Social Diary 7/16/03 - Animal Rescue Fund of East Hampton held a fund-raiser, Gimme Shelter, The Hamptons

A warm Tuesday in the city; A rundown of this past weekend in the Hamptons

Lunching on Stone Street in downtown Manhattan. Photo: JH.

The Hamptons the Hamptons the Hamptons. Things were moving right along at a break-neck pace in the Hamptons last weekend. (The weary stayed in town just to get away from it all.)

Last Friday night the Animal Rescue Fund (ARF) of East Hampton held a fund-raiser: The ARF Summer Dance billed as a “building bash,” called “Gimme Shelter.” Chairs were Kathy Rayner, Lisa McCarthy and Pat Isom; co-chairs were Joanne Breyer, Emilia Saint-Amand Krimendahl, Jane Maynard, Patricia Patterson, Cynthia Lufkin, and Georgiana Mellgard. Out at the beach. Cocktails at 7:00 PM. Dinner and dancing at 8 provided by The Peter Duchin Orchestra. Attire was billed as “construction couture and work duds.” (for this crew, think something like Ralph Lauren/Polo).

This was serious stuff with tickets going for $350 on up and tables for $10,000. because ARF does fantastic work for the abandoned dogs and cats out there on the East End, sheltering the four-legged ones until good homes are found for them.

JH's little guy, Oliver

This is a serious problem that grows more serious in the warmer months when seasonal Hamptonites often “throw away” the animals they adopt or buy after the summer is over. I often think it’s too bad we can’t “throw away” those people who treat their charges and responsibilities so casually. Imagine how they must treat their children and loved ones. Imagine how and what they are teaching their children.

Nevertheless, those who take up the cause are to be commended and assisted as best we can. JH took home a little guy from ARF a couple of summers ago – a pup called Oliver who’d been in three homes (for never more than six weeks at a time), and Oliver has become a fulltime Manhattanite (although he likes visiting the East End every now and then).

Then on Saturday they held the opening day of the Mercedes-Benz Polo Challenge at the Bridgehampton Polo Club. This is a great late afternoon (from 4 to 6) gathering. It’s the ninth or tenth year of club’s local activities and a big crowd-getter. Kim Cattrall was hostess, along with Mercedes-Benz USA.

The Bridgehampton Polo which started out a dream for poloists Neil Hirsch and Peter Brant, brings together internationally renowned teams, such as Brant’s White Birch and the Mercedes-Benz team (headed by Mike Caruso). Team Mercedes-Benz defeated White Birch in the season opener 10 to 9.

Kim Cattrall with the players

Each week a hospitality tent is set up on one side of the field where the day’s sponsor holds a cocktail reception at which invited guests can view the match. General admission is available to polo enthusiasts on the opposite side of the playing field for a fee of $20 per car. All proceeds from the general admission gate for the entire season are donated to the South Fork Breast Health Coalition.

On opening day, Mercedes-Benz USA offered free general admission to guests arriving in a Mercedes-Benz vehicle. And there were quite a few of those freebies as you can imagine. I mean, it’s the Hamptons after all.

There were lots of the rich, the chic, the shameless not to mention the celebrities and the honest-to-God polo fans, including: Billy Joel, Peter Boyle, Chazz Palminteri, Stephanie March and Bobby Flay, Star Jones, Ahmad Rashad, Izabella Miko, Cathy Moriarty-Gentile, Saira Mohan, Betsey Johnson, Jill Stuart, Frederic Fekkai, Francesco Scavullo, Sylvia Miles, Serena Altschul, Nina Griscom, Allison and Leonard Stern, Helen Schifter, Sale Johnson, Denise Rich, and Elisabeth Kieselstein-Cord.

The day was all for the benefit of The Retreat, which provides shelter and support for victims of domestic violence, and educates the community about the issue of domestic violence. Saturday’s silent auction and raffle also raised $30,000 for the Retreat. The organization goes into schools, hospitals and other social service agencies to develop programs that will help end abusive behavior. They train personnel to recognize domestic violence and make appropriate referrals, and to work together with the criminal justice system to hold offenders accountable.

Abigal and Ron Galotti

Ashley Schiff

Billy Joel

L. to r.: Alex and Olivia Chantecaille; Fern Mallis with family and Kim Cattrall; Russell Simmons.

Angela Bassett and Kim Cattrall

Jesse Della Femina and friend

Kim Cattrall with the winning team

Sylvia Miles

Star Jones

Charles Evans and Bonnie Pfeifer

Saturday night in Southampton, over on Great Plains Road, House & Garden magazine held a gala cocktail and auction for many of the fashionable ones including Beth Rudin DeWoody, Mica and Ahmet Ertegun, Whitney and James Fairchild, Peter and Jamee Gregory, Jay McInerney and many more turned out to help House & Garden editor-in-chief Dominique Browning celebrate this summer's Hampton Designer Showhouse. The guests toured the rooms and grounds of the shingled mansion to view the creations and inspirations of twenty of today’s foremost designers including Scott Sanders, Eric Cohler, Laura Hunt and Tony Ingrao.

Outside the Designer Showhouse

Outside, as the steel drum music of the Merry Makers played. Guests ambled through a tent to gawk and bid on the one-of-a-kind auction of personal decorative items donated by celebrities including Susan Sarandon, Isabella Rossellini, Kelly Klein, Vera Wang, Donna Karan, Anjelica Huston and Kate Spade.

Profits from the auction and the showhouse benefited Southampton Hospital. Sponsored by House & Garden magazine, the Hampton Designer Showhouse is open for public and private tours throughout July 27, 2003 in Southampton, New York.

And then from the Showhouse cocktails, a lot of the crowd moved on to the Parrish Art Museum, less than mile away as the crow (or the swan) flies, for their annual gala (we'll have pictures for you tomorrow), which is a big deal, a big shindig and a hot night in the old town.