The First and Only Grocery Store in Fire Island Pines
This is a special Fire Island edition of the 212, T’s rubric devoted to New York institutions that have defined cool for decades, for our Summer Entertaining issue.
WHEN IT OPENED in July 1953, the Ship’N Shore became the first general store in Fire Island Pines, a square mile of land that sits oppositeSayville, Long Island, about 50 miles east of downtown Manhattan.
At the time, the area was sold as the perfect family summer getaway, a spot for parents and children alike. Almost 70 years on, the Ship’N Shore looks quite different, as do the people who shop there.
Today’s customer is more likely to be dressed in a Speedo and a leather harness than they are to be pushing a stroller. That’s because the Pines, as it’s often called, has become an almost mythical destination for gay men from around the world, a near-halcyon oceanfront oasis where uninhibited intimacy among men isn’t just easy, but encouraged.
