Welcome back to Hot Takes and Deep Dives. This is Jess and I am here with our returning

friend. You all know him as Lewand's Cabaret Director. But today he is here as our fire

island co-pilot expert. I want to do this deep dive on cherry grove and the pines for really

for me. I mean, I don't know who this is for me too. I'm for you. But I feel like there's

a little bit of mythology around fire island even among like there I know tons of gay people,

New Yorkers who have never been to fire island and I know they think it's too expensive.

You have to be white and beautiful and affluent and they're right. No, I'm just kidding.

I think people do think though like it's like I'll you know they'll go on a vacation to like

Hawaii or like Thailand but they're like I could never get to the pines. I mean will I want

we're gonna break down the rivalry or at least the former rivalry between cherry grove and the pines.

The sort of bullet point staples of the meat rack, the invasion, the pines party which you just

told me you went to. I'm not a pines party virgin anymore. And the reason you're so perfect for

this and you were the literally my only choice. It was either if you had said no to this,

I just wasn't gonna do it is because I know that you have you are part of a fire island

sharehouse and have been for how long? Well this was this is my third summer actually having a share.

I was like renting weeks here and there prior to that and prior to that I was like mooching

you know like my friends would have shares and they'd be like my housemates are leaving Tuesday

morning you can come for a couple of nights and you know I always found my fire island stays I'd be

invited for like two nights and I'd find a way to extend my run. I've also done my show patty issues

there a couple of times over the years where I was given housing and my first trip to fire

island was actually in 2005 and I was directing my friend Lance Horn is a brilliant songwriter.

That was I was directing his first time doing a solo concert at Joe's Pub performing his own stuff

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