Larry Gagosian bought a Hamptons bookstore.
Better than it becoming a pilates studio.
Good morning everyone.
Today’s letter includes: a local’s take on Larry Gagosian’s acquisition of a Hamptons bookstore, a new restaurant in the Hudson Valley from the team behind Inness, how to control people with your fragrance choice (important), Gordon Gekko’s house from Wall Street has sold, and Dave Portnoy’s first 9+ review since 2023.
Larry Gagosian bought 50-year-old Hamptons bookstore, BookHampton.
In an email to customers this morning, former owner Carolyn Brody said, “Larry, a longtime resident of East Hampton, is equally passionate about books and bookstores. He plans for the store to remain a general interest bookstore, although I am sure we can expect expanded offerings of art and design books! I feel confident that he will carry BookHampton into the future, while preserving and protecting its almost 50-year legacy.”
My gut reaction was positive. I’d rather have a billionaire own a local bookstore, than have that store be replaced with a trendy pilates studio (I’m convinced this is the new weed store, but with a worse crowd loitering outside). I grew up going to Montauk in the summer, and on rainy days in a beach town, the importance of movie theaters and bookstores becomes major. I remember driving from Ditch Plains to BookHampton or Sag Harbor Books with my dad, and flipping through magazines and books that would be read on the beach on the next sunny, hot day. These kinds of places are integral stitches in what keeps the human part of the Hamptons intact.
Historically, many artists and writers flocked to the Hamptons. In a 1995 story about Hamptons bookstores, a local told The New York Times that it’s a company town. “Everybody's a scribbler. It's very ingrown. I'm happy out here if I meet a dentist.” The story goes on to say, “In Florida everybody, it seems, is in real estate, In the Southwest, it's art. In the Hamptons the artists and real-estate agents are usually working on manuscripts.” Things have obviously changed in the Hamptons since 1995 due to the surge in AFFLUENT buyers, but I’m sure some of the guys who work at Goldman and summer out there wish they were revisiting a script they thought of while stoned sophomore year at Cornell.
Anyway.
There was one person who I had to ask about this Gagosian news. I met my friend Max back in 2021, because he replied to a classified ad I ran in the East Hampton Star while I was making my cult classic documentary The End about Gardiner’s Island.
I reached out to him this morning to get his thoughts on the Gagosian acquisition: