F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" at 100

Dotting the water's edge of Long Island's Manhasset Bay, the opulence of the homes speaks for itself.But not nearly as well as F.

Scott Fitzgerald once spoke of that opulence:"A breeze blew through the room, blew curtains in at one end and out the other, like pale flags, twisting them up toward the frosted wedding cake of the ceiling."That "wedding cake" of a ceiling, in a home now owned by Elena and George Schietinger, likely did look down on Gatsbyesque parties back in the day."I can almost hear the music playing and feel the spirits of the parties that went on here," said Elena."The bar is in full swing, and floating rounds of cocktails permeate the garden outside, until the air is alive with chatter and laughter and casual innuendo."Fitzgerald lived in a much more modest house just a few miles away when he was writing "The Great Gatsby." The Schietingers, though, believe the author must have visited here.

They imagine him, while tilting his head back to down a bootleg cocktail, and taking note, and then writing their ceiling into his novel."I absolutely believe that to be true," said George.

Fitzgerald's novel came out a hundred years ago this month.Scholars consider it a literary masterpiece.

Hollywood finds it irresistible, and so does Broadway.There's even a recent graphic novel of "Gatsby" that brings Fitzgerald's characters to life, starting with James Gatz, who believed he was too poor to marry the rich girl of his dreams – and so he reinvents himself.

It's less about love, and more about longing – his especially, for Daisy Buchanan just across the bay.They were so near, and yet worlds apart.

"I hadn't realized that either side of the bay, that they were so close to one another," said Blake Hazard, the great-granddaughter of Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald."I mean, you almost could look into the windows on the other side."She says her celebrated relatives are looming lovingly large on this centennial.

"I've gotten used to witnessing thes...