Ask any Shelter Islander which month on the island is most magical and many will claim September. There is the tired jest that it’s the month when the locals “get their island back” from the visitors, but it’s really about the weather. So what happens when you get that special September weather for the last week or so of August? It’s amazing.
What makes September weather special is the crispness and clarity of the air. The humidity is blown away by cool air from the north and yet the water retains the warmth It gained from the summer and the sun remains strong taking on an angular golden quality as the season progresses.
In September the crickets sing all day, punctuated by the other-worldly buzz of cicadas. At night the peepers, those cute little singing tree frogs, are still in full effect.
August is the busiest month of the year on Shelter Island, but when it feels like September the island just seems even (if you can believe it) more relaxed as if you’ve been tricked into thinking the summer is over. But thankfully, it’s not.
The weather report looks fantastic and Septembery for the coming week. A great way to finish August. And then, of course, there is that whole month of September….
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For years we’ve noticed that each season an increasing number of cool ‘summer cars’ appear on Shetler Island. We see classics, lots of convertibles of all models, shapes and sized and even some antique cars cruising around, up and down the beaches or parked in the lot at the IGA. We decided to throw a Car Show at the Pridwin Hotel so islanders (and off-islanders) can show off their cool summer rides.
On Sunday, July 25th from 12:30-3PM, the Pridwin will host “Breathless,” the first ever Car Show and Cookout. Bring your summer car over, park in front of the hotel on Crescent Beach and enjoy a great Pridwin cookout on the lawn. We want to hear your stories about how you obtained your car and many folks, we’re sure will want to share information on how you keep her in good shape.
Rolls Royce will be at “Breathless” too, showing off two new models. Product specialists will be on hand to answer any questions you may have about these (in)famous luxury cars.
We recommend you make a reservation, so please call 631-749-0476.
Big Red wants to party with your cool summer car!
With two fireworks displays and the first Wednesday of the summer season in between, the Pridwin Hotel hosted three cookouts in the last week, which featured some fantastic sunsets and fresh Pridwin caught yellowfin tuna.
The Pridiwn boat went off-shore earlier in the week and came back with yellow-fin and mahi mahi. The Pridwin’s tradition of fresh caught fish continues. The yellow fin and mahi mahi will appear as specials as well on the lunch and dinner menu as the Pridwin boat plans for it’s next fishing excursion.
The next cookout is this Wednesday, July 14 with live music by The Lone Sharks. Come on down!
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A glimpse of the newly-designed Pridwin lobby by Glenn Gissler
A long-time summer guest of the Pridwin Hotel, interior designer Glenn Gissler (www.Gissler.com) has devised a Master Plan to update the Pridwin, its common spaces, rooms and cottages, which will be implemented in the coming years.
Trained as an architect, Glenn has far reaching interests in 20th century art, fashion, literature, sociology, architectural and social history, and a general interest in objects as cultural artifacts. Practiced as an interior designer, he combines architectural concepts with thoughtful applications of lighting, fabric and furnishings.
Glenn has been included in numerous lists of top designers including House Beautiful, New York Magazine, Elements of Living, and New York Home. Residences that Gissler designed for Caroline Hirsch – Caroline’s Comedy Club – have been seen in Town & Country, House& Garden, Hamptons Cottages & Gardens, the cover of Bathrooms by Chris Madden. In 1995 a dramatic New York City residence appeared on the cover of Interior Design, which was also featured in the New York Times Sunday Magazine. His own residence was featured in ELLE Décor.
We took a moment to do a little Q&A with Glenn about his vision and designs for the Pridwin Hotel.
Pridwin: Because Shelter Island is in an increasing tug-of-war between the North Fork and South Fork, everyone will want to know which side you are pulling for. Do you see the Pridwin as more a North Fork or a Hamptons locale
GG: I do not see Shelter Island as either leaning North or South, but rather as it’s own special place. It remains “sheltered” as it were from the realities and sur-realities of both the North and South Forks of Long Island. One has to slow down to find the subtle wonders and joys of Shelter Island. And I love The Pridwin Beach Hotel and Cottages for providing such a wonderful setting to enjoy such a distinctive locale.
I really see all of Shelter Island, and The Pridwin Hotel in particular, as very special places. They are protected from the world: a place where time seems to have stood still.
