Pines Profile - Nicole LaFountaine (b. 1969)

A Community Leader Grounded in a Tradition of Service

By Virun Rampersad, January 2026

Nicole (Nikki) LaFountaine. Photo courtesy of Nicole LaFountaine

Like many babies, when she left the hospital where she was born, Nicole (Nikki) LaFountaine went home.  In her case that home was in Fire Island Pines. A barrier island in the Atlantic Ocean may seem like an unusual place to grow up, but Nikki considers herself lucky.  Her early years were in a place of resilience, creativity, and chosen family, and her childhood playground was the white sandy Pines beach with the waves breaking on the shore. She quickly came to learn the Pines was not only her home, but also her heritage; it is a place where her grandparents built the foundations of a community, her parents expanded and safeguarded it, and where she herself grew into one of its most passionate cultural stewards.

Roots in the Pines

The LaFountaine story on Fire Island begins with Nikki’s grandparents, Clarence and Josephine, (known to many as “Mama La Fountaine”).

They were Sayville locals who first camped along the island’s sands in the 1930s. Clarence was a bayman, construction worker, and jack-of-all-trades, while Josephine was a schoolteacher. Together they cobbled a rustic squatters shack from driftwood found on the beach, salvaged lumber, and ultimately,  a chicken coop from the old Vanderbilt estate.

Josephine LaFountaine (r.) on Pines beach in 1930. Photo courtesy of the LaFountaine Family

In 1952 the Home Guardian Company, which had purchased the land in the previous decade began selling off lots in the Pines. Clarence and Josephine were among the first to seize the opportunity. They purchased 36 Fire Island Boulevard for $3,000 and erected a modest building that served as headquarters for Clarence’s bottled gas and home care business.

The original 36 Fire Island Boulevard circ: 1958-1979. Photo courtesy of the LaFountaine family

The LaFountaine’s contributions to the emerging Pines community extended well beyond commerce. Clarence and Josephine were founding members of the Fire Island Pines Property Owners Association and the volunteer fire department. Clarence even helped establish the post office, and water district, securing essentials for a fledgling community. In these ways they helped lay the foundation – both literal and civic – for the Pines community.

Clarence LaFountaine in 1963. Photo courtesy of the LaFountaine family.

Josephine LaFountaine (aka “Mama LaFountaine”) at work. Photo courtesy of the LaFountaine family.

The Next Generation

Nikki’s father, Clern, inherited not just his father’s land, but his sense of civic responsibility.

Clern LaFountaine with his father outside their shack in Davis Park. Photo courtesy of the LaFountaine family.

As a teenager he worked side by side with Clarence, later becoming a ferry captain with his childhood friend Ken Stein Jr. He worked a weekday job at Bell Labs and returned home to run ferries on weekends. When Clarence fell ill, Clern left Bell Labs for good and devoted himself to Fire Island.

For more than forty years, Clern chaired the Fire District’s Board of Fire Commissioners, engineering the Pines’ hydrant system. He helped design the pumper vehicles needed for its narrow boardwalks, and created equipment tailored to the unique situations firefighters found themselves facing in the Pines. He also oversaw the water district, checking pressure and purity twice a day for decades. 

Clern in his original office. Photo courtesy of the LaFountaine family.

Nikki’s mother, Carole was equally formidable. A firefighter from the time she married Clern, she would later become the first female fire chief in New York State in the early 1980s. She worked in the family business, and in 1974, opened Sea Gull Liquors in the La Fountaine Building, adding to the family’s imprint on the Pines’ commercial heart.

Carole LaFountaine circa 1979. Photo courtesy of the LaFountaine family.

Together, Clern and Carole presided over a growing real estate and rental portfolio. By the 1980s, the LaFountaine’s were one of the largest property owners in the Pines, with nearly two dozen houses and the mixed-use building that housed everything from the liquor store to Pines Pizza and Crews Quarters nightclub. They were also active in community charitable and social events, and Clern played an important role in founding the famous party ‘Beach’ in 1979. As long time Pines resident and FIPPOA board member Gary Clinton stated:

“The LaFountaine family made their living out here, but more significantly they made their lives here and facilitated life for so many others.  They were among the go-to people in the Pines.”

Childhood in the Pines

Although the Fire Island Pines was the family’s home, the island had only one school. To ensure Nikki and her sister Danielle (Dani) could get a proper education the family purchased homes, first in Islip and then in Sayville. They lived on mainland in the week, before returning to the Pines for the weekend. 

