East Hampton Village Enacts New Biz Rules in Response to Zero Bond Night Club Pitch

If there is anything that is deeply valued in the tony Village of East Hampton, it is quiet.

The need for peace and quiet came to the forefront when word swept through the village that Zero Bond, a Manhattan club known for attracting celebs like Leonardo DiCaprio and Kim Kardashian — and plenty of paparazzi chasing them — was considering leasing space at the Hedges Inn, or even opening a spot of its own, in the pristine historic district.

East Hampton Village Mayor Jerry Larsen, who was a member of East Hampton’s police department for 34 years — 14 as police chief — before he was elected to the village’s top post in 2020, said a resounding “No.”

“They were attempting to be open late,” Larsen told Dan’s Papers. “We had restaurants that were really bottle clubs. We had to shut them down.”

The village board in May backed the mayor, adopting a new curfew on restaurants and bars within the historic district, prohibiting them from serving any food or drinks after 11 p.m. Larsen wanted a 10 p.m. shut down, but later revised it after conferring with restaurant owners and others in the village.

The village does not want the establishments in the historic district to turn into places that are open until the wee hours of the morning.

Larsen told Dan’s Papers that back in March, he met with attorneys for Zero Bond, a hot spot frequented by New York City Mayor Eric Adams and other night owls, and co-owned by Scott Sartiano.

“They were interested in a lease arrangement,” Larsen said.

The talks went nowhere, Larsen said, although Zero Bond attorneys showed up at several board public hearings on the idea of new curfews.

“If they would be closed by 11, we wouldn’t have a problem,” Larsen said.

But that is not Zero Bond’s reputation, and the village has taken notice.

In a letter to the village board, the Ladies Village Improvement Society Landmarks Committee said it has “led East Hampton village in the protection and preservation of its historic houses and properties for over 100 years … These historic inns are not only very important assets to the district, but they are clearly established and valued as some of the most recognizable and cherished landmarks in the heart of the village.”

“In the past few weeks, we, along with the public, have learned that there is at least one if not several proposals to lease or purchase historically-designated inns within the Village Historic District in order to privatize and convert them into exclusive members only clubs, thereby extinguishing the long-standing, 100-plus years of use of these sites as inns open to the public.”

The LVIS said it supported the village board’s move to “establish lawful regulation and code amendments that will strengthen and create the protection of these important individual historic assets.”

Several residents said at public hearings they had heard Zero Bond wanted to lease a 12-bedroom B&B, called the Hedges.

A spokesman for the Hedges did not return calls asking specifically if Zero Bond and the Hedges were in any kind of talks.

But the spokesman told Dan’s Papers that the Hedges supported the village’s curfew action.

“The future of the Hedges Inn is an important and sensitive topic to everyone involved, including Mayor Larsen, my family and all of the village’s residents,” Hedges owner John Cummings said in a statement. “We are working diligently to get the Hedges open as quickly as possible.”

The inn had been closed for the winter season, the spokesman said.

Some attorneys in the village have not taken lightly to the new curfew.

One of them, Martha Reichert, said the new village law was vague and “defectively drafted.”

She said she wondered who would enforce the law, if an establishment violated it. Getting ahold of a code enforcement officer at a very late or early morning hour might be difficult, she said.

“The penalties provision is incredibly harsh,” she said. “After one violation, you could be considered a public nuisance.”

Reichert and other lawyers in the village say the law contradicts state laws that provide power to the State Liquor Authority over any business that sells alcohol. Reichert said she would wait until she can study the law’s specific language before taking any other possible action.

East Hampton’s historic district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. Its architectural style is late 19th and early 20th century revivals and it includes the John Howard Payne House, known as “Home Sweet Home,” and the Thomas Moran House, a National Historic Landmark. It is away from the commercial stores on Main Street, and includes The Palm, 1770 House Restaurant and Inn, the Hedges Inn and the Maidstone, among the best-known.