Calgon, take me away! Lucky for me, I am escaping to the beach this weekend to rest, relax, and re-charge. Perhaps a massage, some lemonade, and strolling through some antique stores. This is all a girl can ask for after she conquers the concrete jungle for an entire week. Where am I headed? I am getting away at The Getaway House See you when I get back!

Quina Fonseca's open-air shop in East Hampton.

T Magazine's Senior Editor Sandra Ballentine opens up her little black book of tips on where to go, what to buy and whom to know.

Name: Quina Fonseca
File Under: Pop-up home decor stores, Long Island
Address: 134 Route 114, East Hampton, New York, NY 11937
Telephone Number: (917) 597-3007
Web site: quinafonsecacollection.com

What To Get: Yard sales are a fairly common sight in the Hamptons, but this one is anything but garden variety. The designer Quina Fonseca (daughter of the late Gonzalo, sister of Isabel and Caio) works with artisans and craftspeople in Uruguay, Ecuador and Argentina to produce handsome home furnishings made from indigenous materials like alpaca silver, horn, pony-skin, cowhide, wool and fur. For the next couple of weeks, she’s commandeered a corner of the family compound in East Hampton and is selling an eclectic mix of new pieces alongside vintage textiles, jewelry and furniture she sources on her South American sojourns. Adding to the gaucho-chic atmosphere are beautiful, limited-edition photographs of Uruguayan and Ecuadorian cowboys ($1,300-$3,500 framed) by Fonseca’s partner, Luis Fabini.

What I Lust For: I was drawn to a rectangular Argentinian white salmon skin-covered mirror ($850), and a sumptuous white rabbit fur bedspread ($1,000). There's a smattering of clothing and accessories -- including supple, handmade Uruguayan sheepskin coats, Panama hats and vintage belt buckles -- that appeal to my inner cowgirl. I also liked the cloud-soft, ivory merino-wool fringed shawls ($150). (So did Kelly Klein, apparently, who bought three of them.) Best in show, however, might have to go to a patch-worked pony-skin rug (12 x 12 ft) the color of burnished chestnuts, which any decorator would agree is a steal at $4,000.

Atmosphere: East Hampton meets estancia. The juxtaposition of colorful, ethnic offerings and classic, shingle-style farm outbuildings is nicely un-Hamptons.

Shopping Notes: The shop is open through August 7, from 1-7 daily, or you can make an appointment by calling (917) 597-3007.

Limited-edition photographs of Uruguayan and Ecuadorian cowboys by Luis Fabini.

Read previous Sandra's Sources columns.

Mr "I'm an authority on everything" Russell "fact finder" Simmons and girlfriend Porchla Coleman. Both advertising Colgate.

Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin

Model Christy Turlington and the " blood diamond fact finder"

Tracey Edmonds and Aretha

Aretha and Sean 'Diddy' Combs mother Janice Combs

Russell and Kimora's daughters Ming Lee Simmons and Aoki Lee Simmons

Janice Combs, Sean Combs and "Fact Finder".

Photographs: WireImage 

The Amagansett Farmers Market in the Hamptons has been sold and will be run by Eli Zabar, the youngest of the Zabar brothers, who is not connected to the Upper West Side market. The 10-acre Amagansett Farmers Market has been a staple on Long Island for more than half a century. The town of East Hampton bought 7.56 acres of farmland behind the market, and public land advocate Margaret de Cuevas bought the market for $5.5 million and will turn over the rights to the Peconic Land Trust. On Manhattan's Upper East Side, Zabar owns Eli's Manhattan, the Vinegar Factory and E.A.T.

see full NYTimes story here

Hamptons House Prices Fall Amid Wall Street's Decline (Update5)

By Sharon L. Lynch and Laura Marcinek

July 16 (Bloomberg) -- The Hamptons housing market is feeling the heat of Wall Street's meltdown.

Second-quarter sales volume dropped 29 percent and the median price fell 11 percent to $735,000 from a year earlier in the resort communities on the East End of New York's Long Island, Suffolk Research Service Inc. said in a report today.

Transactions are dropping as financial firms have cut more than 93,000 jobs and taken more than $416 billion in mortgage- related losses and writedowns. The retreat in global stock markets, waning consumer confidence and the deepening housing recession are also keeping prospective buyers at bay.

