A Solo Journey into Where The Affair Began.

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A Solo Journey into Where The Affair Began.

The main character Noah is a New York City schoolteacher and budding novelist with a wife of twenty years and four children. Alison is a young waitress and wife from Montauk, trying to piece her life back together in the wake of a tragedy. The provocative drama unfolds in Montauk and is shot at locations in and around the town.

The Affair is a popular streaming television show that explores the emotional effects of an extramarital relationship aided and abetted by the scenic and gossipy backdrop of Montauk, a fishing village turned hipster surfer resort at the wilder extremes of New York’s Long Island. This is my journey to where it all began…

A solo voyage to discover the reality behind the setting of the popular TV series The Affair

In the easternmost tip of Long Island, where the crashing waves meet windswept cliffs and endless stretches of sandy beaches, there’s a story waiting to be revisited. It’s the story that started and ended in Montauk, a picturesque location and hipster vacation destination made famous by the TV series ‘The Affair,’ where clandestine love affairs and the dramatic consequences unfolded amidst larger-than-life characters, which I encounter in my journey although the TV shows version seemed shall we say- way hotter! 

Embarking on this solo journey to explore the real Montauk I hoped might expose me to a range of encounters and possibilities that may not be as available to a couple or family, while offering an opportunity to connect with the scenery, the stories, and the secrets of this captivating coastal town, that inspired the show!

Lunch: The Affair begins……

The journey to Montauk appropriately starts just before Montauk at ‘Lunch’ the iconic clam bar and restaurant, where the Affaire fires up, sitting like a throwback to the sixties on the side of the infamous Napeague Stretch.  This road is on the narrowest point of the South Fork, and for a distance of about 3 miles, there is only one road in and out that links Montauk with its well-heeled neighbors, The Hamptons. 

Packed with tourists, (locals prefer the slightly less expensive and generally superior food of the Clam Bar across the road). This has been a popular lunch and dinner destination long before the Affaire’s hot encounter came along, although looking at the crowd I think I would pass on starting much more than a lobster roll here! I head to Montauk town to see if I can uncover there…

The town, at first glance, is trying hard to be quaint but it really isn’t. The main drag begins with some formerly cheap motels that have been given a hipster makeover and now that cost $1000 a night! Summer, insanity!

There is a very busy 7-Eleven across from the IGA also over-priced and very suburban in appearance and faire.  Then out of nowhere… The Memory Motel was made legendary by a visit from Mick Jagger in the 1970’s Warhol era. The ‘Memory’ as locals call it’’ looks It looks kind of intentionally run down and situated on the main road doesn’t bring new meaning to ‘curb appeal’ which it is sorely lacking.

Apart from being a Motel it is better known as a late, late-night ‘club’,  where tourists/weekenders line up, looking for love, a hookup, or simply they still haven’t drunk enough and want to keep going!

Yes, the ‘loss of Memory Motel’ is a less glamorous kind of ‘affair’ in my journey. However, it does work as a great segue to the next major scene from The Affair – The Stables at Deep Hollow Ranch.

 

This location is on the east side of town en route to the lighthouse, across from Warhol’s compound reached by a gravel road to the lonely sea and sky, sitting on a dune by a mostly deserted beach.

The stables sit across the main road from the Warhol Compound exit and are In reality the family-owned stable, as featured prominently in The Affair, as Cole’s family-owned stables where Cole works and is married to Alison, who is having the affair with Noah.

When walking around this working farm and stable you feel like you could literally step into the path of any one of the show’s characters at any moment, while being careful not to step on other matters associated with horses. Yes, this is a busy working stable and really captures the moment of the show that was shot here!

Hanging out in Town on weekdays when the bulk of young partiers are absent at the many live music venues, such as the Montauket, a cliff top, ramshackle hotel/restaurant with amazing western vistas across the bay and even more amazing sunsets over the water, it was mostly a bunch of surfers and locals, again no Noah’s or Alison’s but definitely some wannabees amongst the over 50’s!!!

To me and perhaps because I was in a Solo state of mind, it was the walk along the Cliffs east of the town en route to Ditch Plains the main surfing break, was the most memorable part of the journey.

This is where, in the closing episode, a much older and wiser and solo Noah, stands on the edge of the cliff, windswept and frankly a little too close to the edge, and reflects on his life and the Affair, was the most memorable part of the journey.

It’s truly a uniquely beautiful place embracing solitude yet being acutely aware of how transitory we are and in this case the environment as the cliffs themselves are eroding at an alarming rate! With the vast powerful waves of the Atlantic and the drop below from jagged cliffs, it seemed like Noah was standing next to me, saying “Want to go for lunch?”.  

A shiver went through my body, but it could have been the wind, it can get quite nippy up here!