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1960’s Beefcake comes to Fire Island: Jim Stryker
Celebrity history Robert Bonanno Celebrity history Robert Bonanno

1960’s Beefcake comes to Fire Island: Jim Stryker

When you think about gay culture in the 1960s on Fire Island, one icon comes to mind: Jim Stryker. This blonde, blue-eyed, physique model epitomized an era of muscle-headed beefcakes, free-spirited playboy jocks, and beach boys.

Jim Stryker was discovered by photographer Walter Kundzicz and it was through his (frequently semi-nude or fully-nude) portraits against the natural setting of Fire Island, that Stryker rose to fame.

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 Art history- Ferron Bell
Art history Robert Bonanno Art history Robert Bonanno

Art history- Ferron Bell

Artist Ferron Bell was a painter of dreams and whimsy that he realized on not only canvas, but wood and other objects. He was deeply involved in the Pines community and has left a legacy to be cherished and remembered by.

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Fire Island Celebrity history- Elizabeth Taylor

Fire Island Celebrity history- Elizabeth Taylor

1982. Actress Elizabeth Taylor arrives in the Pines. She dines at the "The Cultured Elephant" (now Canteen). She was there for lunch July 15, 1983 staying on her mexican boyfriends yacht "Chiquitita". Manager Thom Finn sent her over a Strawberry Daiquiri she turned around to thank him, and this photo was taken and published in People magazine the next week.

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