The Lasting Allure Of The East End Of Long Island

There are places you visit and can’t wait to depart and others that you never want to leave. Since 1640 the east end of Long Island has had a magnetic effect on the souls of so many first time visitors.

The original settlers all have their favorite family stories of characters who laid it all on the line to survive and flourish and others who were less fortunate. After WW II many vets settled on Long Island and raised their families. Eventually they discovered the magic of going eastward.

In 20 years of writing, reviewing, and reporting I have favorite stories.

My favorite all-time story has to be of Felice Lupo and his family and their Astro Pizza in Amagansett. It seems in 1971, Mr. Felice Lupo came from Italy and was working in a pizza establishment in Brooklyn to raise enough money to pay for his wife and family to come to America. After achieving that goal of raising the money the very first week his family came to the U.S., Felice Lupo borrowed a car and took his family for a joy ride on Route 27 heading east. When they became hungry, he stopped in Amagansett for some pizza.

As Felice Lupo himself told me, the pizza owner was very unhappy and told Lupo he no longer enjoyed the business. He wanted to sell. Mr. Lupo, seizing his slice of the American dream, made an offer and shook hands on a deal that day to buy the business. Lupo then raised his family in East Hampton. Felice Lupo passed away on August 8th, 2014. A few years ago the family did sell the business after owning it for fifty years.

Once doing research for a Dan’s Paper history series I was assigned I came across a correspondence of a British officer writing home about his sadness of having to leave East Hampton. He said the weather is “glorious “ most of the year.

East End Historian Henry Hedges whose life spanned the length of the 1800’s wrote about swimming in Georgica Pond where the ocean breach is when he was a single digit boy and lived near by (around 1811ish.) He penned this recollection when he was a very old man. I remember having a clam bake at that very spot in 2002. We all swam in the ocean with a full moon that evening.

If you are reading this you most likely have your own story of how you and perhaps your family came to the east end and why you stayed. It has changed and is an expensive place to live but it is also a tough place to leave.

I was inspired to pen this article while sailing in from Gardiner’s Bay on the September 2025 evening. As the above photo I took portrays there is no doubt the east end is one beautiful place to grow old.