``People are buying with their heads much more,'' said Diane Saatchi, a senior vice president of New York-based brokers Corcoran Group. ``Their lifestyles are very much the same, but people are being much more cautious.''

The median price, the level at which half the homes in a market sell for more and half sell for less, changed because fewer high-end houses traded hands, Saatchi said. That doesn't mean values are necessarily falling, she said.

``Last year's $2 million house is still this year's $2 million house,'' Saatchi said. ``The difference is this year nobody bought it.''

Rich and Famous

In Southampton, the median price dropped 8.6 percent to $891,000. Sales volume fell 35 percent to 257 homes. In East Hampton, prices fell 11 percent to a median of $1,000,000, Suffolk Research said. Volume there fell 40 percent to 120 homes.

The Hamptons are the summer haven for New York's rich and famous, from Wall Street executives to celebrities. Owners there include billionaire Ronald Perelman; Ron Baron, founder of Baron Capital Management; Academy Award-winning director Steven Spielberg and comedian Jerry Seinfeld.

For those hesitant to buy, Corcoran's Web site lists 1,358 Hamptons places for rent in August through Labor Day. A three- bedroom contemporary house in Amagansett with its own private beach goes for $100,000 for the month, including boat mooring. On the cheaper end, $500 fetches a bedroom in a shared house in Sag Harbor for the weekend, according to an ad on Craigslist.org.

Rentals Gain

Sales and rentals are inversely related, said Judi Desiderio, chief executive officer of Town & Country Real Estate in East Hampton, New York.

``Rentals this year were off the charts,'' Desiderio said, adding that 19 percent of Town & Country's rentals went to Europeans because of increased advertising overseas and the weakness of the dollar.

The area is known for its multimillion-dollar beachfront estates. In January 2006, Edgar Bronfman Jr., chief executive officer of Warner Music Group Corp., paid $31 million for a Bridgehampton estate and an adjacent lot. In 2007, Baron bought 40 acres in East Hampton for a record $103 million.

Hamptons prices have jumped almost 70 percent since 2003, up from a median of $436,500. By comparison, the median price of an existing U.S. home climbed 19 percent to $208,600 in the five years ended in May, according to the Chicago-based National Association of Realtors.

Prices in the Hamptons continued to climb through 2007, even as median prices in the rest of the nation fell for the first time since the Great Depression.

The price decline reported today marks the second consecutive quarterly drop for the beachside towns, Suffolk Research said.

`Scared' Buyers

``Before they lose their money, they get scared they will lose their money,'' Suffolk Research President George Simpson said in an interview. ``Either one will cause them not to buy.''

``Everybody's cautious and everybody's scared,'' Simpson said.

In Southold, prices fell 8 percent to $507,500 and sales dropped 19 percent.

On Shelter Island, the median price rose 34 percent to $1.13 million, while sales fell 26 percent to 17. The cost to buy in Riverhead also rose, up 9.6 percent to a median of $411,100, while transactions gained 3 percent to 103 properties.

The survey by Hampton Bays, New York-based Suffolk Research covers 576 sales in Southampton, East Hampton, Riverhead, Southold and Shelter Island, about 100 miles east of Manhattan.

The number of sales in all five towns was the lowest for a second quarter in at least five years. In the 2004's second quarter, 1,198 houses sold.

To contact the reporters on this story: Sharon L. Lynch in New York at sllynch@bloomberg.net; Laura Marcinek in New York at lmarcinek1@bloomberg.net

Sales volume of single-family homes in East Hampton fell 41 percent in the second quarter compared with the same time last year, according to statistics from Suffolk Research Service. Overall, the sales volume for all five towns fell more than 30 percent to the lowest second quarter total in the last five years.

The median sales price for East End homes in the second quarter was $735,000, a drop of nearly 11 percent from $825,000 in last year’s second quarter.

Our Saturday, April 9, 2008, we will host our annual Blue Moon Ballat the Farm and will serve an organic dinner to 350 guests, thesummer harvest aglow in the East Hampton sunset as the full moonrises. It is our primary way of raising funds to keep the Farm inoperation. To support the Farm is to support a way of life thatfends off urban encroachment, promotes sustainable farming andpreserves the open vistas of the East End.

