🪪 Drinking age is 21, and the East End enforces it harder than most of the state.
- Everyone under about 30 gets carded — at the door, then again at the bar. Every beach club, restaurant bar and concert venue on the South Fork.
- Fake IDs are confiscated on sight. Door staff at the Talkhouse, Surf Lodge and Gurney's are trained to spot them, and a confiscated ID goes to the county sheriff.
- So plan around it: explicitly all-ages venues, or early-evening concerts where the door is a wristband rather than a bounce.
🏖️ Beach parking permits are real — and at 16 you can hold your own.
- Resident stickers — East Hampton, Southampton and Shelter Island all issue them. Main Beach, Indian Wells and Coopers cost real money for non-residents in July and August.
- 16 and older can apply in their own name, often cheaper than the family sticker. Bring proof of residency to town hall.
🚗 Licences come in tiers, and the curfew is not a suggestion — Suffolk County cops write tickets that stick.
- 16 — road test, junior licence. No driving 9pm to 5am without a licensed adult, plus a passenger cap.
- 17 — with driver's ed completed, the curfew lifts for school-to-home trips.
- 18 — full unrestricted licence.
🌊 Beach rules worth knowing before you pick a spot.
- Surf leash — going without one on a guarded beach is ticketable at every South Fork town beach. A loose board is a real injury risk for swimmers.
- Bonfires need a town permit.
- Open containers mean a fine, and the rest of your group cleared off the sand.
- Lifeguards go off duty in the afternoon — at most guarded beaches by 5pm, each beach posts its own hours, and not every beach is guarded at all. The rip currents after the guards leave are why the signs are up.
When in doubt: see safety for tick checks, water conditions, and lifeguard hours, and see concierge for emergency contacts, urgent-care locations, and the after-hours numbers that locals keep on a fridge magnet.