Beach Houses and Beach Culture. (Hempstead, Long Beach: real estate, oceanfront, to rent)

[ClarkStreetKid]

I love the South Shore beaches, especially Fire Island and last week I finally got to live one of my LI dreams, kind of. I always wanted to rent a big old beach house in the Hamptons, but needless to say the closest I got was camping at Watch Hill. Actually camping at Watch Hill was pretty cool.

Here's where I spent part of last week running the dog on the nearly deserted beach, enjoying an early LI summer (80-85 degrees), hot tub at night, listening to Billy Joel, the Good Rats and Frampton Comes Alive on the top deck while looking at the ocean. The only thing that screwed up the fantasy of being back on LI was that the sun moved front to back, instead of left to right when looking at the ocean, and the numerous BBQ joints instead of Italian restaurants. Oh well, it was still cool and brought back some great memories of another time, another place.
Gardner House Oceanfront Home in ocean-hill Corolla

So has anybody ever rented in the Hamptons and how was it?
And for the rest of us what's your favorite Long Island beach and favorite thing to do there with most of your clothes on?

For me, field 5, Robert Moses State Park, 7AM before the crowds show up.
And of course square dancing at Jones Beach followed by strolls on the board walk.

Getting psyched for the summer trip to the Island!

[baylovers]

I miss riding my bike on the boardwalk in Long Beach. It is exactly 2.2 miles from end to end & I could ride it all day long on a nice day. I also miss the concerts at Jones Beach.... my wife is flying up to see John Mellencamp in July.

[OhBeeHave]

As a teen in Massapequa, we would ride our bikes to Jones Beach a few times a week (about 10 miles each way.) It was an easy ride getting there, but after a day of surf and sun, it wasn't as easy riding home

The beach is one of my favorite concert venues. Something about the salty sea air, the ocean breeze, hearing the surf in the distance (prior to the show) and the random gull flying over -- every time I see a show there the excitement feels like the first time again.

I saw John Mellencamp there in Sept 2001, just a few days before 9/11.

[Jennifer06]

Originally Posted by ClarkStreetKid

So has anybody ever rented in the Hamptons and how was it?

We sold our house in East Hampton in 2007. I lived there year-round for eight years. It was the most relaxed and comfortable eight years of my life. If I could in any way work it out, we'd move back. Taxes are low, schools are great, and the lifestyle is so comfortable.

As for the beach, you're just so close all the time. I'm not a sit-out-in-th-sun person, but I would always on a lark turn dow a road and stop and the beach, even just for a 10 minute look. Sometimes I'd get out and walk, sit for awhile. Or have lunch at the beach on a work day. It's a fantastic place to be.

The summer folk give it a bad rap. It's just not that way when you live there year-round. It's so small town woderful. Can't say enough about it. (Could do without the obnoxious crowds, though, that have begun to come for longer and longer stretches of the year, just about all year now to some extent. But, with that come other amenities...)

[LocalX]

You should check out the NJ Shore, or NC beaches. Almost as nice and the season is longer. I love living out east but its changed over the last 10 years with the building and crowds. I can't remember not living on the beach even whan I was younger. We would spend EVERY day in the summer at Malibu Beach Club in Lido untill the Town of Hempstead took it over and ruined it. We were lucky enough to buy a place out east when the pricing was not insane (to a point).
You might want to start looking after Memorial Day, sometimes you can find a steal in Hampton Bays but always go and look first. The real estate people can advertise ocean view loations only if you are squinting while standing ontop of your chimmney. So far this summer with this lousy economy things are still be grabbed for real high prices which proves the theroy that even the rich know how to get rich in the worst of times.
The funny thing is when you drive down Dune Road and gawk at the houses there are more then a few that have curtains in them and NOTHING ELSE. I have a freind who takes care of peoples houses in the off season and he has found pets, pizza boxes, cots, and junk in these fantastic houses.
Strange if you ask me.

[Jennifer06]

Originally Posted by LocalX

You might want to start looking after Memorial Day, sometimes you can find a steal in Hampton Bays but always go and look first.

Hampton Bays - they've made a nice facade; it looks all good but the underbelly is the same and, really, worse than ever (day laborers, etc). Drug-related crimes: DUI, drug dealing, burglarly, violence... and racial tension. I wouldn't go to Hampton Bays, though it looks pretty and "like a Hampton" now.

I have a freind who takes care of peoples houses in the off season and he has found pets, pizza boxes, cots, and junk in these fantastic houses.
Strange if you ask me.

People stake out homes that are vacant in the off-season and "squat" in them. Always good to keep someone visiting your home, even if you aren't.

[GCGuy]

If I may ask...then why did you move?

Originally Posted by Jennifer06

We sold our house in East Hampton in 2007. I lived there year-round for eight years. It was the most relaxed and comfortable eight years of my life. If I could in any way work it out, we'd move back. Taxes are low, schools are great, and the lifestyle is so comfortable.

As for the beach, you're just so close all the time. I'm not a sit-out-in-th-sun person, but I would always on a lark turn dow a road and stop and the beach, even just for a 10 minute look. Sometimes I'd get out and walk, sit for awhile. Or have lunch at the beach on a work day. It's a fantastic place to be.

The summer folk give it a bad rap. It's just not that way when you live there year-round. It's so small town woderful. Can't say enough about it. (Could do without the obnoxious crowds, though, that have begun to come for longer and longer stretches of the year, just about all year now to some extent. But, with that come other amenities...)

[Jennifer06]

Originally Posted by GCGuy

If I may ask...then why did you move?

My husband works in Hauppauge and it seemd like a good idea at the time, or at least not an awful one. We're still trying to figure it out. He's a computer [software] engineer and his niche doesn't exist on the East End. (I'd moved to EH in 1997 on my own; we married in 2003, then moved in 2005 because his commute was unbearable.)

[nancy thereader]

I grew up on the North Shore in a beach house for the summers . There is something unique about the beach. We were able to see Connecticut from our windows in those days. We spent all of our time out -of -doors on the beach or the sandbar. We would take the little boat to Port Jeff , buy cokes ( in bottles for ten cents ) and just walk around. The North Shore itself is pretty , but I prefer South Shore beaches. Ours had so many rocks and clam shells and all. Even then, though, Port Jefferson Harbor was not all that clean. The Sound was, but not the Harbor.

[TownandCountryRE]

Life on the East End of Long Island is a life trully worth living.. really I cannot say enough good things about it!

There is so much to do, so many people to meet and the area is just beautiful. I like to call it the "Norman Rockwell painting we call home."