Montauk's "Panoramic View"
a charming retreat in an old seaside village

by Lucy Komisar

I looked through the wall-to-wall picture window to a large balcony holding two white chaises and a table. I could hear the waves crashing and see the fine grained sandy beach and the white breakers. Far in the distance was a sailboat. When I went outside, I was completely alone, because brick and wood walls separated the balcony from my neighbors'.

I was at Panoramic View in Montauk, Long Island, a collection 2- and 3- story clapboard and shingled structures set at different angles on the dunes and hillside above the beach, every room with a stunning sea view from a terrace or balcony. It's very intimate and private. This is not one of those high-rise boxy hotels that seem like apartment buildings oddly perched on the sand. You get to your room via an outdoor path, not through a lobby.

Our room was large, with a peaked ceiling and walls of cinder blocks and white painted wood. The décor was Early American, with a cherry wood table and rod-backed chairs, a couple of striped easy chairs, and painted cabinets. It connected to a full kitchenette with sink, stove, frig, all the pots and plates and glasses and silverware you need, a coffee maker and a toaster.

It was a glorious October day – the resort is open all year round – and after a brisk walk on the beach, we returned to relax, sit at the picture window and use the free wifi. I could see a strip of cottages with chimneys for fire places.

Panoramic View is just past Amagansett on Old Montauk Highway, which runs parallel to Route 27, the main road from the Hamptons to Montauk at the end of the island.  If you continue east, the two roads converge just before the town, about eight square blocks of small shops, bars, restaurants and the drug stores and food emporia that make up any small town.

The next morning, we went through the town and continued past the surfers' beach to the famous red and white Montauk Lighthouse at the very tip of Long Island. It was commissioned by George Washington and built in 1796, which makes it old for America! It's 108-feet high and has views of Block Island, but we eschewed the climb! We took a better route, starting from behind the nearby restaurant/snack bar on a path that wended its way along the rocky shore and over dunes covered in high grass. We felt totally isolated, except for the seagulls that swooped in from the sea and kept us company.

Returning west, we came to Lake Montauk and took the West Lake Drive which leads to the fish restaurants on Gosman's Dock. We waited at the bar for a table (no reservations taken) at the outdoor Topside café and were glad we had. Lunch of clam chowder and swordfish was delicious and the view was superb. The sun played off the white umbrellas as we looked out at the sailboats and fishing boats plying the channel between the lake and Great South Bay.

On the way back, we swung around over the bridge to Star Island where commercial fishing boats are moored alongside stacks of lobster cages. Montauk is a serious fishing center, and you can book passage on fishing boats or charter them at any of the several marinas around the lake.

That night we walked next door to Gurney's Inn for dinner. The sky was soft blue and purplish pink, as if the color had been rubbed out to a dusky smudge. I'm afraid Gurney's no longer lives up to its reputation. We found it okay for breakfast.

Panoramic View does not have a restaurant because of an accident of history. Ed Bruehl, sales director for Distinctive Management, which runs the resort, explained, "We sit on ten acres. It was owned for 50 years by the French family. Over three generations they built out the ten acres to a 114-room hotel. These rooms are what they built out." No two buildings were constructed at the same time, which is why the entirety has a zig-zag outline, as if the everything had been dropped on the dunes haphazardly.

When the family sold the property in 2007, it passed on the grandfathered right to renovate the existing structures.  "It's important," Ed said, "because we sit on a very special piece of land. In 2010, you couldn't build this. You would have to build it further away from the ocean. Because it was already here they were able to build there." Beyond the beach, there's a 110-foot elevation – the only hill in the Hamptons.

But the owners can't add anything outside. He said, "We can't change the footprint, but we can rebuild the whole building. Even the walkways are grandfathered. There's no café or restaurant, because the family never got the permits. The hotel is working on a catering deal to bring in food and beverages, but it can't have a kitchen, because it wasn’t there." He said people go to breakfast at Gurney's.

The changes include turning some of the hotel rooms into 40 condo/coops with up to five bedrooms. "Condops?" I never did get the distinction! They are spectacular apartments for people who might want to spend time in Montauk at various times during the year, but when they don't, they know the place is cared for by staff. He opened a sliding door to the sea which was being blown by the wind. The outsides of these structures are a weather-beaten cedar shingles with mahogany decks and hot tubs; inside are oak floors and marble kitchen counter tops.

Other accommodations will be sold as coops, rented out by the management when the owners don't use them. The resort is open all year. The hotel has a business center, heated pool, and beach services for the 1000 feet of sand. (This stretch is one of Montauk's seven public beaches.)

The elevation is part of what drew some prominent neighbors to the area. From a condo balcony I could see the house once owned by Bernard Madoff. Ed said, "Madoff's home sits on a dune 40 yards deep and 24 feet high. That’s a really big deal out here." It was sold for $9.14 million by federal marshals to real estate mogul Steve Roth, whose company Vornado Realty runs shopping malls. Closer to Panoramic View is the home of designer Ralph Lauren. Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner also bought a $12-million beachfront house. Ed pointed out the roofline of the home of actor Robert de Niro." There goes the neighborhood!

If you go

Panoramic View
272 Old Montauk Highway
Montauk, NY 11954
631-668-3000
www.Panoramicview.com  
Rooms from $150 to $475, depending on the season.

Photos by Lucy Komisar