack Kraft and Walter Sterns. These guys also installed the rooftop antenna. There was no cable in those days, and the only channels you could get was channel 8, WHNC in New Haven, CT and WTIC channel 3 in Hartford which was a little snowy. The TV's of this era had tubes, and the TV repairmen would come to your house in a red van and fix the TV if it was only a tube replacement. Otherwise they took the guts of the TV to their shop on upper Main Street to repair. TV shows in this era such as Ed Sullivan, Sea Hunt, 77 Sunset Strip, etc, played on one of three national TV networks, ABC, CBS, NBC. By 1 am the TV stations in Connecticut would sign off the air and you would see the test pattern below. The transmitters themselves, located on some remote hilltop; ran 24 hours a day, but this was before remote control shutoff by the studio to the transmitter and this is the reason you would see the test pattern all night, cause there weren't no dudes at the transmitter site to shut it off at night!
In 1965 cablevision built a 350 foot tower off Brick Kiln Rd. and cable TV arrived in Sag Harbor. You would get 12 channels, from NY city and Ct. for $5.00 a month, a real bargain. Color TV arrived in the mid to late 60's and HBO launched it's first satellite in 1976 so you could receive it's movie channel for an extra 9.95 a month. From then on cable kept adding channels and increasing it's monthly rate to you have the services you do today. A footnote, in Feb 2009 all analog TV signals, the stuff we received from our rooftop antennas will cease to transmit and all broadcasting will be digital, freeing up the TV spectrum for other services! My kids say I'm full of shit, which I am, most of the time, and don't believe the story about 2 channels and black and white, of my youth, but anyone over 50 knows what I am talking about.

Man, this was how you adjusted the old rooftop antenna

Beatles Come to Sag Harbor

Man, I was just thinking about the Beatles, and remember when their movie, A Hard Day's Night, premiered in Sag Harbor. It was August 11, 1964 and my cousin Steve, who was out for the summer, and myself arrived downstreet at quarter to seven. The line was all the way back to the Sag Harbor Savings Bank, nowadays Apple Bank. We managed to get in and it was great, with girls screaming in the audience. All for a price of 50 cents. Afterwards we stopped at the Paradise restaurant for a 15 cent ice cream from Jim Alioto. Upon exiting the theatre, the line for the second show was as long as the first one. Only time I saw a line that long. Bad news is I hear the Sag Harbor movie theatre is for sale. A charming building. I hope the new owner/s keep it as it is.

Peek-A-Boo

Man. I was taking a shortcut this past summer, walking from Rt 114 to Main Street in Sag Harbor, when I passed the old jail. A kindly old lady was sitting out in front of the jail. She gives tours here in the summer, so I decided to take it and see the inside of the jail, not that I haven't seen the inside of a jail before. The place was condemned and shut down in the 70's and prisoners Sag Harbor Police had were then taken after that to Southampton for lodging. One guy named Gil Collins hung himself inside the jail one night about 1966 after being arrested for public intoxication. The place has three cells and interesting photos and other items. Worth a look if your in town on a summer weekend. One photo I noticed was a guy under arrest who was a drunk named Peek-a-Boo. It reminded me of an incident that happened over 40 years ago. Peek-a-Boo lived in a upstairs apartment over what was then Rocco's Antique Shop, next to the nowadays Fisher Antique store. Anyway, my friend and I were on bikes going to Harry Young's bike shop. This was about 1965 and my friend got into a shouting match with peek-a-Boo who was hanging out his upstairs window. Peek-a-Boo then proceeded to dump a pail of piss on my friend's head who was on the sidewalk below. My friend said,
"I think I better go home and take a shower".
Shit, it could have been worse; number 2 instead of number 1. Enough said. True story.

