Hamptons Subway Newsletter: Week of July 21–27, 2016

Week of July 21–27, 2016
Riders this past week: 22,512
Rider miles this past week: 168,123

DOWN IN THE TUBE
Seen down in the tube this past week were Kelly Ripa and Donna and Gabby Karan gabbing away on Tuesday evening between East Hampton and Amagansett, Hilaria Baldwin between
Sag Harbor and East Hampton on Thursday carrying a bag of new baby toys and Zac Posen, the designer, between Quogue and Westhampton Beach.

Also seen, in the same subway car talking together last Saturday, were Travel Channel food and travel explorer Adam Richman, who hosted the Dan’s GrillHampton event at 7 p.m. on July 22 at Fairview Farm at Mecox; Iron Chef Alex Guarnaschelli and Beach Bites host Katie Lee, who hosted Dan’s Taste of Two Forks, also at Fairview Farm, on Saturday, July 23; Chef Marc Murphy, judge on Food Network’s Chopped, who is co-hosting with Eden Grinshpan, the Cooking Channel personality, at Dan’s ClambakeMTK at Gurney’s Montauk on July 30, beginning at 7:30 p.m.; and Iron Chef Geoffrey Zakarian, who is hosting Dan’s Harvest East End wine and food classic at McCall Vineyard and Ranch in Cutchogue at 6:30 p.m. on August 20. Now what’s the chance of having all those chefs in one car going from North Sea to Noyac last Saturday at the same time?

MOTORMAN BILL HANIGAN CALLS ’EM OUT
When the recorded message that announces the upcoming station broke down on a subway train last Thursday at Noyac, Motorman Bill Hanigan simply shouted out the next stations for the entire rest of his route loud and clear. Everybody could hear him. He’d shout “Next stop Sag Harbor,” then “Next stop East Hampton” and so forth and so on. He’d also shout “Watch out for the closing doors,” but not until he’d shouted “All aboard!” at the end of every stop. Commissioner Aspinall is considering having him become the new voice of the Hamptons Subway on future recordings, which are to be re-done this October. Of course Hanigan will have to shout it out as well then as he does now.

DELAY
Trains were delayed for an hour on Sunday afternoon in the tunnel between Bridgehampton and Water Mill when a pair of beavers started a fight with a pair of raccoons on the tracks there. It was, apparently, a battle over territory. Riders leaning out the windows were able to watch the fight while it was going on, brightly lit by the headlight of the train. Some bets were taken. But in the end, all four creatures crawled off exhausted with no clear victor established.

PRANKSTERS AT GEORGICA STOP
The Georgica Station, just opened last year, is the pride and joy of the subway system. Three concierges meet the trains when they come in, a red carpet is rolled out and a string quartet plays Mozart while everybody gets on or off. A butler serves Champagne. And the station is entirely lit by candlelight. Friday evening at 10:30 p.m. however, four teenagers got off the train there, blew out all the candles in the station, then ran back onto the train just as the doors slid closed, and it went off. It took the butlers 10 minutes in the dark to re-light everything, so things were fine for the next train that came through.

COMMISSIONER ASPINALL’S MESSAGE
I made an appearance on Saturday evening at the Dan’s Taste of Two Forks event in Mecox to imbibe and snack from the tables set up by the many restaurants and wineries on the East End.

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