CINEMA REBORN

SAG HARBOR’S APRIL GOR REVIVES ONE OF THE TOWN’S LOST TREASURES. BY CARRIE DOYLE

Sag Harbor’s April Gornik revives one of the town’s lost treasures.

Residents of the East End were devastated when a fire destroyed the Sag Harbor Cinema on a blisteringly cold and windy day in December. The landmarked theater was more than just a cinema—it was, as famed director Martin Scorsese called it, “a beacon of culture on Long Island.”

“It was a disaster for everyone,” laments renowned landscape artist and North Haven resident April Gornik. “Everyone who loves Sag Harbor understands that the cinema was a manifestation of a quirky, inimitable quality that differentiates us from other towns and villages out here. The fact that it was an old theater that showed new, cuttingedge cinema was a great encapsulation of what Sag Harbor is like: the old and the new all happening at once.”

With the embers still burning, locals and heavy hitters immediately sprang into action. As early as 2009, there was a citizens’ committee to try to buy the property, and they quickly reassembled and formed the Sag Harbor Partnership, led by Nick Gazzolo; Gornik is VP.