Top 5 Beach Essentials for Summer

Whatever you are up to this summer, take some time to relax and enjoy our beautiful world.  Go to the beach, and bring some of this stuff with you.  First, I suggest- if you’re like me, and don’t like to be in direct sunlight you buy a tent for the beach.

This tent is designed by Ginger and Gilligan and is available in a variety of colors for $350.  It takes one person less than two minutes to set up, and features a pop up design.  You’ll have the chic-est hut on the beach.  Also available is the Sombrilla which costs only $180 and also comes in a variety of colors.

You will also need a towel or a blanket.  You could be like my friend Alex who will undoubtably have a Hole inspired towel or tank top this summer.  Or, you could be classy and get a Carry All Beach Towel from my friends at Arte Mare.

You might also want a bag that unfolds as a carry all tote which is also available on their website.  You’ll also find a fun set of beach paddles! Works on Whatever is a project by the Art Production Fund.  They make these great beach towels– which are huge, and will give you enough room for two.  And it’s a non-profit organization dedicated to creating projects that will reach new audiences and promote art.  This towel is designed by Rirkrit Tiravanija.  There are towels available by Barbara Kruger, Yoko Ono, John Baldessari, and Cecily Brown.  There are also water bottles!

 You’ll definitely need some swim shorts.  Warriors of Radness and Franks’ are both good options, and are available at Opening Ceremony. Franks are on sale! One thing you really will need is sunblock.  I understand you want to tan your skin, but the sun is just too harsh these days people, it’s not the 90s’ anymore.  Get some Supergoop sunblock, and this natural Aromatic Bug Repellent by Intelligent Nutrients, a new company from the founder of Aveda.  It smells amazing and contains no deet or anything bad for you.  Available at Intelligent Nutrients at ABC Carpet and Home. Lastly, bring a real book.  I prefer to bring picturebooks to the beach.  I’ll be bringing along my copy of Tom Bianchi’s Fire Island, which features Polaroids from his visits to Fire Island back in ’75-’89.  The forward is by Edmund White, and the book includes a personal account of what it was like for Tom to arrive in Fire Island.

“I came to see Fire Island as more than a place. In the Pines I found a force that gave birth to and nurtured my gay soul.” Tom Bianchi

Horace Gifford: Fire Island Architect, New Book

There is a new book, “Fire Island Modernist” that will be released in June about the architect Horace Gifford and his contribution to the homes of Fire Island.

 “Gifford’s serene 1960s pavilions provided refuge from a hostile world, while his exuberant post-Stonewall, pre-AIDS masterpieces orchestrated bacchanals of liberation. Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift once spurned Hollywood limos for the rustic charm of Fire Island’s boardwalks. Truman Capote wrote Breakfast at Tiffany’s here. Diane von Furstenburg showed off her latest wrap dresses to an audience that included Halston, Giorgio Sant’ Angelo, Calvin Klein and Geoffrey Beene.”  -artbook.com

With a foreward by Alistair Gordon and text by Christopher Rawlins, you simply must put this in your must have list, and don’t forget to get yourself a copy.  Horace Gifford is an overlooked major contributor to the modernist movement.  With 70 homes in Fire Island, his contribution cannot go overlooked any more.