Designer Robin Standefer’s insider guide to Montauk

Montauk has usually been a location for artists and thinkers: Edward Albee, Stanford White, Andy Warhol and Mick Jagger all spent time in this article, every single drawn to the dramatic landscape of “The End”, as the japanese idea of Lengthy Island is regarded. I initial came below as a teen, and when my husband and company associate Stephen [Alesch] and I required a retreat from the metropolis, it appeared like the excellent spot. We have now termed the space property for over 20 decades and we like every little thing about it: the ocean, the farms, the fishing boats and the heritage.

This is our religious house – the area that centres us – and it’s wherever we have designed tips for every little thing from the British Galleries at The Fulfilled to residences for Gwyneth Paltrow and hotels for André Balazs. It is also the put that has influenced our lighting and furnishings lines and even our menus at the restaurant at our New York store RW Guild, for the reason that the develop and seafood in this article are so phenomenal.

Montauk provides two solely distinct ordeals just a number of miles apart. There is the quiet Long Island Seem on a single side, the place Sunset Beach and Gin Beach front offer you gentle swimming and walks, and the noisy Atlantic Ocean on the other, with its spectacular cliffs and surf breaks.

People today enjoy to communicate about the targeted visitors finding to the Hamptons and beyond, so at peak instances the prepare is a fantastic selection, as is the Hampton Jitney [a motorcoach company]. I enjoy viewing the landscape fade from dense to wild as you depart Amagansett guiding and enter Montauk. There are no manicured lawns out listed here – or even manicures, for that subject!

There are plenty of spots to continue to be, from the hip and captivating Crow’s Nest by Sean McPherson of The Bowery Resort, to the minimalist Marram lodge, which sits ideal on the seashore and has yoga and biking. And Gurney’s is an old faculty establishment that has the exceptional Seawater Spa, and feels like a overall escape.

I like to get a morning coffee at Left Hand. For fish, Gosman’s Connoisseur Fish Industry is my go-to, and I’ll get up at 6am to acquire tuna that is just arrive off the boat. There is also the seafood sector Multi Aquaculture Methods, aka the Fish Farm. The location is scattered with buoys and nets and you can choose up unbelievable takeaway – they’ve acquired it all, primarily nearby color.

There is a lot much less of a occasion scene out below than in the Hamptons. Duryea’s Lobster Deck – a seafood cafe on the dock overlooking Fort Pond Bay – has a south of France vibe, and is perfect for a glass of rosé at sunset. Alimentari Seashore on Montauk Highway has fantastic coffee and pizzas that you can eat outdoors in the small plaza.

To reside like a neighborhood you need to have to surf and, if you are blessed, you’ll get to surf with the harbour seals. Halt at Air + Pace Surf Store to lease a board – they give lessons, too – or just to invest in a awesome T-shirt.

There are also wonderful bike tracks and walks around the coast – much of it is point out parks, like Shadmoor Park – as very well as ferry rides to Block Island for whale looking at. For the greatest views of the coast, go to the Montauk Level Lighthouse – the oldest in New York state. The 19th-century Pollock-Krasner House – at the time the dwelling and studio of artists Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner – is fantastic, far too. The farmhouse is just as they still left it in 1984, proper down to the drips from Pollock’s paintings on the flooring. A little bit even more on, in Drinking water Mill, is the Parrish Artwork Museum. It was created by Herzog and de Meuron and you can see functions by artists this kind of as Sol Lewitt and April Gornik, who have ties to the space.

The summer is large time, of system, and when spots like Ditch Plains can be crowded, you can be blissfully by yourself and left just to collect rocks in spots like Camp Hero Condition Park – even in August. Autumn is spectacular. You can nonetheless surf and hike, the air is crisp and awesome, and there is excellent apple-finding. We always host a harvest dinner in late Oct. Wintertime feels incredibly Scandinavian – there is heaps of fog, and occasionally it snows. Our Reed candlesticks were impressed by the dried stems you see in Montauk in this bleak but lovely period.

Montauk is so environmentally shielded that I really don’t fear far too much about it all modifying, or the wild natural beauty of the gardens or the form of the coastline deteriorating. I do, however, want it to remain a location for explorers, and I also want to see it keep well balanced, because that is what tends to make Montauk so great.