Drinking at openings

The owner of a high-end East Hampton gallery went from hosting a famed photographer's opening to being dragged from it kicking and screaming during a surprise crackdown on liquor-laced art shows on the East End. "The police out here have nothing to do, so they come bother our galleries," Ruth Kalb, 67, fumed yesterday, a day after cops busted her soiree and dragged her out in front of 300 stunned guests, saying she didn't have permits to serve alcohol or hold a gathering. "They came in here with all their muscles. They needed someone to fight," said the eccentric art purveyor, known by her gallery's name, Vered. Kalb said she told the cops: "I've been serving liquor at my openings before you were born. So don't tell me to stop now." Kalb was slapped with the summons at around 9 p.m. Saturday after chasing away the first two cops on the scene.

from Edward Winkleman's blog.