photo by Bruce-Michael Gelbert
Nicole LaFountaine
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[Editor’s note: On September 17, on Rosh Hashana morning, Nicole LaFountaine, ‘a third generation Pines resident,’ scion of the family that built the Danikki, or Sip N Twirl building, and star of Fire Island Pines Arts Project theatrical productions, including “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” “Merrily We Roll Along” and, most recently, “Falsettos,” addressed Congregation B’Nai Olam at Whyte Hall. I wanted to share her speech with people beyond those in the room at the time and with readers of this publication, and asked her permission to publish it here. This is what she told us about her family’s history, which is a genuine slice of Pines history.—BMG]

Good Morning. I am honored to be here to share in your New Year celebration. I want to speak today about new beginnings, which seems fitting being that we are celebrating the New Year. That is how I used to always think about new beginnings, as having to do with a certain time of year. In my house, January 1 is always a great day because one can’t help but feel a fresh start is ahead, a new calendar year. I also feel that way when my kids go back to school; a new school year, a new beginning, a fresh start. But those are not the new beginnings I want to focus on today. I learned this year that a new beginning can happen any day of the year, at any time during the day. I learned this year what Seneca the Roman philosopher put so well, “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.”
Many of you know my story but for those of you who don’t let me give you a little background. I am a third generation Pines resident, now raising my two children here in this amazing community of ours. My grandparents, Clarence and Josephine were from Sayville. She was a school teacher, he a cabinet maker and a bit of a jack of all trades. They loved Fire Island and in the 1940s their first “summer place” was in Ocean Ridge just east of Davis Park, a squatter’s shack they built on the beach out of driftwood they collected and remnant lumber from the chicken coops of the Vanderbilt Estate in Oakdale, and so began my family’s legacy on Fire Island. When Home Guardian began developing the Pines, my grandparents started their new beginning and purchased a little piece of land for the astronomical price of $3,000. The actual deed dated April 29, 1952 reads as follows:
“Between the Home Guardian Company and Clarence and Josephine LaFountaine … does hereby release and assigns forever all that lot, piece or parcel of land situated in Fire Island Pines, designated as Lot 36, known as the “Picketty Ruff section” of Fire Island Pines … together with the right to use in common with others Harbor Park and the beach on the Great South Bay and the Atlantic Ocean for bathing, and fishing purposes and also the right to use Harbor Park for boating purposes.” ( I love that the deed allows you to swim in the Atlantic Ocean.) The deed went on to say that, “…on no part of the property shall there be permitted to be erected or maintained a slaughter house, pig sty, poultry or animal farm, nail or iron foundry or fertilizing manufactory. Also, no part of said premises shall be used for any insane, inebriate or other asylum, cemetery or place of burial.” Wow, if they only knew then what goes on at the Sip N Twirl on a Saturday night about 3 a.m., this section would probably have been a lot longer.
My grandparents raised their children on Fire Island with a healthy dose of hard work. My grandfather opened a bottled gas company/ home care business and the entire family worked there. My father, Clern, began working at five selling newspapers and when he was old enough, about eight, he worked every weekend and school break for my grandfather. My aunt and grandmother took in laundry.
My father’s, new beginning was not a date he expected either. After my grandfather passed away in the early 60s he left his job at Bell Labs as a research and development engineer and went to work full time in the Pines running the family business. He worked out of the same little store located at 36 Fire Island Blvd. He married my mother Carole in 1965 and they started their new beginning together living full time at 522 Snapper Walk, the home he built for her as a wedding present. Clern began purchasing land in the Pines as opportunities arose, although money was always tight. After he passed away I found a ledger book that he had kept as a young man showing how he paid a little to this one and a little to that one to purchase the properties he wanted to eventually develop.
My parents raised two children in the Pines, year-round, until their youngest, me, was six years old and they decided it was time for their girls to go to proper public school. My sister had been attending the Fire Island school in Ocean Beach and my mother was getting tired of wondering if the school bus was going to make it down the beach or not.
In 1979, Clern had a vision for the Pines Commercial District: a new beginning. He wanted to expand the small commercial area but there are only seven plots zoned commercial in the community, including the CO-OP’s. To best utilize the space provided, my father tore down his little home care business and built what the family called The Danikki Building. What an odd name right? But my father’s family was all about combining names. Clern is actually a combination of Clarence his father and Earnest his uncle. Danikki is a combination of Dani, my sister and Nikki, me. The Danikki Building was a commercial complex that saw many businesses come and go over the years. Many of you who have been here a while might remember the party store, flower shop, Mexican take out space, Chinese restaurant, The Loft clothing store, a liquor store, a pizzeria, a bar, another bar, and yet another bar.
I started my new beginning in 1996 as I joined my father here in the Pines to start a property management company. One of my responsibilities was to run the Danikki Building. Anyone who has ever worked in a family business knows that everyone has a role. My father had been incredibly successful as a developer and business owner. My role was to not create anything new but to maintain and I accepted this role willingly.
Now let’s fast forward to a cold, damp Monday night in November 2011. Not a day that I would ever have thought of as a day of new beginnings. There was nothing special about that day. No calendar significance but it was to be one of my most significant new beginnings. “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.” I ignored the initial call from the alarm company. False alarms can be common during the winter. But it was the following call from a friend whose husband was a firefighter in Sayville that alerted me that there was really a fire, and it was in my building. Now I didn’t see this event as a new beginning for quite a while. I was too focused on the loss, the end part. I was focused on what my tenants had lost, what the community had lost and what I had lost. My father had passed away five years ago and the loss of something significant that he created brought a flood of emotion I was not expecting. I think at the time I was most upset that I saw the building as his, as a part of him and for that to be gone was difficult. But my role was about to shift. No longer was my job just to maintain, now I was expected to create something. Create something I didn’t know how to create, and fast.
I don’t think you can really reflect on what is happening when you are in it. One needs the benefit of time and distance to see something clearer. I now see the fire for the gift that it brought me, for the blessing that it was. A new beginning when I wasn’t expecting one. It taught me to trust myself—to trust in others, to be open to help, from any source, and not to be so rigid in my thinking. It taught me the value of community and friendship. And mostly that it is okay to move forward. It is okay to create something new. It doesn’t mean that you are forgetting the old, but more like adding to it, enhancing the story,
So today as you start the New Year, please take a moment to reflect on the unique season we have all had here in the Pines. Look back with fondness, look forward with hope and remember that you never know when life may throw you a new beginning. Embrace it. I would like to leave you with a quote, although I don’t know the author: “Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets. So love the people who treat you right. Forgive the ones who don’t and believe that everything happens for a reason. If you get a chance, take it. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said it would be easy. They promised it would be worth it.” Thank you for having me here today and may your new year bring you all the blessings you deserve.