In today's sobering reminder that New York is not meant for people like You, the NY Times brings us the story of a family who just sold their trailer in Montauk for a million dollars.
The transformation of the whole of the east end of Long Island into a 1% paradise is something remarkable. The Times traces how just a few years ago Montauk was still something of a well-off worker's paradise, replete with drunken firemen and cheap crash pads. But now even Jimmy Buffett has been unsuccessful in purchasing a trailer in Montauk Shores, which sits at the very edge of Long Island.
“It was the Wild West back then,” Cherie Doughan, one of the former trailer owners, told the Times. “Or I guess you’d call it the Wild East. People sure knew how to party.”
Doughan recalls her father sitting in a bathtub in their front yard, beer in hand, inviting passersby to join him for a dip.
“I hate to sell it. I don’t want to sell it, I just don’t, but there it is,” Doughan said, explaining that they need the money to help pay for her mother's assisted living home.
While residents insist the general vibe of the mobile home park hasn't changed, the idea of someone who could afford a $1.1 million dollar parcel of land on which to build a new trailer seems to negate the vibe of a blue collar paradise.
Not so, according to the Corcoran real estate agent quoted in the piece: “If you think about it, it’s still one of the best deals on the East End,”
