Esperanza and Irwin hearken back to the days before 300 plus cable tv channels and numerous streaming options. If you're of a certain age, you remember channels 2 to 13, and possibly UHF. Rooftop antennas, tin foil on the rabbit ears. But eastern Long Island weren't getting TV out of NYC. Apparently, those signals did not travel effectively west to east. Rather, channels out of Hartford, New Haven and Providence were the only game in town, and not all to clear either. A fun look back at an era where technology certainly did not rule.

Esperanza and Irwin welcome the filmmaker Joanne Roberts to discuss The Bonackers Project. The loss of the commercial fishing industry on the east end has been well documented. Overreaching government intrusion, onerous regulations and a powerful sports fishing lobby, combined with ever increasing house prices damaged an industry whose legacy dates back hundreds of years. Joanne shares the stories, and the challenges the remaining fisherman and baymen face, and the timetable for the film's release.

Esperanza and Irwin discuss a time when unspoiled Lazy Point was an industrial zone unto itself, with multiple fish factories operating. They even had their own LIRR Train Station for the employees to arrive there from points west. It was seemingly the perfect place for an industry that generated some awful smells from the factories. But with its isolated location it really wasn't bothering anyone. Until it was.

Esperanza and Irwin discuss the storied history and many lives of the most prominent commercial address in East Hampton, if not the entire East End: One Main Street. Perched on the most prominent location in the Village, the northwestern corner of Newtown Lane and Main Street, the tenants, and the stories speak metaphorically to all the changes in East Hampton over the past hundred years.

Esperanza and Irwin welcome artist Mike Solomon. Mike had an extraordinary childhood, growing up as the son of Syd and Annie Solomon. Syd was part of the Ab-Ex movement, and while he was a painter of great renown, the salons Annie hosted in her home were legendary. Mike, who is an important painter in his own right, shares the stories of what went on in the East Hampton in 1960's and 70's East Hampton.

Esperanza and Irwin continue the virtual road trip with the travel writer Horace Sutton, and the photographer Toni Frissell. We enter East Hampton Town, with stops and conversations about Out Of This World Restaurant in Wainscott, The Hedges Inn and Maidstone Arms. Not to mention the Amagansett Windmill House, rented by Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller to escape the paparazzi!

Esperanza and Irwin

Esperanza and Irwin have talked of many grand estates on the East End; the Bell Estate, Bayberryland and the Dunes come to mind. Fordune certainly has its place in this conversation. Ford methodically acquired 235 acres including significant oceanfront to construct the 16000 square foot manse. Sadly, Ford's marriage to Anne McDonnell Ford ended in divorce, and she was awarded Fordune in the settlement. In 1975 Anne sold the estate to Italian financier Carlo Traglio. He paid the bargain price of $1.8 million, $500,000 less than Ford spent to build just the mansion. Traglio then subdivided theproperty, keeping the main house and 44 acres of oceanfront for himself. The other acres were divided into a gated enclave of 40 homes. (The Hilton family owns one of them, comprising 2.7 acres.) It was sold a few years back for the then highest price of a single property on the East End. $105m.

Esperanza and Irwin discuss the ongoing metamorphosis of our downtowns with veteran Commercial Realtor Hal Zwick.  Is the homogenization of our downtown districts mimicking a worldwide pattern of sameness?  Is Main Street Southampton/ East Hampton really that different from Beverly Hills, London, or Singapore?  Hal describes how the vibrancy of Sag Harbor's downtown as compared to both East Hampton and Southampton was the foresight of installing a sewage system allowing for more wet uses.   While the cost per square foot  is high by local standards, compared to NYC rents it can be profitable, especially considering the complimentary high seasons.  But there is a bigger picture:  has Main Street become driven more by transaction rather than community?

Esperanza and Irwin discuss the parallel histories of two of the East End's most beautiful waterfront communities: Barnes Landing and Bay Point. Helen Codling Halstead developed both, inheriting the land after the untimely death of her father. Helen had grand plans for both: rows of shops on Quality Row in Barnes Landing, and a waterfront dock and marina at Bay Point, neither of which ever happened.

l