This Week, Years Past

A group of friends whose living and working lives on the East End had typically, by this point in years past, intersected quite a bit more than they’ve done so far in this surreal season, were reminiscing over the past weekend. Or trying to, at least.

Was it really a year ago already that we went there for dinner? No, wait, that can’t be right. Didn’t that store only open the summer before last? Wait, what, it’s already been five years? Stop, it has not been ten years since…

It all got us wondering, what was going on a year ago, five years ago, a decade ago, in the pages of Dan’s Papers? And, when looking back at this year from the future, how will these days possibly relate.

Ten Years Ago This Week…

Joe Chierchio was our cover artist, and the image he painted of a boy in a barber’s chair, the barber handing him a lollipop, has quite a different wave of nostalgia as we start to head back into a world where barbershops and their customers will look quite different.

Safety and legal issues surrounding our sandy shores and how to behave on them are nothing new, even to our furry friends, as we read in “Beach Dogs.”

“Dunkin’” celebrated the opening of the Dunkin’ Donuts shop at the corner of County Road 39 and North Sea Road in Southampton, touting that in a location that had not seen a successful venture, surely the famed chain would make it. Celebrating restaurant openings and cheering for their ongoing success is timeless.     

“Hanging the Banks on Their Own Petard”: Refinancing a mortgage on a commercial building wasn’t easy. And today?

“Human Resting Area” imagined East End beaches where there were “protected” areas in which people would place their chairs far apart and others couldn’t enter.

“Summer Business Heats Up” opened with the line “Last summer is a very dark memory to man business owners on the East End, a season when too many of them reported that sales were down around at least 30% from the previous year (2008)—which wasn’t exactly a banner year either. But all signs are pointing to a better season for the summer of 2010.”

It was clear that summertime was upon us, in a flurry of activities, celebrity arrivals and old-school enjoyments we probably took for granted: “A Night of Amazing Parties,” “Hollywood Hits the Hamptons” and “Strawberries in High Season.”

Five Years Ago…

Jimmy Fallon was very much in the news, heading off our South O’ the Highway column with the news that he had just published his first children’s book.

“Why You Do or Don’t” reflected on a new, much-talked-about a scientific study…not health related at all, but rather about promiscuity.

“LeBron’s Challenge” was written at the end of LeBron James’s first season back in Cleveland, as he was heading into the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors. There are no NBA Finals this year, but you could still find James on TV this past week, in a far more riveting and important role—the Showtime documentary he executive produced about the evolution of black athletes in America’s changing cultural and political environments, Shut Up and Dribble.

“Get Mortified at the Parrish Art Museum” previewed a show in which adults read something they wrote as adolescents, or shared artifacts from their youth, with complete strangers in the audience. “People have to have some distance for this to work,” said co-producer John Dorcic at the time. He meant a distance of years, but it seems that such a premise would make for some great at-a-distance entertainment as well.

“Here Comes the Sun: Kayaking, SUPing, Surfing”: Highlighting social-distance outdoor activities way before we know how important they would become.

In our interview with Chef Scott Kampf of Southampton Social Club, he said if he had two forks in his hands right now, he’d stick them in a grilled dry-aged ribeye. He also posited that the perfect food pairing with a Long Island beer would be a great burger. Obviously, Chef Kampf had no idea at the time he’d be in the kitchen of the über-popular Union Burger Bar or the soon-to-open Union Sushi & Steak…or how much the social importance of restaurants would come to underscore his notion that “a great meal begins with great company.”

One Year Ago…

South O’ the Highway noted that the 71st show of Billy Joel’s record-setting residency at Madison Square Garden had been announced. It seemed like nothing would ever stop the show from going on.

At a time when there’s been plenty of talk and debate about of who’s “a local,” who’s a “summer person” or a “city person,” over what rights renters have, over the impact of previous part-timer East Enders who have become full-time residents, “The House: A Not-So-Boring History of Housing in the Hamptons” seems a year ahead of its time.

“Thank You, Ina Garten: How to Keep Your Dog Happy, Eager and Eating Well”—How many of us have turned to the Barefoot Contessa in these past few months, looking for comfort and culinary inspiration?

The third story in the features section took us on a virtual tour of the offerings of all the East End historical societies. Its title: “The Way We Were”