Kim at Crobar

L.A. socialite and one-time Paris Hilton sidekick Kim Kardashian came to town this past weekend to host Poparazzi Friday at Crobar. The event meant Kim got a night off from filming her reality-TV show, Keeping up with the Kardashians, which premieres October 14th on E! The show follows the lives of Kim and her nine siblings: Kim’s dad was the late O. J. defense attorney Robert Kardashian; her mom, Kris, is now married to Olympic gold medalist Bruce Jenner; between them, Kris and Bruce ride herd over a Brady Bunch-style brood (including MTV’s The Hills heartthrob Brody Jenner). “Most of us are about six months apart in age,” Kim, 26, told me. “My family is crazy, which you’ll see on the show.”

Despite her friendship with Paris and a busy social calendar, Kim says she’s pretty tame and only takes a drink a couple of times a year. “I go out a lot because I love dressing up,” the five-foot-two beauty of Armenian descent told me. “I hate the taste of alcohol.” You’d think the release earlier this year of a sex tape—featuring Kim and her then-boyfriend Ray-J, brother of the singer Brandy—would drive anyone to drink. “My step-dad didn’t talk to me for three weeks,” Kim says of the scandal, which ended with a settlement in her favor and the removal of the video from shelves. Cleaning up her image was one of the reasons Kim agreed to the reality show when producer Ryan Seacrest approached her. “I want people to see what I’m really like,” says the soft-spoken Kim, who works as a fashion stylist and co-owns the Calabasas, California, boutique Dash with her sisters Khloe and Kourtney.

Kim—whom I met through my day job at playboy.com—invited me to hold court with her Friday in a roped-off area on Crobar’s main level; the space was outfitted with a lavender throne and a glittery banner spelling out “Princess Kim.” (“Can you believe they did this for me?” she asked.) Forgoing the typical celebrity entourage, Kim came to town with her sister Khloe, 23. “Kim is sooo boring,” Khloe whispered to me at about 1 a.m. when Kim mentioned, after signing countless autographs and taking pictures with fans—she even graciously signed a couple of girls’ cleavage—that she was ready to go home. We managed to convince her to hang out a little longer, and we retreated to Crobar’s VIP section, where Kim spent the remainder of the night texting away on her cell phone. I didn’t see her take one sip of alcohol all night.

Apparently some celebrities aren’t just like us.

Photograph: Courtesy of Sarah Preston