Is Sag Harbor the Hamptons' Best Kept Secret?
Hotel rooms that go for $1,200 a night, restaurants with velvet ropes and $50 entrees, multi-million waterfront condos, and reality TV crews filming. Nope, this is not East- or Southampton, but the quaint, rustic village of Sag Harbor. Formerly the un-Hampton hamlet of the east end of Long Island’s South Fork, Sag Harbor is Hampton-izing: It is becoming one of - if not the premiere - crème de la crème destinations on Long Island this summer.
Let’s start with how all things are measured in the Hamptons: real-estate prices. According to Trulia, the average price per square foot in Sag Harbor increased 53 percent compared to the same period last year. "We have $12- to $14-million-dollar properties that didn’t exist two years ago," says Jan Rutgers-Oostdijk, a longtime resident and owner of Sag Harbor-based JANGEORGe, one of the premier design stores in the area.
And for those who can’t afford these prices, there’s now a very hip hotel. Baron’s Cove, which was fully refurbished in 2015, has a large saltwater pool, sleek hotel rooms (some of which feature double-height ceilings with harbor views), and one of the liveliest bar and restaurant scenes in town. (In-season rooms start at around $499 per night.)
"Now Sag Harbor is the place to go," says Curtis Bashaw, owner and developer of Baron’s Cove. Bashaw’s company, Cape Resorts, chose Sag Harbor as their first hotel project outside of the Cape May area, betting - smartly - on the demand for a family-friendly hotel that also maintains an aura of coolness and sophistication.
"But the trick for Sag is that it doesn't get caught up in the moment but retains its character," Bashaw said in a phone interview. Baron’s Cove, which is almost at full occupancy in July and August, is open year-round. Their goal is not to be the type of establishment that is "only here for the summer, with sparklers and champagne bottles, and then gone," said Bashaw.
Part of the appeal of Sag Harbor is that unlike East Hampton, Southampton, or Bridgehampton, there is a sense that the town is a real place where people live and work not just in the summer months. Also, it’s a bit of a throwback to an era when there wasn’t a Starbucks on every corner.
To that end, there are no major brand name stores in Sag Harbor. Until recently, there was an independent movie theatre, which tragically burned down in a fire earlier this year. And while there are upscale design stores that sell $20,000 couches and boutiques that carry $500 Herno cropped jackets, there is still a sense that the level of conspicuous consumption that has permeated other parts of the Hamptons has not yet fully reached Sag, offering a bit of a reprieve from the east end’s status symbols: Range Rovers, Celine bags, Dolce & Gabbana dresses, and Rolex watches, to name a few.
It's a real place where people live and work not just in the summer months, a throwback to an era when there wasn’t a Starbucks on every corner.
"Sag Harbor has maintained its identity more than any other of the neighboring villages. Instead of Fifth Avenue moving east, you have a family-owned garden center and an independent bookstore," said Richard Kresberg, who has owned Provisions, a health food store and Sag Harbor institution, for 21 years.
Perhaps it's for these reasons that Sag Harbor is having its moment. "Sag has never been hotter or livelier," says writer Jay McInerney, who owns a home there and is the wine consultant for Baron’s Cove (and T&C's wine critic too). "It's no longer the sleepy, dowdy, un-Hampton of years past. Some may regret its new fashionability. But it still has more character, diversity and history than any town on the east end."
Nothing epitomizes that "fashionability" more than this summer’s opening of Le Bilboquet, the trendy restaurant co-owned by, among others, cosmetics magnate Ronald Pearlman, located on the wharf where many of the megayachts dock.
Unlike, say, Baron’s Cove, which feels like it’s been there forever (the hotel channeled old photographs of the original structure), Le Bilboquet has brought a new swagger to Sag Harbor, giving credence to the viewpoint that the town has gone full-on Hamptons. It’s the only restaurant in town with a bouncer and private club-type feeling. They also have a dress code - which was described one recent Saturday "as elegant as possible."
"We cater to a certain clientele," Philippe Delgrange, owner and creator of Le Bilboquet, wrote in an e-mail.
Delgrange maintains that the Sag Harbor outpost of Le Bilboquet isn’t a break with the laid-back vibe of the town. "I’m not sure The Beacon, Lu Lu’s, or Dopo La Spiaggia are what you would call low-key?” he said, referencing three other upscale restaurants where dinner could for two could easily cost close to $300. Adding, "Sag Harbor has a vibrant collection of restaurants and a unique setting that attracts people from all over the world. Those who wish to be low-key have many other wonderful options to choose from."
Historically, Sag Harbor has been a haven for writers, artists, and the African-American community. That’s what drew Judia Black, a marketing professional from New York, to the village over a decade ago. "It was really important for me to have a place where my children got a sense of black culture and heritage, and Sag Harbor has that more than any other place in the Hamptons," she said.
That openness, warmth, and acceptance are part of the draw to those fatigued by the snooty social hierarchies that dominate others parts of the Hamptons. Still, there is the nagging question: As Sag Harbor becomes more desirable and upscale, is it losing the character that made it great?
"I think unfortunately what has happened to Sag Harbor is what happened to Montauk, where you have this massive influx of people who think of themselves as European counts and countesses on yachts in St. Tropez," said Holly Peterson, a T&C contributorand author of the hit novel It Happens in the Hamptons. Peterson, who has a home elsewhere in the Hamptons, says for her the appeal of Sag Harbor is getting a basket of fried clams and a beer and sitting on the dock with her children.
But die hards aren't worried As long as that kind of simple pleasure is still available, the old fishing village will remain an attractive place to live and visit. "People are trying to escape the pretentiousness of the Hamptons, and Sag Harbor is still a good place to do it," said Black.
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