Montauk, New York in popular culture

Memory Motel

Montauk, New York is a census-designated place (CDP) that roughly corresponds to the hamlet (unincorporated community) with the same name located in the town of East Hampton in Suffolk County on the South Shore of Long Island. A number of popular culture sources have made reference to it:

• The Memory Motel is in Montauk on Long Island in the same town as the Church Estate (also known as Eothen) that Andy Warhol bought in 1972. The Rolling Stones stayed at Warhol's estate when they were on tour in 1975-76. (They were good friends with Warhol, who designed the Sticky Fingers album cover.) The Memory Motel was said to be the only place in the area with a pool table and a piano, and The Stones were purported to come by and hang out at the bar. The song "Memory Motel" was written during this period.
• Montauk is nostalgically praised by singer/songwriter Billy Joel, who had summered in this posh hamlet for years. The song The Downeaster Alexa, from his album Storm Front, tells the story of a Long Island fisherman's journey through Montauk Sound on his ship, named after Joel's daughter.
• Montauk also is the title of a novel by the Swiss writer Max Frisch (1974), and is centered around the narrator's open relationship with Lynn, an American journalist. Their key scenes are located there.
• Montauk plays a prominent role in the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
• The final track on Circa Survive's album Juturna is entitled "Meet Me in Montauk", a reference to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
• The fifth track on Bayside's self titled album released in 2005 is entitled "Montauk", another reference to the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
• Montauk is an important location in the 1997 film Commandments.
• The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue featured Veronika Vařeková as photographed by local resident Walter Iooss on its beach for the 2004 cover.
• Montauk is the site of the alleged government Montauk Project.
• Percy Jackson and his mother visit Montauk on vacation and is attacked by a Minotaur there in The Lightning Thief.
• The character Quint from the movie Jaws, played by Robert Shaw, was based on Frank Mundus, a shark hunter from Montauk. In the movie, Quint also mentions he "caught a 16-footer (shark) off of Montauk."
• Jazz legend Toots Thielemans holds residence in Montauk.
• The trance group Signalrunners released a mixed entitled "Meet Me In Montauk" in 2009.
• In the novel "The Interpreter", by Suki Kim, the female protagonist Suzy Park visits Montauk, where the ashes of her parents have been committed to the sea.
• Montauk is the main setting of Episode 208 of "Engaged and Underage" on MTV, with Maribel & Julio working, residing, and getting married in the town.
• Singer/songwriter Rufus Wainwright lives in Montauk. He refers to Montauk in the liner notes of his album All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu.
• In the film Deathtrap (film), thriller playwright Sidney Bruhl, played by Michael Caine, lives on Montauk which calls (after arriving on the commuter train) "the end of the line. Bloody symbolic."
• Kanye West's video director reportedly scouted Montauk in 2011 as a possible site for a music video.