Inside the Booming Moke Market
Drama at Barlume; an outbreak of blue-green bacteria; a fisherman-fashion designer's Hamptons Ten; and why Mokes are the perfect fourth car for your beach house.
At lunch this week at Carissa’s—where the salmon bowl remains unmatched—someone whispered in my ear that trouble was brewing at LDV Hospitality’s new hotspot Barlume Beach Montauk. The beach club, where Alix Earle has been partying this summer, has been attracting crop-top crowds in a remote part of Montauk. But the town sued this week, saying there was five times more seating than the 75-seat cap (Barlume’s attorney says the extra seating is for marina sunset-watching). In Montauk, overtaxing septic systems is always a concern.
In today’s THC, a Hamptons Ten with design impresario Reed Krakoff, the man who bought Shelter Island’s most expensive property; a murky blue-green algae outbreak; and a deep dive into the exploding Moke business. (Until this week I was pronouncing “Moke” with two syllables, and I learned the hard way that it is one, like “Coke.”)
Off I go to drop off more print papers. Tell me in the comments where you’d like them.
Moke Mania Hits The Hamptons
“People in the Hamptons love a toy,” says Katie, a 25-year-old publicist who loves to ride her black-and-white striped Moke to Sagaponack General Store for breakfast. It’s true: If you already have all the boats and cars you can handle, weekend playthings like $15k Seabobs or $28k-$46k Mokes are fun add-ons to your fleet. (The Moke is her family’s fourth vehicle.)
Mokes, which started as a vehicle rejected from the British army in 1959, may have failed their functional mission but went on to become pop-culture icons. Paul McCartney drove one in Montserrat, they’ve appeared in Bond films, and Drake vamped in a murdered-out Moke earlier this summer at an event for his brand Nocta. The Kardashians have over 15 Mokes. In resort areas like Palm Beach, the Caribbean, and particularly the Hamptons, they’re everywhere.
“It’s the ultimate car to have as a second or third car,” Todd Rome, CEO of Moke America, tells me. Moke America was launched as a licensee in 2016, and established its own factories. Until last year, the maximum speed was 25 mph, but the new electric Mokes can go up to 45 mph, which makes the car mildly more practical (there’s nothing more Hamptons than getting stuck behind an older pink Moke filled with Barbies and Kens taking selfies when you just want to get to the post office).
Moke sales are brisk, and so are rentals. There are Hamptons hubs in Southampton, Water Mill and Bridgehampton, plus on Shelter Island at the Pridwin hotel. The rental fees are: $125 an hour, $475 a day, $1949 weekly, or $6200 monthly.
The Mokes driving around advertise themselves and stoke demand. “It’s like a billboard,” says Rome. And brands use them as such. Brands from Capital One to Serena and Lily wrap the Mokes with their logos and parade around the villages. When Louis Vuitton opened its multifloor East Hampton store, it used a custom moke for deliveries.
“The Hamptons needs its own car and the Moke seems to be it,” says Rome.
Photos courtesy Moke America.
Beware Blue-Green Algae
Another week, another exciting bacterial outbreak. Partly thanks to climate change, water everywhere is bursting with fun new bacteria. Just a few months after Vibrio vulnificus (so-called “flesh-eating bacteria”) was found in high-net-worth ponds like Georgica and Sagaponack, a new bloom of cyanobacteria has been detected in Silver Brook Pond in Flanders and Pond Lane Pond in East Hampton. Suffolk County says to avoid contact with these waters and keep children and pets away.
Let it Reed
Reed Krakoff, the designer who is THC-famous for buying Shelter Island’s high-ticket Norman Jaffe home, is a relentlessly busy guy. He’s currently creative chairman of jewelry company John Hardy, strategic advisor to its parent company, the private equity firm L Catterton, and executive director of accessories for Gap Inc. He and his wife, interior designer Delphine Krakoff, are house collectors, designing art-filled showstoppers in Paris, Amagansett, New Canaan, CT, and New York City. I respect that he doesn’t play the farmer’s market game.
Describe your perfect Hamptons day.
I would wake up early, and go fishing with my friend the extremely talented photographer and angler Adrian Gaut. I would come home to jump in the pool before a fresh summer lunch prepared by Delphine, then fall asleep for a long nap outside, after looking at a rare book that I have finally tracked down, about the furniture designer Axel Einar Hjorth. Dinner with friends, at Swifty’s at the Hedges Inn in East Hampton. Come home to watch something I have seen 1000 times (Blue Jasmine, Arthur, the Sopranos, Leaning Into the Wind—about the artist Andy Goldsworthy) while I sketch on my iPad for one of the brands I work with.
What’s your favorite spot for a drink?
I don’t drink but Delphine is addicted to ice cream so I can tell you that the best one is the Chocolate Peanut Butter from Big Olaf in Sag Harbor. It is absolutely worth the long lines.
What’s your secret shopping spot?
The beautifully curated home goods boutique E-E Home, in Amagansett.
Who would you love to bump into at the farmer’s market?
I don’t go, so whoever that is will definitely not bump into me…
What’s your main gripe about the Hamptons?
The traffic, but it is what it is, and after 45 years of summering here I thankfully have the backroads figured out.
What would be your dream dinner: spot, order, company?
Crow’s Nest or Léon 1909 with my family. The chicken is delicious at both places.
Where do you go in the Hamptons to be alone?
To my pottery studio.
What’s your go-to gift for hosts/hostesses?
Hand-thrown pottery.
Who makes the best lobster roll?
Duryea’s.
What’s the perfect book to read in the Hamptons?
Steven Gaines' Philistines at the Hedgerow.
Who should fill out this questionnaire next?
Jodi Pollack, Chairman of 20th century design at Sotheby’s. Or David Netto?
If you know someone who would like The Hamptons Chronicle, please share it with them! Support local news. 💙
I too secretly prefer to arrive at the party looking like i just escaped a very chic, sun-drenched safari.
“Mokes” was the nickname for the sigma chi brothers in my college (the fraternity I frequented most) so I will never not see that car and think of…keg stands? Beer pongs?