• Date:
  08/09/2008
• Time: 06:00 pm - 11:00 pm
• Where: EECO Farm
  55 Long Lane
  NY 11937
• Website: None

Call Housemaster Home Inspection for a home inspection Suffolk/Nassau County 800-805-1122.

There has been so much activity with this painting, that if I were to chronicle everything that went on this week, I would have to be at the computer for hours on end. I hope to catch up and post some updates over the weekend. In the meantime, please enjoy this video and feel free to forward it to any people you know who have an interest in the paranormal.

Spec builders grow cautious in Hamptons

A six-bedroom spec home on 1.5 acres at 493 Parsonage Lane in Sagaponack is still on the market, but builder Joe Farrell said he rented it for $600,000 for the summer.

Speculative building is a risky endeavor almost anywhere. From the initial land purchase to the process of obtaining permits, hiring an architect and overseeing construction, building a home before you have a buyer is not for the faint of heart. In tony spots, like the East End of Long Island, where the price of land has gone up seven-fold in the past 10 years, it can be an even bigger risk.

And a year after the subprime mortgage crisis, it can be downright dangerous.

"I can't imagine why anyone would go into speculative building right now," said Walter Molony of the National Association of Realtors.

Nationwide, building is down. Though spec building isn't broken out from the stats, new housing starts dipped 27 percent from 2007, which was itself a drop of 24 percent from 2006.

However, Michael Davis, a longtime developer of high-end properties in the Hamptons, argued that, "the Hamptons is unique." Davis, who has already sold one spec home in Southampton this year for $5.9 million, has two others in the works. "If you're in the right location in the Hamptons," he said, "demand exceeds supply, even now."

Still, market watchers are aware that even the Hamptons have not been completely immune to the fluctuations of the national market. In Southampton, for example, the number of new dwelling permits issued so far this year is just over a third of what it was in 2005. Between January and June 2008, the town handed out 62 permits — down from 88 last year, 130 in 2006, and 175 in 2005.

According to Michael Daly, a broker with RE/MAX Beach Properties who also blogs about Hamptons real estate, a select group of developers and builders (including Michael Davis) have been betting on the Hamptons market for decades — and though they may be adjusting their expectations, they certainly aren't packing it in. Instead, said Daly, some speculative builders have begun marketing their new homes pre-construction, thereby reducing the, well, speculation.

"More and more builders are putting out their products with sophisticated renderings and floorplans, seeking to gauge the level of interest before they start building," Daly said.

He estimates that there are about one-third fewer "new construction" homes currently on the market in the Hamptons than there were last year. Of those approximately 135 homes, Daly said that about one-third are being offered "pre-construction." He said that pool of inventory includes 60 percent of the homes on the market with asking prices above $10 million and 42 percent of the homes currently listed between $2 million and $5 million.

In Bridgehampton, for example, one 6,000-square-foot oceanfront property is listed for $22.9 million "total turnkey," or alternatively for $15.9 million "as is with plans and permits." In Quogue, a 9,600-square-foot bayfront property with a wine cellar, gym and tennis court on 4.1 acres is being offered pre-construction for $15.5 million.

"Builders are trying to mitigate a bit of their exposure," said Daly, who points to 35 homes in the area that have been built but not sold.

Bernard Markstein, senior economist and director of forecasting for the National Association of Home Builders, said "mom-and-pop speculators, the people who got in during the housing boom, have largely shaken out or are licking their wounds trying to figure out what to do with their property. The long-term players, on the other hand, are simply trying not to overextend themselves."

Custom homebuilder Joe Farrell is one of those long-term players. Farrell, who Daly called "one of the most successful builders in the Hamptons," said he's sold eight speculative homes in various stages of pre-construction, at prices ranging from $2.1 million to $18 million, in the last six months.

"One house [is] sitting a little longer than usual, but we ended up renting it for $600,000 for the summer," Farrell said.

Still, he does admit to being a bit more cautious in the new market. "I'm only buying land if I can get a great deal," said Farrell.

For his part, Davis said that about one-third of his current business is speculative construction and that the volume of spec homes he's working on hasn't changed much in the past year.