With only a handful of winter residents, Nikki and Dani found uniquely Pines ways to enjoy their childhood, including riding bicycles through the Meat Rack, sledding down deserted boardwalks, and building forts under the planks.

Clern LaFountaine with Danielle at Snapper Walk in 1967. Photo courtesy of the LaFountaine.

Summers transformed the village into a thriving hub, and Nikki quickly learned that while she and her sister had the run of the community, they had no anonymity; everyone knew the LaFountaine girls, which brought peace of mind for her parents.

Danielle and Nikki in front of 36 Fire Island Blvd. Photo courtesy of the LaFountaine family.

Nikki learned at an early age when you are born into the LaFountaine family, you are also born into the business. By the age of eight she was assembling Radio Flyer wagons and filing papers in the family office. She learned the basics of business and as a child even helped prepare checks to pay the bills.

Clern, Nikki and Dani at 27 Fire Island Blvd (now the site of Nikki’s Pines office). Photo courtesy of the LaFountaine Family

When her father rebuilt the LaFountaine Building in 1979, he founded Danikki, Inc., named for Danielle and Nicole, and made both daughters stakeholders. By thirteen, Nikki was working the register at the Pines Pantry.  As she noted with a laugh: “I guess child labor laws didn’t cross the bay in those days!”

Nikki went to college at Syracuse and New York University, majoring in theatre. It was a sign of where her true passion lay.  After college she went to work for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Really Useful Company in New York City, before moving to Long Island to start a family.

Poster courtesy of West End Theatre

However, Nikki was a LaFountaine and that meant she also had a foot in commerce. After college, Clern decided that he wanted his daughters to learn the rental business and gifted them both two houses each – and the responsibility to manage them, rent them and their upkeep. It was a crash course in the intricacies of rentals and management.

Clern LaFountaine circa 1980s. Courtesy of Nicole LaFountaine.

In 1996 Clern decided to retire and phase himself out of Fire Island. He told the family he planned to put the majority of his houses on the market because he could not manage them from retirement. 

Saddened but not entirely surprised—she knew retirement had been on Clern’s mind since he’d already sold the gas company and a few houses—Nikki immediately began assessing the implications. She had witnessed firsthand the decades of hard work her parents and grandparents had poured into building their business and understood the family’s standing in the community. The thought of letting it all go felt premature. Believing the family’s legacy still had more chapters to write, she offered to work alongside her father to keep the properties going. Clern declined. If it were to continue, he said, she would need to start her own company—and he would be her first client. And so, in 1996, Kikico Properties was born, marking the beginning of Nicky’s career in property management.

This was not the future for which Nikki had been planning. Like a lot of multi-generational families, she vaguely assumed the LaFountaine legacy would be maintained forever. She did not foresee that responsibility would fall to her. Nonetheless she stepped up and went to work in a business that was largely a man’s world. She was the right woman at the right time.

What began as an unexpected responsibility quickly became a vocation. With the advent of the antiretroviral cocktail, the Pines was moving out of the AIDS crisis and people were looking to the future with greater optimism. Nikki’s business acumen and leadership skills became apparent to all, and Kikico Properties thrived. She later became Secretary and then Treasurer of the Fire Island Pines Fire District.

When Clern passed away in 2007 Nikki made the strategic decision not to expand the family’s real estate portfolio but rather manage it effectively and ensure her family’s financial future was secure. She continued in her dad’s vein of service, assuming his commissioner seat and later becoming Chairman of the Board of Fire Commissioners.

Fire and Rebirth

In November 2011 tragedy struck. A massive fire consumed the Pavilion nightclub and the LaFountaine (aka Danikki) Building, decimating the physical and emotional core of the Pines. More than 20 Fire Departments from Long Island helped in the effort to extinguish the blaze. The fire began around 9 pm and was still smoldering the next morning.

Firefighters at work in November 2011. Photo courtesy of Nicole LaFountaine

Nikki, then serving as Chair of the Board of Fire Commissioners, helped manage hundreds of firefighters that night, focusing on logistics instead of despair. That said, there was no question she had suffered a tremendous blow. The LaFountaine Building, a centerpiece of the community and Clern’s most visible legacy, was now literally a smoking pile of rubble. She did her job that night and the days following, setting aside her personal feelings.

Nicole LaFountaine surveying the damage the following morning. Photo courtesy of the Pines Fire Department

Once the fire was resolved, Nikki decided to rebuild. The decision was made not only for her family but for the businesses and community that relied on the building. It was important for her that she restore one of the community’s most important commercial spaces.

