The Night I Met Paris Hilton

I was at The Abbey in West Hollywood with some friends in July of 2003. Paris Hilton was just starting to get a little bit of press -- she would have flings with some minor celebrities. (This was before the whole One Night In Paris sex tape scandal.)

We got there early and got a table, just the four of us. We had some dinner and more than a few drinks and it got more and more crowded as the night went on. My friends and I tend to get very loud and draw more than our share of attention, and we moved the party to the dance floor (or what passes for a dance floor at The Abbey) and were dancing like buffoons and cracking everyone up.

We heard a "celebuzz" - that's what we called it when a celebrity would show up at a club and all of a sudden everyone would start pointing and craning their necks towards some section of the room and you'd see some camera flashes go off. Two relatively tall blonde heads were over by the entrance surrounded by a ton of people and we were asking around about who it was, and were told it was Paris and Nicky Hilton. Finally we saw them: both smiling and shaking hands with people while somehow simultaneously talking on cell phones.

I didn't really know anything about them so I was like, "Eh, whatever" and kept drinking and dancing. It's been my experience that celebrities only stay at a club for about an hour before hopping to the next one, but they stayed all night. Everyone was buying them drinks and they were in a corner "holding court" but Paris was dancing more than talking and eventually she left Nicky and moved to the dance area with a couple other friends.

Somehow I ended up dancing right next to her during Beyonce's song "Crazy In Love" and during the "uh oh uh oh uh oh" part we both happened to be doing that Beyonce butt-shake dance and happened to look at each other at the same time and cracked up for some reason. Normally I wouldn't do stuff like this but, like I said, I'd had more than enough to drink, so I danced over and hip-bumped her. WAY harder than I should have. She must have flown three feet sideways and I was like, "Oh crap, she's a princess, she's going to be PISSED."

But she regained her balance and started laughing hysterically and ran over to the bathroom. There was a line and she got on her cell phone but I had to pee too so I ended up standing next to her in line and she smiled at me while she was on the phone, and as we passed each other on her way out of the bathroom and my way into the bathroom, she gave me a sweet, drunken hug and said, "You're crazy!"

So say what you want about Paris Hilton, but she showed more personality and was more down-to-earth than many of the celebrities I've run into. She could have been a bitchy diva but she was really nice, and I'm glad I got a chance to meet her.