Black Buoy - Part 2

Man, as I said I would give you some Black Buoy stories, here's one: I'm sitting in the bar drinking with a bunch of locals one night in the winter of 1975, and this middle aged couple stroll in, and sit at one of the liberty ship hatch cover tables. One dude, who looked like a nowaday Larry the cable guy got off his stool and walked over to them and said to the man:
"Git up!"
"Why do you want me to get up?"
"Caus I'm goin to wup ya!"
"Why are you going to whip me?"
"Caus I picked ya!"
Needless to say the couple quickly left the bar. The locals were a little uptight with strangers. Actually the fights that occurred were few, and out-of-towners were usually the culprits. I had a glass thrown over my head a few times, busting on the wall, and some dude who was all fucked up threw somebody's bike through the front window. Otherwise things were mostly quiet. The sole purpose of going to the Buoy was to get drunk. I never arrived before 10 o'clock at night and usually stayed till around 2am. Went out a couple times to smoke a joint or see what was going on in the Sand Bar across the street. Bars were not known for food back then, but the Buoy did serve a decent pizza pie for $1.75 being made by whoever happened to be working the bar that night. Pizza was almost as good as Sam's in East Hampton. Man, if I drank to much and got sick, I'd go to one of the telephone booth size bathrooms in the back of the bar, and puke, then be ready to drink more, to the sound "I can't get no satisfaction" by the Stones playing on the jukebox. There was a cigarette machine with Marlboro's for 55 cents a pack, and a small pool table in the back. Cap Amundsen, a local seascape artist, usually hung out there playing pool. Most customers, from age 18 up to their 30's and usually mostly male, drank either shots or beer. Although it may have once been, this was not a old man's bar. A woman named Sonja Connors worked the day shift in the bar, but I was never in the place as I did my drinking at night. Night bartenders were mostly women. Sometimes the Budweiser was stale and you'd have to put some salt in it, but what did you want for 25 cents a glass. The joint finally closed in the mid-eighties and became a steakhouse known as Ryerson's, then a Chinese restaurant, a seafood joint, and the last time I passed by appeared to now be closed. You can't really run a bar nowadays without a good restaurant along with it. The Black Buoy stands sorely missed by not a few of the locals in Sag harbor. Respectable it was not, but the greatest drinking bar in Sag Harbor ever!

The original Black Buoy prior to closing in the 80's. Note the old fashion rectangular neon sign hanging out over the sidewalk in front of the bar.

Fixing up a dump

Man, I got this good deal with the government where I sit on my ass and do nothing and they send me a check once a month. No it's not welfare, but a pension. Actually when I worked for the government I sat on my ass and did nothing. Anyway, I sometimes get tired of sitting on my ass, so when my father-in-law decided to sell his mansion south of the highway in Wainscott and prepare to move into his other house, on the outskirts of Sag Harbor, he assigned me the job to fix it up. As you can see in the photos below, the tenants split from this joint and left most of their shit there, old cars, furniture, etc. The place is a real tear down. Soooo, I'll be spending the winter renovating this place and will post some progress reports. I already filled a 30 yard dumpster, and will be ordering several more.

Black Buoy

Man, the Black Buoy was the greatest Sag Harbor bar of all time. I started drinking there in the early 70's. It was owned by a Jim and Rose Black. Nobody had any money in those days, so beer was the drink of choice. $2.25 for a large pitcher. Two pitchers would usually get you fucked up, so for five bucks a night I could get a good head. Grass was cheap too. About 25 bucks an ounce. You could also score hash, magic mushrooms, or acid if you liked. Thankfully coke, meth, heroin and that other garbage wasn't popular and not available, in Sag Harbor at least! Man, there was no Sag Harbor police force so to speak of in those days, so you could drive home drunk and nobody gave a shit. The cops weren't pressured by the county into starting stop DWI patrols until the early 80's. Man, I hit this joint at least a 1000 times so I'll post some of my experiences there! Posts to follow........


Man, Do those two guys on the end looked fucked up or what?

Dived Bombed

Man, I was sleeping in yesterday after a night of drinking and about 10am, I got up to take a piss and these planes keep buzzing my house in Sag Harbor. Well I took a photo of these planes. Can anyone ID them? They look about WW ll. I suspect they are Grumman F4F Wildcats. Aviation expert I'M not!

New Blog

Man, I grew up in Sag Harbor, Long Island, in the 50's, 60's and 70's , then a small fishing town of 2000, before it turned to shit, starting around 1980. This blog is dedicated to the memories of those good times, before everybody in New York, including a high percentage of assholes, washed ashore here. The locals are now selling out, me included, to new owners who are making trophy homes. While it's great to see these old homes being renovated, the prices these houses generate, have the locals laughing all the way to the bank. Unfortunately you have a community, not just Sag Harbor, but all the Hampton's, now lost from what we once knew it as. I will post regularly. Later.......Bruce