Building anything in the Pines is a complex task. Beyond the inherent challenges of working on a barrier island, where winter bay freezes can halt ferry traffic and delay deliveries, the limited space for staging materials and equipment adds another layer of difficulty. To complicate matters further, the regulatory landscape, particularly for commercial properties, had grown increasingly complex over the years, and environmental activists within the Pines were both hawkish and sophisticated. Nonetheless, Nikki navigated zoning hurdles and agencies, rallied tenants, and drove the project forward with relentless determination. Her work was considered by many to be masterclass in community-centric commercial development. As she noted, she had great partners including PJ McAteer who helped her manage the rebuild, Scott Bromley the famous Pines architect, and builder Billy Santangelo. Crews worked seven days a week, fueled by bowls of candy and Red Bull that Nicole personally supplied.

Against all odds, the new Danikki Building opened on July 4, 2012, restoring Sip ’n Twirl, Pines Pizza, and other beloved establishments to their rightful place at the heart of the community.  Nikki and her team had hit an ambitious target they had set themselves that winter.

When she sang the National Anthem that Independence Day at the Annual Invasion of the Pines from the new building, it was a tribute to the indomitable spirit of America, the Pines community, and the LaFountaine family.

Nikki LaFountaine singing the National Anthem from the reconstructed Danikki Building on July 4th, 2012. Photo courtesy of Nicole LaFountaine

On that day, the magnitude of her accomplishment was clear for everyone to see -- Nikki, standing on the balcony at Sip ‘N’ Twirl, could be seen from the Pines Harbor as the Pavilion next door (which would normally obstruct the view) was still under reconstruction and would be for many more months.

Theater, Art, and Advocacy

Despite the success of Kikico and the successful rebuilding, Nicole’s deepest passion lay outside of real estate. Musical theatre had taken root in her and would not go away. In the Pines she was actively engaged as an organizer, fund raiser and performer with the Fire Island Pines Arts Project (FIPAP), including an acclaimed turn in Hello Dolly! Steven Allan Black, President of FIPAP commented:

“Nikki is an insightful, well-rounded person who has provided invaluable guidance and counsel to me and the FIPAP board. We are very lucky to have her on our board and in our community.”

Nikki LaFountaine in FIPAP’s 2013 production of Hello Dolly! Photo courtesy of Nicole LaFountaine.

Beyond FIPAP, Nikki also worked closely with Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS to help the Fire Island Dance Festival take root and become one of the highlights of summer in the Pines.

In 2019, Nicole made the difficult decision to sell the Danikki Building. Although she had been selectively divesting properties over the years, this was a big decision; it would end her family’s direct ownership of one the most highly visible properties in the Pines. However, she believed it was time, and she could more fully pursue her passion for theatre and the arts. In 2020 she founded her own production company Straighten Your Crown Productions. The company champions marginalized voices in theater and film, producing award-winning dance films and developing new musicals like King of Pangea and Little Miss Perfect.

The sale completed in 2021, Nikki deepened her engagement in Pines philanthropic and artistic activities. Committed to preserving the Pines’ identity as an inclusive, artistic haven, in 2022 she co-founded Barn on Fire, a residency/retreat for musical theatre makers.

Co-produced by New York Theatre Barn and FIPAP, along with the P. Austin Foundation, the program is a ten-day intensive retreat in Fire Island Pines, intended for writers and their creative teams to develop their original, “culture-shifting” musicals in a supportive, tranquil environment. 

Barn on Fire 2024. Photo courtesy of Nicole LaFountaine.

At the end of the residency, participants present their works to a live audience in a showcase at Whyte Hall in Fire Island Pines.  The initiative represented a major step forward for arts and culture in the Pines and the sellout performances reflect the community’s embrace.

Legacy and Vision

For almost a century, the LaFountaine’s have been at the beating heart of Fire Island Pines—building homes, fighting fires, raising glasses, raising roofs, and raising voices. Nicole stands as the third generation of that legacy: a woman who turned fire into renewal, theatre into community, and heritage into hope.

Connection between the generations. Carole and Clern LaFountaine with Nikki’s kids at their home on Snapper Walk in the Pines. Photo courtesy of Nicole LaFountaine.

Like all consequential leaders, Nikki has engineered change. Under her guidance, the LaFountaine family’s role in Fire Island Pines has shifted from that of landowners and builders to that of cultural stewards. By opening her Snapper Walk residence as an artists’ sanctuary, she has created new opportunities for creative expression within the community. In this way, she hopes to continue the LaFountaine tradition of service, stewardship, and contribution, and ensure that the Pines is left stronger and more vibrant than she found it.