P: As a designer, what do you feel are the unique opportunities of working on a property like the Pridwin?
GG: I have been a guest at The Pridwin Hotel for many years, and as an Interior Designer I have long fantasized about how I would polish this gem to a low lustre taking advantage of its rich history and unique qualities. I am thrilled to begin to develop and realize some of those ideas!
There is so much to work with at The Pridwin – the setting , the buildings, the landscape and a history that dates back to 1924 when the main building was first built. The Pridwin Hotel is one of the only remaining seasonal summer-only hotels of this era on Shelter Island with a setting beyond compare. It is the goal of the planned improvements to respect the history and architecture of The Pridwin while enhancing the enjoyment of its Guests.
P: As a guest, what do you think is special about the Pridwin Hotel?
GG: Beyond the incredible setting, and the diverse options of things to do on and off the property I would say the lack of pretense. I grew up in the Midwest and find the simplicity of Shelter Island and The Pridwin Hotel deeply appealing.
P: You are beginning this season with an update of the Pridwin lobby. What is your vision for this “makeover”?
GG: I am approaching the lobby space more as a Living Room in a large house, than a public space in a hotel, and hope to achieve an appearance that it looks like it has always been this way.
I will be reusing the wicker furniture that came with the hotel when the Petry’s purchased The Pridwin Hotel 48 years ago. We will be adding some fully upholstered furniture, lots of comfy pillows, wooden ceiling fans and lamp lighting.
Starting this year the beauty of Shelter Island, the history of the hotel and specifically of the Petry Family’s nearly fifty years owning and running of The Pridwin Hotel will be celebrated through the use of historical photographs, and hotel ephemera. You have many guests who have been coming to The Pridwin for many years and I would welcome photographs from their photo archives too. After all it is a shared legacy, and many families have been guests for years and think of The Pridwin Hotel as part of their family’s history.
In the Dining Room I am adding mirrors on the wall opposite the water view to increase the experience of the ‘million dollar view’ for all guests in the room. I think that it will make an enormous difference morning, noon and night!
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On Sunday, June 27 the Pridwin restaurant will open for the 2010 season serving breakfast, lunch and dinner daily until Labor Day. It’s always been that way at the Pridwin. We open the last weekend of June, which coincides with the natural flow of summer visitors to the island.
But this year, we are trying something different. Because we’ve made substantial revisions to our menu for this season, we are going to host a preview Prix-Fixe dinner on Saturday, June 19 from 7 to 10 pm for $29, right after the annual Shelter Island 10K race.
We have always specialized in fresh “Pridwin-caught” fish procured by the Pridwin owner Richard Petry and his son Gregg. In recent years, we expanded the local offerings to include North and South Fork wines and produce. This year we are expanding that concept further in our new menu, which has been created by our executive chef Keith Marty with the assistance of the New York-based chef Joshua Shuffman. More on them later, but for now, check out the menu for this Saturday night and please consider making a reservation (telephone: 631-749-0476) and previewing what the Pridwin has to offer you this season beyond our spectacular view by clicking on this link:
Dinner.2010.PrixFixe
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Every season offers an opportunity for improvements and updates. In recent years at the Pridwin we have focused attention on revamping the bar and dining room and resurfacing the pool (our crown jewel overlooking the bay).
Now on the approach to the 50th anniversary in 2012 of the Petry family operating the Pridwin Hotel, we are creating a master plan for improvements that will bring the Pridwin up-to-date while paying utmost respect to its unique architecture and character. Helping us is Glenn Gissler (www.GlennGisslerDesign.com) a New York City-based designer who has been a Pridwin guest and friend for many years.
Because Glenn has stayed at the Pridwin many times and experienced its variety of accommodations and has become increasingly interested in Shelter Island history, he has an incredibly strong and nuanced sense of the possibilities.
The Master Plan for the Pridwin encompasses the entire property—common spaces, rooms and cottages—and will be implemented over the next 2 years. For this season 2010, we will be focusing on updating the Pridwin Lobby with additional furnishings and flourishes that Glenn says will enhance it’s ‘living room character” and be more inviting for guests to lounge and relax. The Lobby will be ready for July 4th weekend. Please come by and check it out.