"Last year when subprime hit, it sounded as if the real estate market as a whole was going down the tubes," said Davis. "But I think it's unfortunate that the press tends to generalize."

Don Sharkey, the chief building inspector for the town of East Hampton, said building permits overall are "definitely down about 10 percent." But, he notes, they don't have data isolating new construction.

Meanwhile, Don Louchheim, the mayor of the Village of Sagaponack, told The Real Deal that the village is currently considering four subdivision proposals, representing about 100 acres total.

The right location, said agents and builders, is key, as are views.

Jeffrey Colle, who has been building and restoring high-end homes in the Hamptons for 30 years, said he is "absolutely as busy" as he was two years ago.

Colle is currently at work on a $40 million spec home in East Hampton, on which he is sparing no expense — from 18th-century fireplaces to bathtubs carved in Italy. The 12,000-square-foot home on Georgica Pond abuts a meadow reserve and will boast an infinity pool, six bedrooms, seven fireplaces and "sunsets that'll knock your eyes out," he said.

Colle said he's already had brokers from Sotheby's come by, as well as potential buyers from as far away as California and Australia. "I've been out here 30 years, and I've never seen the top of the market go down," said Colle.

And that's good news for other high-end developers like Robert Gianos, who has spent several years preparing to construct a Southampton subdivision that some have dubbed "Billionaire's Corner." Nothing like your typical suburban tract home, Gianos' Olde Towne is reportedly inspired by the look of the village from when it was originally settled in the 1640s. Lots are reportedly priced at between $18 and $22 million.

"He's building for untouchables," said Daly, who reasons that since Gianos' potential buyer won't care what the price of gas is, the developer needn't fret over market fluctuations either.

Although, while passing through Southampton, we couldn't help but stop at a carnival we spotted off Route 27.

So fun. So so fun.

Check out our article in Ok! Magazine by clicking here!

Caladesi Island is a barrier island north of Clearwater (which is not far from Tampa Bay) with white sands, crystal clear, steel-blue Gulf waters, and forests filled with birds and wildlife.

Stephen P. Leatherman (a.k.a. Dr. Beach) makes a list of the nation’s best beaches every year, and I ALWAYS look at, but for some reason it escaped my mind this year.

The other beaches in the top ten for 2008 are:

• Hanalei Bay Beach, Kauai, Hawaii
• Siesta Key Beach, Sarasota, Florida (which is also not SO far from Tampa…grrrrr.)
• Coopers Beach, (Southampton, New York)
• Coronado Beach, San Diego, California
• Main Beach, East Hampton, New York
• Hamoa Beach, Maui, Hawaii
• Cape Hatteras, Outer Banks, North Carolina
• Cape Florida State Park, Key Biscayne, Florida
• Beachwalker County Park Beach, Kiawali Island, South Carolina

So no big deal…just next time I need to check the list before heading out to the beach!

• Beaches in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Cape Canaveral and Central Florida
• Beaches in Na Pali Coast, Lihue on the Hawaiian Island of Kauai
• Beaches in Long Island, the Hamptons, Montauk, Fire Island, Jones Beach
• Beaches in San Diego, Laguna Beach, Los Angeles, Southern CA coast
• Beaches in Hawaiian Islands of Maui, Molokai and Lanai
• Beaches in Delmarva, Virginia Beach, Williamsburg, Outer Banks, NC
• Beaches in Key West, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami Beach, Southern Florida
• Beaches in Myrtle Beach, Hilton Head, SC, Atlanta, Savannah, GA
• Miami and Matthew

Updated: May 30, 2008 5:05pm

Villages Notifying Businesses Of SLA Regs Following Vered Incident
By Mariah Quinn

Southampton - After the arrest of an East Hampton gallery owner who failed to obtain a special permit from the New York State Liquor Authority (SLA) which authorizes the service of beer or wine, some local municipalities are notifying area businesses of the SLA requirements in an effort to ensure compliance with the law.

rest of story HERE

The East End weekly, The Independent, reports today that East Hampton's credit rating has fallen through a trap door, going in the space of six years from the highest bond rating of all the six East End towns to lowest.

The Independent charges that the town, which is called home by some of the wealthiest people in the world, has been the victim of a shell game played by Town Supervisor Bill McGintee and Budget Officer Ted Hults who were trying to borrow $5.7 million without telling the town board.

