Memorial Day weekend is the official start of summer in the Hamptons, Long Island’s playground for the rich and famous (together with about a zillion tourists from New Jersey who want to pretend to be New Yorkers).  Time to pull out the linen suits, and switch over to the Murakami version of the Louis handbags.

Proof that summer is now official in the Hamptons came this weekend with the massive police raid on the Vered Gallery in East Hampton.  Of course, crime in the Hamptons isn’t exactly like crime elsewhere.  According to Newsday :

About 200 art aficionados were sipping Veuve Clicquot Champagne and chilled white wine at an East Hampton gallery this weekend when the police arrived.

It was a soiree like many others for Vered Gallery, which twice a month invites guests to drink, nibble cheese and view its latest show.  But this time, gallery owner Ruth Vered was led away in handcuffs.

East Hampton Village police declined to comment Sunday except to confirm in a written statement that the gallery owner, who is widely known as Vered, was charged with selling alcohol without a liquor license.

“Free Vered,” rang out through the crowd, as police let her away in handcuffs.   It’s likely been decades since many have had a halfway decent chance to protest. 

Still, it was unclear why the police choose to target Vered to make their point.  She was having an opening on Saturday night, and served the required Veuve Clicquot (non-vintage) to her guests. 

She doesn’t charge for the champagne.  That would be gauche.  Vered would never be gauche. 

I’ve enjoyed Vered Gallery for years.  They specialize in overpriced Picassos and the occasional Braque, with the typical bunch of Caldors and Chagalls for those with more money than taste.  There are a lot of people like that in East Hampton.  Vered is quite the eccentric character, dressed like Johnny Cash on a designer budget.  She is the quintessential Hamptons art purveyor.

The gallery is officially listed as being on Park Place.  If you haven’t had the pleasure of spending time in East Hampton, Park Place is a pretentious name for an alley way between the main street and the public parking lot. 

There used to be a nice little ice cream parlor on the corner, that’s been morphed into a Starbucks.  It’s just a stone’s throw from where the original Barefoot Contessa’s place used to be, before she became a Food TV star and left East Hampton without any place to buy a decent prepackaged dinner.

At Hamptons.com, the arrest was big news.

The highly visible display of “Nine police cars and Vered being hauled away in cuffs was clearly police harassment,” partner Lehr asserted in a phone interview Sunday morning. With the crowd of on-lookers chanting “Free Vered,” Lehr took the opportunity to point out that “the show is sexy, and the gallery was filled with fashionistas.”

So while others debate and discuss our prisons filled with the poor and the injustices heaped upon society by a government hellbent on criminalizing every aspect of the human condition, it’s critically important that you know that the Hamptons have not escaped unscathed.

Welcome to summer.