The rich and famous have helped snapped up all of East Hampton’s limited number of beach-parking permits. (Getty Images)
The Hamptons’ most star-studded summer guest list is already full.
Boasting celebrities ranging from race-car driver Jeff Gordon to actress Gwyneth Paltrow to singer Jimmy Buffett, East Hampton Village’s sold-out beach-parking permit list reads more like a celebrity magazine than a municipal document.
After selling out the allotted 2,900 non-resident permits in record time this year, East Hampton officials are still getting bombarded by boldfaced beach-lovers who were too late on the draw to land one of the coveted $325 stickers.
Village records show that the very last permit to be granted went to Coldplay drummer Will Champion in late March. After that, the door shut for good.
The recipient of the ensuing rage has been Village Administrator Larry Cantwell, who said he has fielded hundreds of calls from flustered summer visitors demanding exceptions.
“I’ve gotten calls from everyone you can think of,” Cantwell said. “Congressmen, federal judges, celebrities. They tell me I’m ruining their summer. They tell me they’ll pay whatever we want for them.”
But the popular administrator — an East Hampton native and proud local — cannot be bought. It’s that type of Eliot Ness-like untouchability that has allowed him to keep his appointed post through 30 years and several administrations.
“It’s not about money,” Cantwell said. “We just need to keep control at our beaches. I’m not trying to ruin anybody’s time out here.”
Part of the frenzy is fed both by East Hampton’s famed stretches of seafront as well as the long list of glitzy and powerful people who flock to them. There have even been sporadic incidents of permit forging over the years, Cantwell said.
While the nonresident list is capped at 2,900, lucky residents of the village can re-up for free.
Itzhak Perlman, Russell Simmons, Mets honcho Richard Wilpon and Jets chief Woody Johnson have put in for their permits this summer.
Cantwell did lament that one of East Hampton’s most famed stretches — Georgica Beach — will not be lifeguarded this summer because of erosion suffered over the winter.
“I think a lot of people — even the ones who got the permits — are going to be disappointed by that this summer,” he said.
“But we will have Main Beach and Wyborg Beach. They will get a lot of the overflow.”