From The Independent:

"Moody's Investment Services dropped East Hampton's rating four tiers earlier this month, a shocking and sudden downgrade, especially for one of the country's most affluent municipalities.

The downgrade was triggered by two actions – the East Hampton Housing Authority's proposed sale of $4.25 million in housing system revenue bonds and the town's own proposed sale of $5.7 million in bond anticipation notes (BANs). Town board members were not told about the BAN sale, the proceeds from which will go towards projects they have already approved borrowing for, such as $300,000 for infrastructure at the new affordable housing development and the same amount for computer software, according to the official report accompanying the sale.

Some of the projects have already been completed and ostensibly paid for, leading to speculation the McGintee and his Budget Officer Ted Hults planned to use the money to artificially stabilize the town's financial situation, or replenish funds taken from other accounts to pay for the projects.

In less than six years the town has gone from making history and achieving the highest bond rating for any town on Long Island, Aa1, to the lowest bond rating among the five East End towns, A2.

According to former chairman of the National Federation of Municipal Analysts Donald K. Cirillo, a private consultant with expertise in municipal bonds, a bond rating is "a testimony of credit worthiness." The lower the rating, the higher the interest rate a town has to pay when it borrows money. It is almost unheard of for a heretofore healthy financial municipality with the wealth of East Hampton's to suffer a four tier collapse of its rating in a single stroke.

East Hampton's original superior rating – Aa1 – took its first hit in 2006, when Moody's attached a "negative outlook" to the assignment. At the time Supervisor Bill McGintee dismissed the proviso, and continued to say the town's bond rating was just fine throughout his re-election campaigns, pointedly refuting his challenger's charge in a debate.

In '06 the negative outlook was given because the town had yet to complete required annual audits of town finances. Moody's May 19, 2008 report references the tardy audits and the annual financial report submitted to the state. "The rating's downgrade reflects depletion of the town's financial reserves following three consecutive operating deficits (2004 through 2006), with another substantial deficit anticipated for fiscal 2007," the Moody's report reads."

The new Maison 24 home-design store in Bridgehampton, N.Y.

T Magazine's Senior Editor Sandra Ballentine opens up her little black book of tips on where to go, what to buy and whom to know.

Name: Maison 24
File Under: New stores, home design, the Hamptons
Address: 2424 Main Street, Bridgehampton, N.Y., 11932
Telephone Number: (631) 537-2488
Web sites: Maison24

What To Get: It’s not easy to categorize Maison 24, the creative, quirky and stylish shop opened this past weekend by the brother and sister team of Louis Marra and Allison Julius (both formerly of Jonathan Adler). Mixing craftsmanship, kitsch and drop-dead glamour, the store boasts a cherry-picked selection of their favorite things, including furniture, fashion, objets d’art, jewelry, handbags, luggage and hand-made candies. Obsessed with all things Fornasetti, the siblings carry plenty of Piero's furniture and accessories, as well as Cole & Son wallpaper in 30 of the Italian company's classic motifs. Huge Keith Haring fans, they also have a cool cache of chairs, pillows and tins of yummy French chocolates emblazoned with the late artist’s signature themes. Maison 24 is also the exclusive Suffolk County source for both The Shade Store, a custom window-treatment service, and Bisazza, the Italian mosaics maker.

What I Lust For: Maybe it was a case of champagne goggles (I'd just come from a cocktail party), but I was in love at first sight with a lot of things the moment I walked in the door. There was a gorgeous, French, hand-turned, ceramic table lamp in the shape of a geode for $3,200. I was also taken with a Fornasetti “Architecture” chest ($18,000). And who can resist an orange-and-tan Globetrotter trunk ($2,020)? There were plenty of beautiful (and more gently priced) home accessories and gifts, too, including gorgeous, hand-blown Martinuzzi goblets ($300 each, which sounds expensive until you see the workmanship) and charming French needlepoint pillows (from $275). I’m not sure why, but I can’t stop thinking about a large, Italian glass zebra that was perched winsomely on top of an ebonized, custom cabinet. He seemed like a steal at $495.

