Once when I was staying at the Century Plaza Hotel in Century City, I came back to find a stranger working at my desk, smoking,. Turns out they'd checked him into my room while I was at lunch. The manager was very apologetic, and upgraded me to a suite and then gave me a fruit basket and a gift certificate for dinner and stuff.
Why am I telling you this? Turns out suites, piles of free stuff, and people I have no idea who they are are a grand tradition at the Century Plaza Hotel, which at least one insider in the Celebrity Gifting Suite Industry describes as in Beverly Hills:
The Stars Came Out For…Mattel Presents The Boom Boom Room Gifting Suite
Celebrating The Golden Globes!!
Babies And Kids Were The Celebrities At This Year’s Style Villa!
A-listers like Angie Harmon and Chandra Wilson loving Greco special addition Cynthia Rowley strollers...
Shar Jackson showing up with an entourage of kids and getting trendy rain boots from Washington Shoe Boot for all.
Ming Na feeding oranges to her child in the Tiny Love Room.
Tischina Arnold wanting one of everything “Dora” for her daughter Kai in the Munchkin Room… Kai is Dora’s biggest fan.
Angie Harmon going crazy for the West Coast Wagon. She filled her wagon with everything!! She also Loved the Tiny Love Room where she took 2 of the DVD Magics.
Angela Basset loving the Mimic booth which teaches babies basic love for sign language.
Carnie Wilson crying when Just Too Cute gave her one of their Princess Tea Cup Chandeliers for her baby.
Other Celebrity Guests Included: Vivica Fox, Melina Kanakaredes, Joely Fisher, Samantha Harris, Michael Chiklis, Cole Hauser, Kevin Sorbo, Alison Sweeney, Diane Farr, Tia Carrere, Tischa Campbell, Sherri Shepard, Bill Belamy, Laura Leighton, Kat Dennings, Eric Grunberg, Emily Rutherfurd, Ashley Williams, Rena Sofar, Kevin Weisman, Mariane Jean-Baptist, Amy Acker, Melinda Williams, Tony Hale…[ellipsis in the original, just imagine the non-stop parade of A-listers.]
I got 1/146. [celebrityphotos.com]
Oh, the pr flacks have been bombarding us about this event lately. Nothing makes you want to review a product quite like the pitch, "Carnie Wilson has one and LOVES it!"
[or "made Carnie Wilson cry" -ed.]