Walking down Jobs Lane in downtown Southampton last Saturday, I spotted clusters of 20somethings who looked straight out of South Beach — with their gold platforms, one-shouldered kaftans and flat-ironed hair — strolling through town. Outside the new Carvel ice cream shop, a gaggle of town police and camera-wielding tourists were clustered by the entrance. Not your typical sights in the tony summer enclave of the Hamptons.
Sure enough, a newly pregnant Kourtney Kardashian and her son Mason emerged moments later, trailed by paparazzi, and jumped into their waiting Escalade.
Over the speakers at Carvel, the local radio station blared, “24-hour Kardashian coverage.”
And so it began — the Summer of the Kardashians. From Southampton to Montauk, the wind of change is blowing through these formerly cloistered beach towns. And now that reality stars have arrived, even the reality TV producers are fleeing.
“It just got to be too much,” says Nick Rigg, who has produced such shows as “Househunters International” and “Ice Holes,” which recently premiered on the National Geographic Channel. Rigg started renting in Montauk’s Ditch Plains back in 2010, before the little surf community became the hipster destination of choice. Last year, he sought out the less frenetic town of Amagansett. This year, he’s ditched the area altogether, in favor of quiet Shelter Island, a ferry ride away from the buzz.
I saw it coming two summers ago, when Jayma Cardoso, owner of Montauk’s Surf Lodge, wouldn’t let me through the door one Saturday night because I was — as she put it — “part of the problem.” She was referring to positive travel articles I’d written about the hotel and the Hamptons. Hey, it wasn’t my fault that the Surf Lodge decided to flaunt all town codes by allowing thousands of revelers to gather around its firepit and open-air bar.
And there are more and more clubs masquerading as hotels, like the Montauk Beach House, which now even has “memberships” to spend time around its pool. Witness this exchange when a Yahoo colleague made a (very fair) complaint about the nonstop poolside party. (Editor’s Note: the hotel informed us that it has since changed its management, and now only has a low-key DJ by the pool from noon to 6 p.m. on Saturdays.)
Check out the manager’s response:
“It’s spoiled,” says Erika Zizzo, a Long Island resident who has been coming here since she was a kid and loves the area so much that she has the map of Long Island tattooed on her side. “Montauk used to be a best-kept secret, but now you can only go there in the winter — that’s how bad it is.”
OK, OK, we get it. The Kardashians have taken over Southampton with their new E! show “Kourtney & Khloe Take the Hamptons” and their pop-up shop (Dash) at 64 Jobs Lane, and Montauk is an overcrowded party nightmare. So what’s a traveler to do? Well, as someone who lives in Amagansett and still loves the wonderful low-key diversions these towns have to offer, you can follow my guide to the Other Hamptons.
From Montauk to Southampton, here are my 10 favorite spots, where you definitely won’t bump into the Kardashians and where you won’t have to line up for bottle service.
The sunset cocktails
And more sunset cocktails
The Montauket, Montauk: The yin to Navy Beach’s yang, the view from this down-and-dirty dive bar is unparalleled.
The seafood shack
The beach
The boutique
The art enclave
The antique store
The cheesemonger
The winery
It’s a toss-up between Channing Daughters in Bridgehampton, with its sculpture garden, and Wölffer Estate Vineyard, which hosts a family-friendly Friday night wine-tasting and live music by the vines.
The museum
The local joint
The interiors shop
The affordable find
Colette, Southampton: A consignment store with locations across town, where local women dump their old Guccis and Puccis.