No one has described the old anti-status mood of the place better than Lili Adams, the owner of the beloved food cart the Ditch Witch. In an interview with The New York Times a few years ago, she painted a scene of three guys at a Montauk bar: “Two of them are millionaires and one is a bum, but you could never tell who was who.”

The fear is now overwhelming that this humble sensibility is being chased away. And that’s where the hat comes in. “It’s not just a hat, it’s the attitude that goes with it,” said Rob Devlin, the owner of the West Lake Clam and Chowder House, a Montauk fixture that has remained overwhelmingly popular in the face of all the new establishments. “The attitude is, ‘Hey, I’m So-and-So.’ ”

Mr. Devlin’s anti-fedora sign is featured prominently by his outdoor bar with the phrase “Save Montauk.” He said he was happy for the new customers. (“They do put my kids through college.”) All he is asking for is a little more respect for what is already here (and, perhaps, an end to the expense-account approach of splitting a bill seven ways on seven credit cards).

The East End, anti-hipster sentiment began slowly building within the last couple of years, with the Web site Guest of a Guest announcing a name for them last summer, “Hampsters” (a combo of “Hamptons” and “Hipsters,” get it?). Mr. Devlin surmised that he was among the first, if not the first, to create an actual anti-fedora sign. “People have caught on and borrowed the idea,” he said.

And then some: There was a recent spotting of a T-shirt reading “Death to Hipsters,” which, beach chatter held, perhaps went a little too far. Another showed a rifle and the words “Defend Montauk.”