Reality Stars, They’re Just Like Us!

As a kid visiting L.A. (age 8), I remember taking one of those bus tours to see the stars’ homes. Highlights included the home formerly owned by Lucille Ball. (Yeah, it didn’t take much to get people excited back then). These days, tourists are flocking to L.A. to catch a glimpse of their fave reality star.

And sometimes catching a glimpse isn’t enough. They’re coming to experience the lifestyle — and perhaps befriend their favorite TV personalities. The L.A. Times features one such “The Hills” fan:

In the weeks leading up to her spring break earlier this year, Rachel Haas, then a high school senior, wasn’t concerned with trying on new bikinis or misting herself with a spray tan. Instead, she was obsessively watching MTV’s reality show ” The Hills” and making a long list of every restaurant and nightclub that appeared on-screen that she wanted to visit on her trip to Los Angeles.

Her ideal itinerary began with her and her friends venturing down the Sunset Strip to eat burgers at Ketchup, where they figured they had a shot of catching the cameras from “The Hills.” On the weekend, they’d hit Les Deux, Hollywood’s über-trendy club, with its Euro-themed wallpaper and bottle service.

“My perception of L.A. was that it was a place that felt completely unreal, like a movie set. I had the highest expectations for it — I thought I’d literally be running into famous people everywhere,” said Haas, now an 18-year-old freshman at Washington University in St. Louis.

No happy ending here: Haas didn’t get to meet L.C. afterall.

MTV Video Music Awards: "Dude, They’re Not Letting In The Princes of Malibu!"

We’re notoriously late for events — parents, you know how tough it is to get ready, wait for the baby sitter and prep the kid for the fact that mommy and daddy are going out — without him.

That’s why we got to the Paramount lot at 5:30 on Sunday, right when doors closed to the sound stage where the MTV Video Music Awards were being held. We found some amazing street parking on Melrose and Bronson too — well, amazing until we realized the entrance was on Gower, and we’d have to hike a few blocks over.

That brought us to 6 p.m., right when the show was starting. No way they were going to let us in at that point — and that’s how we ended up in a cramped, makeshift alley way with other latecomers. As we shuttled back and forth between doors, we stumbled across virtually everyone: John Legend. Lil Wayne. And yes, the Jonas Brothers. Really.

Waiting along side us to get in: “The Hills” stars Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag (above, with our oh-so-high-res camera phone). Yep, Speidi had about as much luck as we did in getting inside, at least early on: None. Ditto Pratt’s pal Brody Jenner (hence the “Princes of Malibu” cracks we kept hearing).

And ditto Seth Green.

We were promised an entrance after the first commercial break — but that came and went. In the meantime, the LAPD fire marshal started acting tough — demanding that the alley way next to the studio door be emptied, or else the entire production would be shut down. Whoa.

Guess all of us crowding by the door was freaking him out. Half an hour, then an hour passed, as we stood by the door, waiting for entrance. In the meantime, Lindsay Lohan and gal pal Samantha Ronson came up — and the security guards began screaming for four people to exit the sound stage. (See, to allow Linds and Sam in, they’d have to even out the number inside the studio by yanking people out.) Sure enough, four people lost their inside privileges so that L&S could get inside. Also making their way in: Paramore. (“MAKE WAY FOR PARAMORE!” — one of the night’s rallying cries.)

Meanwhile, we finally decided to give up on the inside and head to the after party, where hundreds of people were aleady gathered. Best decision of the night. Drinks were flowing, food was being served, and people we knew were already there. The show was playing on monitors, but we mostly waited to see Kanye West perform the closing number outside next to the party. He did… and then… well, what was that? Anticlimactic, no?

Afterward, we headed to In Touch Weekly’s post-VMA party at the Bar Marmont. As the Veronicas performed upstairs, we found a small, non-roped off booth next to the bar. Sipping our ginger-flavored cocktail, in walked — once again! — Samantha and Lindsay, in a VIP area next to the DJ. Later, Pauly Shore climbed into the booth next to us. It was a made-for-TMZ kinda night.