Throwing It Back to Our Top Five 60 Summers Stories of 2019

Dan’s Papers has embodied the spirit of the East End ever since its inception in the summer of 1960. In celebration of our 60th summer, we did quite a bit of reminiscing about the last six decades of East End food, wine, art and Dan’s Papers history. Here are our Top Five 60 Summers stories of 2019.

“Dan Rattiner Reflects on 60 Summers of Dan’s Papers”
Conceived in 1959, Dan Rattiner’s family of newspapers has grown and evolved drastically over the last 60 summers, and to celebrate, Dan’s Papers ran a multi-issue series of articles reflecting on the evolution of both the publication and the region it calls home. In the special edition 60 Summers Celebration Issue, Dan looked back on six decades of publishing and adventures in the Hamptons, and many friends made along the way. He had free reign to write it as long as he wanted, so he didn’t skip a single detail.

“Two Writers in Starbucks Getting Coffee: Roger Rosenblatt Interviews Dan”
Dan Rattiner has interviewed countless people for stories in Dan’s Papers, but for the first time ever, someone else interviewed him in an issue. That person is Roger Rosenblatt—Professor of English and Writing at Stony Brook Southampton, award-winning essayist, novelist and playwright. In the discussion, Dan reveals that he sometimes sleeps in his signature hat and that he’d cast Alec Baldwin to play him in his biopic.

“Six Decades of Food & Wine on the East End”
In a trio of pieces on the East End culinary scene, environmentalism and the arts, we asked dozens of local experts and innovators to discuss the past, present and future of their field of expertise, and the answers were eye-opening. Roman Roth of Wölffer Estate Vineyard, Amy Halsey-Cohn of the Milk Pail, Richard Vandenburgh of Greenport Harbor Brewing Company and others weighed in on the Twin Forks’ farming resurgence, influx of visitors craving new flavors and unique agricultural landscape.

“Peter Max Reflects on His Colorful, Creative Life in Art”
The joke around the Dan’s Papers office is that the word “iconic” gets used far too frequently, and yet, few other words can accurately describe artist Peter Max, whose colorful work has graced the cover of our July 4 issues since 2003. For our in-depth interview with the legend, he and Peter Max Studio Creative Director Victor Zurbel, who co-wrote The Universe of Peter Max, share about Max’s world travels, appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, work on official U.S. postage stamps, painting presidential portraits and more.

“‘The Most Interesting Dan in the World’ Celebrates 60 Summers of Dan’s Papers”
As an added bit of fun to celebrate 60 Summers, we created a series of quirky videos declaring Dan Rattiner “The Most Interesting Dan in the World.” With permission to write about Fight Club and an annual week when sharks honor him, who else could possibly be more interesting?