Hampton Habitués

Good News Gossip About Our Notable Friends and Neighbors.

In celebration of summer, let’s give it up for our most famously popular award-winning neighbor — the ocean! This perennial favorite just won yet another award, as it does every year for the past three decades, thanks to Dr. Beach’s Best Beaches list. 

Tops across the nation in 2024 are Coopers Beach in Southampton, which ranked as the second-best beach in America and Main Beach in East Hampton, which came in at number six. In descending order, the top five winning shorefronts this year include Duke Kananamoku Beach in Oahu; Wailea Beach in Maui; Caledesi Island State Park in Clearwater, Florida; and Beachwalker Park on Kiawah Island in South Carolina. 

Here Comes the Bride
Congratulations to Millie Bobby Brown and Jake Bongiovi, who recently tied the knot in May. Since the secret nuptials, the two have been spotted all over the East End, which makes sense as the groom’s parents, Jon Bon Jovi and Dorothea Bongiovi, have a beautiful home on Lily Pond Lane in East Hampton. 

The Stranger Things star has been busy filming season five — the final of the cult hit — which will stream on Netflix in 2025. Spoiler alert: here’s what we know about the last season, which has been kept mostly under wraps. 

It’s going to be a rollercoaster of emotional plot points as the protagonists attempt to prevent the Upside Down and “normal” worlds from merging. There will be a significant time jump in “The Crawl,” the first of the eight-episode season. And even though the main series is ending, fans can expect at least one spinoff in the works. No word if Ms. Brown will be involved. 

Familiar Faces
We are super excited about Apple TV’s new series, Presumed Innocent, especially as it stars some East End regulars and big-time Hamptons International Film Festival past attendees. Headlined by Jake Gyllenhaal (HIFF 2018), who also earns a producer credit on this one, and Ruth Negga, who famously captivated South Fork audiences with her breakout role in “Loving,” which premiered at HIFF in 2016 and then again with “Passing” in 2021, the limited series also features Gyllenhaal’s brother-in-law, Peter Sarsgaard who has participated in too many HIFF-featured films to count. 

Based on The New York Times bestseller by Scott Turow, the screener stays close to the source material as it takes the audience on a wild ride of crime, obsession, sex, politics, and love. We are binge-watching this one!

Labor of Love
Big ups to North Fork screenwriter and director Tony Spiridakis, whose film Ezra premiered at the North Fork Arts Center to rave reviews. Starring Montauk’s Robert DeNiro and Bobby Cannavale (fun fact: the actor starred in the movie Angry Neighbors, which was set in the Hamptons and based on the book Lapham Rising by Southampton’s Roger Rosenblatt) the movie pulls no punches as it explores the struggles of raising an autistic child. 

Directed by Spiridakis’ longtime friend and collaborator Tony Goldwyn, the feature also stars William Fitzgerald, Rose Byrne, Vera Farmiga, Rainn Wilson and Whoopi Goldberg. Spiridakis, whose previous works include Queens Logic and If Lucy Fell, is the Founder and Executive Director of the NFAC. Cool. 

Comeback Queen
Almost 50 years since her very first Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue debut, Bridgehampton’s Christie Brinkley has graced the cover yet again. The supermodel stunner, who is also a successful entrepreneur and darn nice lady, has appeared on the Swimsuit edition on multiple occasions. This time she joins other legends — Tyra Banks, Kate Upton, Chrissy Teigen, plus East End stalwart Martha Stewart, Gayle King, and more — on the magazine’s special 60th anniversary cover. 

Brinkley also just launched a new clothing line. Called Twrhill, after her eclectic home, Tower Hill, it is all about giving summery and carefree Hamptons vibes. 

Big Time Baby
We are over the moon that Southampton’s Jason Nower is making his way in the movie world with his 3 Nuts Studios partners, John Sheridan and Mike Lavin. Their most recent project, A Bronx Tale: The Original One Man Show, starring Chazz Palminteri and based on his hugely successful one-man show, premiered in June to much fanfare at the Tribeca Film Festival’s “De Niro Con” in celebration of that legendary actor’s 80th birthday. 

Nower, who is the Chief Broadcast Engineer at LTV Studios in Wainscott, and his 3 Nuts partners produced the Netflix special, Speshy Weshy in 2022. They named their partnership in a special nod to DeNiro — who signed on as an executive producer to their Bronx Tale feature — who quipped, “You’re the three nuts?” when he met them at a screening for the film last September.  

Tasty Dish
Well done to Montauk’s Hanna Haar, a contestant on the second season of Food Network’s Ciao House. The chef, who has worked at Amber Waves in Amagansett and The Montauk Beach House, competed against 11 other culinary talents in the reality show, which is hosted by Bridgehampton’s Alex Guarnaschelli — a formidable chef, restaurateur and multi-series Food Network star — and Chef Gabriele Bertaccini of Italy. 

Set on location at a villa in Puglia, the entire process has been an unforgettable experience, says Haar, but “the competition is narrowing down and heating up,” she says. “One wrong move and you’re home.” Chefs kiss. 

Final Bows
Huzzahs to Westhampton’s Ann Liguori, a veteran golf journalist and broadcaster and Sag Harbor’s Keith Hernandez, a New York Mets legend, who were both inducted into the Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame earlier this summer. Way to go!!