Posts Tagged:tbt

Throwback Thursday – Nixon in Montauk

This photo of Richard Nixon and Al Holden in Montauk is dated “circa 1970s” in our archives. It seems likely that it was taken before Nixon’s resignation on August 9, 1974, in the wake of the Watergate scandal. The 37th president said at that time – in the second year of his second term —… Read more »

Throwback Thursday – Beating the Heat

Carl Fisher opened the Surf Club – which was at first called the Casino – in 1927, primarily to cater to guests at the new Montauk Manor. A Mediterranean-style paradise, it featured a 150-foot saltwater pool with a diving board, 60 cabanas, 400 dressing rooms, a restaurant, a bar, a 1,000-foot boardwalk on the ocean,… Read more »

Throwback Thursday – Subscribe to Happiness

It seems odd that a newspaper would give the farm away to persuade readers to take out subscriptions. The Daily Mirror even threw in a train ride to Montauk. This is how Hither Hills was developed: The Mirror’s 100-by-25-foot parcels sold for a mere $100 apiece, although you had to buy at least two. In… Read more »

Throwback Thursday – At The End of The Line

Taken in July of 1937, this evocative photograph came to the Montauk Library Archives as part of a collection from the late Ellie Prado. She was a longtime Montauk resident whose husband, Marshall, was at one time Carl Fisher’s chauffeur. The railroad has played a significant role since it steamed into Montauk in 1895. People… Read more »

Throwback Thursday – The Manor’s Grand Opening

On June 1, 1927, the Montauk Manor opened with a splash – “a Carl Fisher masterpiece,” the East Hampton Star proclaimed on its front page, referring to the man who hoped to transform Montauk into a Miami Beach of the North. A reporter marveled that the luxurious, $1.5 million, nearly 200-room resort had been completed… Read more »

Throwback Thursday: Hit The Road, Jack

Traffic this weekend won’t be so tranquil, so here’s a look at Montauk’s parkway in the 1930s. We’re not sure if this is the stretch running through Hither Hills or the one at Montauk Point, but in either case we can thank Robert Moses, the former state park commission president, for the view. When Moses… Read more »

Throwback Thursday: Sweet Dreams and Flying Machines

When this blimp lifted off from Montauk on May 14, 1919, some hoped it would set a record by making a trip across the Atlantic to Ireland, eight years before Charles Lindbergh’s flight to Paris. During World War I the Navy operated a 33-acre air base near what is today’s downtown. Open fields provided a… Read more »

Throwback Thursday – Happy Mother’s Day

Woodrow Wilson made Mother’s Day an official holiday in 1914, “as a public expression of our love and reverence for the mothers of our country.” But seeds had already been sown – even by ancient Greeks and Romans, who honored the mother goddesses with festivals. In the 19th century, Anna Reeves Jarvis helped organize “Mother’s… Read more »

Throwback Thursday – Men’s Lives

In the spring of 1981, Rick Whalen was a couple of years out of college, “knocking around East Hampton trying to find work.” Somehow he hooked up with Stuart Vorpahl for a few months fishing pound traps in Napeague Harbor, and he recalls a good run of weakfish. In this photo Rick is flinging a… Read more »

Throwback Thursday – Alma Baker’s Luncheonette

It’s hard to believe that 100 years have passed since this rather somber photograph was taken at Alma Baker’s Luncheonette. The restaurant catered to passengers who arrived in Montauk’s old fishing village on Fishermen’s Special trains, day trippers who were eager to hop on a boat and hook what was sure to be a plentiful… Read more »