Resorts: Happening at the Hamptons

When the 11:01 a.m. train from Manhattan pulled into Southampton—still a semi-exclusive summer enclave on the eastern tip of Long Island—the scene that greeted the passengers was not to be believed. Rumbling and banging down the street came a wave of empty kerosene drums propelled by perfectly straight-faced adults; a horde of children were bouncing large weather balloons on their heads. In the midst of the turmoil were two homemade Hovercraft, a foot above the ground, one ridden by a curvaceous brunette billed as "Liquid Hips," the other by a menacing figure...