Atmosphere: Professional photos of the store haven’t been snapped, and the pictures here don’t do the space justice. The lighting is actually quite dim — better to show off 20 glowing, lighted-from-within, display shelves and three striking, emerald-green, Italian glass chandeliers. One of Maison 24’s three signature home fragrances — La Plage, Le Jardin or Fraiches — wafts headily (but never heavily) in the air.

Shopping Notes: There’s a whole crop of new rainy-day retail opportunities at the beach this year, including Bellhaus, a super-high-end designer emporium in Wainscott, Yigal Azrouel’s converted carriage house in Watermill and the Sag Harbor outpost of Donna Karan’s socially conscious Urban Zen shop. Wyeth, the chic, Soho home furnishings store, also hopes to cash in on some Hamptons action later this season.

As anyone who either knows me or has read this blog knows, I am a big fan of both beer and wine. I’m clearly far from anti-wine, but my loyalty belongs to beer for years of service, personal preference and, sometimes, plain old logistics. I’m not about to be caught dead sipping a chardonnay at a Yankee game, or ordering a glass of merlot at a bar after playing softball. Those are beer times. But with a nice dinner or at home relaxing, wine is fine.

That being said, the attitude of law enforcement when it comes to the two beverages has always befuddled me. And what really brought it to the forefront for me were several experiences while playing softball on the Great Lawn in Central Park.

Fact: Beer and wine are both alcoholic beverages. Fact: Beer and wine have similar alcoholic contents -- if anything, wine is stronger than beer. Fact: Consuming either one in public is against the law. So why did police officers patrolling the park bust softball players’ balls for having a few beers during or after games, while, mere yards away, people waiting to get into Shakespeare in the Park were allowed to sit on picnic blankets and sip wine unmolested from clearly visible bottles and glasses?

In fact, the senility that sets in after turning 40 is clouding my memory as to which mayor it was, but I clearly remember a story in one of the tabloids featuring either Mayor Giuliani or Mayor Bloomberg drinking wine in the park while waiting for a performance.

So even though I’m not anti-wine, I’ve always had a chip on my shoulder about wine’s image as the drink of the elite and beer’s white-trash reputation. Selective enforcement is bullshit, period.

With all of that being said, I have very conflicting opinions on the East Hampton incident. The beer loyalist in me was happy to see stuffy wine drinkers in an art gallery go through some of the hassles I’ve gone through. But both the wine fan and the practical voice in my head were amazed at the utter silliness of this arrest.

The woman was serving wine during an event. She wasn’t selling wine. She wasn’t throwing a loud, raucous party. I wasn’t there, but I’d be willing to wager a significant amount of money that people weren’t craning their heads out of an art gallery and yelling, “Show your tits!” at passers-by. So, what exactly is the problem?

Maybe I’d have a different view on things if I hadn’t spent my whole life in Manhattan and Hoboken, where driving is rarely part of the equation. I’ve very rarely been confronted with the dilemma of car keys in one hand and an adult beverage in the other.

But I really don’t think the fear of drinking and driving was behind either this weekend’s gallery incident or the harassment myself and countless other softball players have endured in Central Park. I believe in both cases, someone in the law-enforcement community was bored, had a hair up their ass or was looking to fill a quota.

Perhaps that someone needs a drink?

2008 vs 2007 

Median Price  -3.9%

Unit Sales  -30.6%

Dollar Volume  -15.8%

Avg Trade Price  $2,043,768   +21.2%

East Hampton Village Police arrested 67 year old Ruth Kalb (Vered Gallery) in the middle of her art gallery openingat the Vreed Gallery because she was serving liquor (wine?) and had invited lots of people to attend.

I'm first to admit that I was not in attendance and do not know the entrie story, so there may be some missing pieces (the NYPost leaving out some pieces????- nah...)  That being said, there MUST be a better way of handling these matters!  The Post  and Daily News stories are below.

Here's the number for the EHVillage PD - 631-324-0777

Here's the number for the EHVillage Mayors Office - 631-324-4150

By SELIM ALGAR and ERIC LENKOWITZ, NYPost

and

East End gallery owner carted off to jail for serving drinks without a license

BY DEBBIE TUMA, JOANNA MOLLOY and DAVE GOLDINER
DAILY NEWS WRITERS

Monday, May 26th 2008, 4:00 AM

See the PLUM TV Video of the arrest below: