Just off the coast of New York City and running parallel to Long Island lies the lesser-known paradise of Fire Island – a slim strip of land with a magnetic power pull far beyond its size.
Once a sleepy 19th-century beach town, the barrier island has transformed itself into a modern-day ‘gay Disneyland’ said to be home to some of the ‘wildest parties’ on the East Coast of America.
In winter, Fire Island is a ghost town with only 445 permanent residents, as noted in the 2023 census.
But from June to September, it comes alive – with more than 20,000 partygoers flocking to the island for a summer of raunchy parties, hot flings and memories to last a lifetime.
Approximately 60 miles away from New York and 32 miles in length, Fire Island is characterised by miles of wooden boardwalk, free-roaming deer and modernist beach houses – and no cars are allowed.
It has been a safe space for LGBTQ people for more than 100 years, sometimes being referred to as a modern ‘queer Mecca’.
And it’s still just as popular as ever, with highlights of the calendar including the Friday night ‘underwear party’ at the Ice Palace nightclub at Cherry Grove and the Pines Party – an all-night event lasting from 10pm to sunrise.
‘The greatest thing about Fire Island sartorially is that it is a platform to be as gay as you possible can be,’ actor Joel Kim Booster explained, speaking on the Finding Fire Island podcast with Jess Rothschild.
Fire Island has been a safe haven for gay and lesbian communities for more than 100 years – and remains so today. Pictured: TikToker Art Bezrukavenko and his boyfriend visit the island
‘Like you can show up to tea in a kaftan, in a dress, in short shorts, in a jock strap or a leather harness over a dress.
‘It’s a place where you can look as silly as and as gay as you want or as sexy as you want without feeling uncomfortable about the level of gayness you’re bringing because everyone around you is gay.’
Tourism to the island has been boosted by a post-pandemic housing rush and the novelty surrounding Hulu’s 2022 gay romantic comedy Fire Island, which was inspired by Pride and Prejudice.
The film was lauded by modern film critics, who praised the film for its diversity and gay sex scenes.
Joel, who plays Noah, admitted to attending a gay orgy with over 200 people at the New York hotspot in real life.
‘I’ve been to a 200-plus person orgy on the island, and there’s nothing like watching a bunch of guys get railed as the sun is coming up over the ocean,’ he gushed.
‘The amount of sex and sex acts that I’ve seen on that island in public, in front of an audience, is sort of wild,’ he continued.
‘I don’t know what it is about Fire Island that unlocks people’s inhibitions a little bit.’
Matt Rogers (right), who starred in 2022’s Fire Island, is pictured behind the scenes of filming
Revellers attend a party during ‘The Invasion of the Pines’ in Fire Island, which takes place every Fourth of July since 1976. Picture: 2021
The South Korean-born star described Fire Island as a place that ‘buttoned-up’ people go to ‘get railed in public in front of all [their] friends’.
His Fire Island co-star Matt Rogers also shared a shocking tale of his own about spending time at the hedonistic LGBTQ destination.
The American comedian admitted that during one jaunt, he was left feeling deathly ill after performing a taboo sex act on another partygoer.
‘There was also a time I ate *** on the beach and then got really sick,’ he confessed.
‘So it’s not a place you want to eat *** and get some sort of *** eating related disease on the beach,’ Matt continued.
‘It’s so funny because you’re like, “Wow, I’ve never felt so alive”, and then I’ve never felt so dead”.
He finished: ‘So yeah, I’m out there being a full gay man on that beach, and that comes with its maladies and successes.’
Daniel Nardichio’s Friday night underwear party is just one of Fire Island’s legendary – and raucous – get togethers.
American actor Joel Kim Booster (pictured) has opened up about a 200-person gay orgy he had on New York’s Fire Island during a hedonistic getaway
The island, only 60 miles from New York City, has become known for its hedonistic parties
It’s been hosted in the Ice Palace in Cherry Grove for more than 20 years, first beginning in the 90s.
The underwear party is described as a ‘rite of passage’ on the island, where guests ditch their clothes at the door before a night of fun begins.
On Reddit, one previous attendee wrote: ‘I found it to be a mix of sexual and not.
‘There is a back room for hooking up, although I’ve seen guys give **** in the middle of the dance floor.’
A second added: ‘I’ve been a number of times. Always fun, and your experience can be different depending on what you’re looking for.
‘Everybody is wearing underwear or jocks, and most people look great. You can dance with friends, chat and flirt with the throngs of boys on the patio, or go be scandalous in the back.
‘There’s also often a masseur giving table rubs. Very much a choose your own adventure kind of place.’
The Pines Party is another staple event in the Fire Island calendar and, for many, is the most anticipated event of the summer, lasting from 10pm until sunrise.
One TikTok user filmed their view from the ferry arriving at the Pines in time for July 4. Pictured are revellers at ‘tea’ – the party that kicks off the day
Theatre director Ben Rimalower says there’s a theme every year, such as Alice In Wonderland.
‘There’s this intense techno music, it’s very electronic. It really does get inside your bloodstream,’ he recalled on the Finding Fire Island podcast.
‘It’s very sexy but very intimidating and intense, everybody’s drinking and so many people are on all kinds of drugs and there’s so much sex going on.’
Also an important part of island culture is the legendary ‘tea’ parties, that take place in the afternoon, before the main fun begins.
Tea typically takes place between 5pm to 7pm and is where the formalities begin, and people begin to revive from their hangovers from the night before.
One reveller recalled: ‘Tea is sort of where you go to be seen and to see everybody on the island. Fire Island you’re seeing the same people again all over the week.
‘It’s where you go to mix and mingle with people. It’s the ritualistic end of every Fire Island day, and beginning to every Fire Island night.’
Fire Island first became seen as a ‘haven’ for LGBTQ people in the 1950s.
Bob ‘Rose’ Levine’, a legendary drag performer in Cherry Grove, first came to the island for a season in 1956 and paid only $5 a night to rent a bed.
At this time, the island had no newspapers and no telephones, becoming a ‘kind of hideaway’ for those who visited.
Bob, who is now 90, said visitors would say they were going ‘to the Hamptons’ as an excuse – as ‘if you said Fire Island, it labelled you as gay’.
In the 1960s, however, Fire Island first began making headlines due to various police raids.
Those who were caught were charged with felony sodomy and would see their names published on the front pages of newspapers the next day – with the power to ruin careers in a country that was yet to decriminalise homosexuality.
Bob recalled: ‘Everything exploded in the 60s when we had raids from the mainland.
‘They raided the walks. They were young policemen in plain clothes that looked like everyone else.
‘They were young and good looking. I was never arrested, but I knew people that were. If you touched them, they arrested you.
‘All of those newspapers, with the headlines on the front page, listing all the names of the guys.’
According to Jack Parlett in his book Fire Island: Love, Loss and Liberation in an American Paradise, the 1970s brought a boom in queer culture and, subsequently a boom in visitors following the Stonewall Riots in the summer of 1969.
There are several staple parties in the calendar each year – including the underwear party and the Invasion of the Pines (pictured)
Sajura attends QNA x QASC x Send Noodz presents RICE PALACE celebrating the release of FIRE ISLAND in June 2022
He writes: ‘The parties were legendary and the guest lists illustrious. For a time it must have seemed like a summer soiree that would never end.’
In 1977, Calvin Klein bought a beachfront home on Fire Island after divorcing his first wife.
He recalled in 2013: ‘It was amazing, the ultimate hedonist house. I mean, it was made for sex.’
Photographer Meryl Meisler previously recalled the wild chaos that embodied Fire Island in the 1970s.
She captured some of the rowdiest house parties, showing attendees wearing little to no clothing and performing wild sex acts.
‘The parties were really wild, they were definitely very fun summers to be apart of,’ Meisler told DailyMail.com.
‘The club scene was very vibrant. The LGBTQ scene was thriving and thrilling. It’s still a haven.
‘Disco was in full swing and it was a blast. I would come out every weekend during those summers and would bring my camera.
‘It was a time in New York history and the world where it was post-Stonewall, Women’s Liberation, music changed, pre-AIDS/HIV – it was a time of innocence and I was part of it.’
The 2022 film Fire island (pictured) has brought a new boost of tourism to the area
The romantic comedy is said to have been inspired by Pride and Prejudice
‘They were happy to be photographed. You know, life is a beach for them and it’s very pleasant. Fire Island is an oasis and it’s a Long Island treasure that’s very fragile and very small.’
Her photos included the Ice Palace – a popular club where tons of LGBTQ people partied.
The venue has hosted the Miss Fire Island contest since 1966, where men dress in drag costume to compete for the title on Labor Day weekend.
‘The Ice Palace still plays disco and there are still wonderful things happening in Fire Island all the time,’ Meisler added.
She described attending one Star Wars themed house party in Fire Island Pines as ‘one of the wildest parties I have ever gone to’, adding: ‘You were just very free to do anything and people had no rules.’
Indeed, the island was described in Andrew Holleran’s 1978 novel Dancer From The Dance as a place for ‘madness, for hot nights, kisses, and herds of stunning men’.
But the 1980s and 1990s would bring another dip in Fire Island’s fortunes – and marked a period of desperate suffering for many loyal islanders.
During this period, an outbreak of AIDs devastated the population, and plunged those remaining into mourning.
Speaking on the Finding Fire Island podcast, Bob recalled how the outbreak changed the structure of the island forever.
There’s also another side to the islands, with white sands beaches, boardwalks and oceanfront houses. Pictured: The island community of Saltaire
Fire Island has also begun to attract influencers due to its aesthetic appeal. Pictured Brooke Mooney, 24, who is from Long Island
He recalled the initial news of the outbreak spreading: ‘It was a complete change from the early days and then the party stopped. Cherry Grove was changed during the AIDS epidemic.
‘All of our friends were dying, sick, they didn’t come out anymore. They left Fire Island, they went home to their families so there was a lot of changeover.’
These days, Fire Island’s party reputation is booming – and houses that were worth $100,000 just ten years ago now have a price tag of well over a million dollars.
It’s still the place to go for weekend getaways, and has found a new generation of followers on TikTok.
One visitor, Art Buzrukavenko, who has more than a million followers, visited Fire Island last week.
In one video, he wrote: ‘Pov you’re arriving in the gayest island in the USA’, alongside a snapshot of him kissing his boyfriend.
TikTok users @snap.chaps also commented that Fire Island is like ‘gay Disneyland’.
They said: ‘Fire Island is like summer camp. There’s music always happening, there’s activities. There are gays that arrive by the bus loads. There are underwear parties and the beach! It’s like a summer camp.’
The island has also begun to attract influencers, drawn to its ‘aesthetic’ white beaches, seaside cafes and independent shops.
The account @whenonlongisland shared: ‘Just a ferry ride away from Long Island, is a beautiful area called Fire Island.’
They praised it for ‘the restaurants and cute little shops’, and said ‘we wandered down the streets of Fire Island, which are all stunning, and the houses are so cute.’
Influencer Brooke Mooney, who is 24 and from Long Island, has also paid a trip there, and concluded ‘Fire Island is the cutest little thing’, after going hat shopping and visiting cafes.
Fire has cemented its place in popular culture, having been visited by creative thinkers from the 20th century including WH Auden, Christopher Isherwood, Truman Capote, Frank O’Hara and Oscar Wilde.
The main areas on the island are the Pines and Cherry Grove, also home to the ferry ports
Indeed, Fire Island is said to have inspired Capote’s 1958 novella Breakfast At Tiffany’s, which was written on the island, while Auden owned a cottage in Cherry Grove in the late 1940s.
It’s also just a place where people can just be themselves with the sexually liberated way of lifestyle on offer.
Christopher Rawlins, an architect and founder of Pines Modern, recently told The Guardian: ‘My most vivid memory of my first visit here in the late 90s is being able to hold my boyfriend’s hand in public without fear.’
Speaking on the Finding Fire Island podcast, Ben Rimmalower said: ‘I don’t know if the younger generations feel differently than I do but I am not comfortable – even in New York City – if somebody wants to hold my hand or make out with me on the street. I have a fear I’m going to get gay bashed or something.
‘I think there’s a whole level of not being safe that I experience in the world always – and not on Fire Island.
‘I think that’s part of why, when I get on the boat, there’s just this level of relaxation, of this tension that’s lifted from me’
‘For my entire time I’m there, it’s such a powerful feeling.’
Comedian Matt Rogers summarised: ‘It’s a choose your own adventure, you can host dinner parties in your house with friends, or find a stranger to hook up with on the beach.’
Never, it seems, has a place been so sure of its own identity – and Fire Island will no doubt remain a safe haven for many in the years to come.