In a subsequent post we will interview Glenn Gissler so he can explain in his own words the plan for the Pridwin. Stay tuned…
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May is the Unsung month of Shelter Island, unless you are a bird. The birds are ecstatic and are making a beautiful racket. The birds are ecstatic to be back in their summer home and do not choose May arbitrarily. Everything is in fresh bloom, the grass is a rich, vibrant green and you cannot escape the excitement of life anew….if you’re a bird.
Otherwise, it is relatively quiet on Shelter Island if you look at the restaurants and bars, there’s no problem finding a seat. If the Pridwin did not have a wedding celebration this weekend, our occupancy would be relatively quiet as well. May is just a quiet month. Many factors conspire for this. Children are still in school, many parents are tethered to their kids’ soccer programs and those without kids may even be tethered to things like softball teams or community gardens. It certainly is no fault of Shelter Island, which is full-on beautiful. Of course, this will all change next weekend, Memorial Day weekend, when people officially in their minds and bodies make the shift from winter to summer.
There are many exciting developments this season at the Pridwin from new design initiatives, to a new Dining Room team as well as significant changes that will happen to the Pridwin’s local-centric menu.
More to come on that here on the Pridwin blog. In the meantime, enjoy the rest of May! And keep an eye on this blog for exclusive Pridwin blog-special offers.
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Today there is a wintery chill in the air, yet everything else points to spring. Trees are blooming, the birds are making a wild racket and the grass is close to being ready for its first cut.
The trees are finally in bloom on Shelter Island.
Spring comes a little more slowly to Shelter Island than up island and Manhattan because Shelter Island is surrounded by cool water, which keeps the breezes cool even as the sunny days get warm and even hot. So typically the trees bloom two weeks or more after they do in the city.
While the air is still cool, the Pridwin grounds get raked and cleaned up. The water gets turned on, the sheets pulled off the furniture and the entire place gets cleaned and polished from top to bottom.
The Pridwin Hotel rooms and cottages will open this year beginning May 14 by which time the place will be in perfect condition, the grass freshly mowed and the trees covered with their fledgling, light green leaves.
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The title of this post is a complete joke of course, because the Pridwin is shut tight in winter. There’s only Nichole the office manager and owner Richard Petry moving about the place now. This is the time of year when all the jokes about the Pridwin being like the Overlook Hotel in The Shining don’t seem like jokes anymore.
It is the time of year when the rich green of summer has completely given way to flat gray and soft browns. That said, you can still experience some of the most incredible sunsets as the color palette changes in winter. The blues are lighter, more baby, and the pinks more fuchsia.
This is a time of year when folks coming out to look at the Pridwin for spring, summer and fall events have to use a maximum amount of imagination to envision a completely different season with respect to all the senses. Truthfully, some people get very excited imagining and others just can’t do it.
This is also a time of year when we reminisce about the great times we had last summer, the morning bike rides, the afternoons by the pool, the sunset cocktails and dinners on the deck, the Wednesday night cookouts, and Big Dipper in the north of a warm night sky. All which helps to kindle the spark of warmer months to come.
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It’s hard to believe another season has gone by….except when you step outside and its 43 degrees. Since the early 1900s when Shelter Island became a real destination for vacationers from New York City, it has been a summer resort. The season very naturally fell in the warm months and most of the resort buildings were designed for temperate weather. The Pridwin, constructed in the 1920s, is a classic example of one of those buildings.
Shelter Island takes on a very different character in the winter. Green and blue give way to gray and brown. And the social vibrancy of warm months is transformed by the sense of quiet and solitude brought on by the cold. Quiet and solitude have their attraction, but to a far smaller group of vacationers. Fortunately for them, Shelter Island doesn’t close all the way down as it used to and there are many nice local Bed and Breakfasts, such as the House on Chase Creek, as well as great inns that stay open most of the year round, like the Chequit and Rams Head Inn.
There is one more wedding at the Pridwin today. It’s a perfect day for a cozy, autumn wedding with candles and the fireplace glowing. Only this brave couple wants to get married while standing in the bay. We imagine it will be a brief but very memorable service. Friends and family will honor the couple’s good health and fortune and we will toast another great season at the Pridwin Hotel.
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