About a two-hour train ride, plus a ferry ride, from New York City, Fire Island has long held a place in the American gay imagination.
That goes back as far as 1882, when Oscar Wilde, 13 years before he was sent to jail for his homosexual liaisons, visited Cherry Grove. In the 1950s, it became a bohemian retreat from the Big Apple, attracting artists and celebrities (including closeted ones) who wanted to have their fun away from watchful eyes. When New York’s gay culture and nightlife went boom in the 1970s, so did Fire Island, with the hamlet of Cherry Grove earning the reputation as “America’s first gay and lesbian town.”
The Pines, which is where the ferry arrives from Sayville, is the more expensive and more commercially oriented of the island’s hamlets. Although only about a dozen people list it as their full-time residence, in the summer, its population grows to more than 3,000—it’s where gay male visitors and their allies come to see who’s doing what with who, and who might be headed to Cherry Grove by way of the cruisy Meat Rack, also known as the Judy Garland Memorial Path.
As another generation of New Yorkers and other assorted beach-goers pick out their sexiest bathing suits for a weekend, week or summer at Fire Island Pines, we tracked down Bobby Bonanno, founder and president of the Fire Island Pines Historical Preservation Society, to talk about the enduring appeal of Fire Island as a haven for gay men, particularly the horniest ones. Though the society doesn’t have a physical space that can be visited, its online collection of images and information highlights the work of artists who have captured the spirit of Fire Island, the celebrities who have visited and much of the gay fun that’s happened there over the years..
You founded the Fire Island Pines Historical Preservation Society 14 years ago. What’s your connection to Fire Island?
I really have no background in this. I’m a hair guy. But I’ve been going to Fire Island since 1980. In the early 2000s, New owners had taken over the commercial district of the Pines. I overheard someone talking about them changing the name of the historic building where the tea dance originated. I thought to myself, how could they change the name of something that had so much history? I decided to write to them. The name was never changed, and I like to think that I played a role in that history. At the end of that season, I said to myself, there is no organization archiving this history. So I created one. In the beginning, there were lots of obstacles. I don’t own a home there—who am I? But it’s a passion for me, a legacy project. I’ve met incredible people and learned so much. It’s a colourful history, not a boring history about, like, fishing. It’s about celebrities, fashion, architecture, art.
For most resort areas around the world, if you’ve got a beach or a pool nearby, and a drink in your hand, you’re golden. Why is history so important for Fire Island visitors?
Fire Island is an iconic place. If you’re an LGBTQ2S+ person, you’re going to hear about it and know that it’s a part of the struggle.
Fire Island has obviously changed over the decades, even as it’s kept its gay heart. What have been some of the most notable changes over the last 10 years or so?
There have been serious changes. First of all, there’s been a changing of the guard in home ownership. The generation coming in now has turned it into a major business, you know, on Airbnb and the different platforms to post rentals. House parties have become the norm. But I also feel like everything old is new again—house parties were very common in the 1970s. It’s how I feel about hair: there’s absolutely nothing you can do with hair except take what was old and reinvent it. That’s exactly what’s going on with Fire Island. The concept of shares, where you have, you know, seven friends renting a house for a week or weekend, hosting parties—that goes back a long way.
With the rise in the popularity of house parties, does that mean the bars and ticketed events have a different role?
I’ll be honest, the Pines is in transition. Most of the commercial district is for sale, and house parties are taking precedent; however, in Cherry Grove, this entrepreneur, Daniel Nardicio, has taken over this club called the Ice Palace (1 Main Walk, Cherry Grove), which is iconic. He is bringing nightlife, major. That is going to end up being the place to go this season.
One thing they’re never going to take away from the Pines is the tea dance. [“Low Tea” happens daily in the summers, at Blue Whale (Harbour Ln., The Pines). There’s also dancing and shows at Pavilion (36 Fire Island Blvd., The Pines).] I compare it to the whistle that only dogs can hear because at six o’clock, people start coming out of the woods to go to it. It’s the best place to see and be seen, and to see who’s out that weekend.
If I want to go to some house parties, how do I get invited?
Social media has given people a platform to invite others to these things. A lot of times they add a charity spin to it, so you’ll see them advertised.
Has the younger generation, a lot of whom are content creators, changed the vibe?
Yeah, that’s been slightly disappointing to me, because everybody is selling something. Everybody thinks they’re a brand.
Have you brushed against any celebrities during your adventures on Fire Island?
I love celebrity and I will put my cards on the table. At the historical society, we like to document everybody’s visit if they allow us to. So yeah: Sarah Jessica Parker, Andy Cohen many, many times. Adam Lambert, Patricia Arquette. It’s not like it was years ago, when people could come and be anonymous because nobody had a cellphone camera they were whipping out. In earlier eras, people did not want their picture taken because they did not want to be outed. John B. Whyte [who owned most of the Pines commercial area from the 1970s until he sold it in 2003] really didn’t allow anyone to take a camera out and take pictures of people.
Celebrities were coming to Fire Island starting back in the 1950s, and gay people not long after. It was an escape from the real world. Nowadays LGBTQ2S+ people have so much more freedom.
We live in a world where we have made these huge, huge strides, where society has accepted gay people to a certain degree. You can go to lots of places and feel comfortable now. But there is nothing like getting on that boat and feeling the world drift away, and you can hug and kiss and hold your boyfriend’s hand, and walk proudly around. There’s something to be said about doing that in a place that’s beautiful, where the people are beautiful.
What’s your perfect Fire Island weekend?
I always tell people Fire Island is like a cruise ship—it’s whatever you want it to be. You can go there with a book by yourself and spend the most incredible day in solitude. You can go on a date. You can go as a homeowner and never leave your garden all day. Or you can go swing from the rafters, party, find yourself having sex in places you never thought possible and walking home at five a.m. I have done all of those things.
I imagine you saw the 2022 movie Fire Island with Joel Kim Booster, Bowen Yang, Conrad Ricamora and Margaret Cho. What did it get right and wrong?
I think they got a lot right. But what’s a lot right can be a lot wrong. We’re in a society now that is very sexually driven. Fire Island has always been a sexy place, but the sexy was very undercurrent. Today, it’s blatant. Call me old fashioned, but there’s something to be said for looking across the room and catching someone’s eye. I believe that will come back, because scrolling on your phone, you know, it’s getting old.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
