Flash

Traditions

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

Written for Friday Fictioneers, using the photo below for inspiration;
the challenge is to write something creative in 100 words or less.

© Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

There’s something very comforting about Montauk; it’s steeped in tradition, averse to change.

Case in point: the Montauk Shirt Shop which never changed its inventory …. and that was just fine. People popped in to get their mandatory summer vacation t-shirt …. not the latest fashion craze.

Things just weren’t the same after the familiar shop was renovated featuring a new step-up, almost exclusive section with high-end merchandise and souvenirs no one wanted. We looked around the new area once; it was overpriced and a bit too chi-chi for the sleepy fishing village.

Sometimes all you want is a damn t-shirt.

NAR©2024
100 Words

19 April 2024

This is the Stones with “Memory Motel”,  located on 27 East in Montauk, NY right across the street from the old diner and the t-shirt store. In my younger days I’d go to the bar at the Memory Motel and may or may not have caught a glimpse of Mick and Keith mingling very comfortably with the locals. It was a simpler time, no big deal, ya know?

All text, graphics and videos are copyright for The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephant’s Trunk and The Rhythm Section and is not for use by anyone without permission. NAR©2017-present.

59 thoughts on “Traditions”

    1. And what’s more, the shops in little villages like Montauk and the Hamptons all carry the same stuff so there’s really nothing new to see! It’s nice to walk into a vintage shop and find retro t-shirts and memorabilia from the good old days.

      Thanks for your thoughts, Rochelle.

      Peace

      🕊️

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  7. Resonant memoir, Nancy. So many of those little shops that you thought would be there forever, frozen in time. I’m envious of the Montauk motel that our boys sang about being your stomping grounds in the old days. I know Keith mentions that motel in his book. Didn’t he have a house out that way also? 

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    1. Those were fantastic days that provided a lifetime of memories, Lisa. And I meant what I wrote about the video …. it was a simpler, more carefree time back then.

      I’m glad you enjoyed my story. I’m not sure about Keith having a house in Montauk but it wouldn’t surprise me.

      Thanks!

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  8. Gentification is a fascinating concept – so appealing to some, so destructive in the eyes of others. It happened to my old neighbourhood over the time I was there, and there were lots of positives, but the ultimate consequence was also to destroy some of the original qualities of the area – for better and for worse.

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  11. You’ve got some very special memories tucked away there. Holiday t-shirts and a brush with fame – claim that one even if was only a ‘may or may not have’ appearance. Great story. It’s so sad when those ‘sleepy fishing village’ places lose the vibe we love and remember them for.

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    1. We have a very special corner in our hearts for Montauk. Our sons grew up out there as did three of our four grand kids. Unfortunately, Covid hit Montauk quite hard, courtesy of selfish yuppies fleeing NYC for the East End with all the subtlety of Sherman invading Atlanta. We have not been to Montauk since the summer of 2019. Now the sleepy little village is the place to go and prices are prohibitive. And despite its new-found growth and popularity, all the locals want is for things to go back to the way they were.

      Thanks so much, Margaret. You always leave the greatest comments!

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    1. Or so one would think! Honestly, there are so many people traveling out to the eastern tip of Long Island to the Hamptons and Montauk and staying for just a couple of days, I don’t think the store is going to suffer one bit. Only the locals and people like us who spent our summers out there for 35 years feel the change.

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  15. I really like this. ”Step-up” to spending more on stuff you don’t need.

    I love my old tees. Soft and comfy, and I’m old enough that I’ll likely never need to buy another one 🙂

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  16. Nothing worse than coming up to a favourite store, expecting to find what should be there and instead finding some chi-chi, bougie, overpriced crap.

    I feel ya. Cool tune, too! May or may not have, eh?

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  19. Hahahahaha–true!! I buy my T-shirts at a thrift store. I look for the never-worn, or only slightly–much less expensive than in regular stores. And sometimes the messages on them make for fun encounters: I have one that has a contractors name on the front–on the back it says SECURITY in bold letters. 

    I was in the grocery store one day, and something must have been amiss–as the woman behind me in the check-out said, “oh good, they called Security”.

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    1. You know – I’m not shocked to hear you say that. I’m not exactly sure why that is but it’s one of those videos that has fallen through the cracks. There are other ones about the Memory Motel …. which is a very real place where the Stones did hang out …. but they’re not as gritty with that homemade look to them. This is the Memory Motel the way I remember it – when the “boys” popped in for a few rounds without fear of being mobbed.

      Welcome to Montauk, Cee Tee.

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    1. That’s it, in a nutshell. People need that old familiarity in their lives, a place where everything is exactly as you remember. It’s like going home. There’s a reason it’s called the Memory Motel.

      Thanks, Willow. 🩶🩶

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