TINSELTOWN SPYWITNESS.

Byline: Emily Feimster and Elizabeth Snead

OCEAN EMOTION: Dustin Hoffman and Ben Stiller (co-stars of Jay Roach's new comedy ``Meet the Fockers'') arrived together Monday night at Raleigh Studios for ``Hollywood Ocean Night'' to discuss the growing problems with our misused oceans.

Why Hoffman's passion for the ocean? ``I have a surfing film coming out at the end of the month,'' he deadpanned.

Equally funny Stiller says his love of the sea comes from growing up by the ocean. ``Well, it was New York, but it's still near the ocean.'' Hollywood it-girl Amy Smart, who starred with Stiller in ``Starsky and Hutch,'' has been an environmental activist for a decade and spoke about smart seafood choices.

Reading the list of seafood to skip, Stiller was crestfallen when he saw shrimp was on the list. ``I love shrimp!'' he whined.

Sharon Lawrence (``NYPD Blue'') and Wendie Malick (``Just Shoot Me'') joined the panel of biologists who explained the whys and wherefores of the death of the oceans and all their sea life due to pollution and harmful fishing practices.

``The first time I went under the ocean, I saw what a magical place it was, and then five years into my diving I saw dead coral. I recognized how dead coral affects the health of the ocean, and we need the ocean for so many things,'' Lawrence said.

Malick, who came to the event straight from shooting the last episode of ``Frasier,'' says, ``There are things we can do in our everyday life to protect the ocean - buy organic as much as possible, support environmental candidates, and drive smaller cars.'' Malick gave her gas guzzler to her parents and is waiting in line for a Toyota hybrid.

ROQ STAR: If you lived in Los Angeles and listened to music from 1965 to 1995, you probably know the name Rodney Bingenheimer.

Bingenheimer is the Zelig-like Los Angeles music-scene figure/DJ called the Prince of Pop who kick-started the L.A. punk scene by giving KROQ-FM listeners their first whiffs of the Sex Pistols, the Ramones, the Go-Gos, X, Blondie and Iggy Pop.

Now George Hickenlooper, the Emmy-winning documentary director who explored Francis Ford Coppola in ``Heart of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse,'' takes a trip down Rodney Bingenheimer's boulevard of broken dreams.

His fascinating but heartbreakingly sad documentary, ``Mayor of the Sunset Strip,'' tells the tale of the gnomelike music legend who was mostly famous for being famous.

At the Monday night premiere at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, a few of Bingenheimer's famous friends turned up. Spotted in the theater: Juliette Lewis ``Friends'' stars Matt Le Blanc and Lisa Kudrow, rocker Michael Des Barres and his ex-wife Pamela Des Barres.

Michael Des Barres noted that Rodney deserved acclaim not just for his musical influence but also for his style. ``He's also been wearing bangs for 30 years, which is a huge achievement in itself.''

Many years in the making, the film shows Bingenheimer's isolated childhood, his adolescence growing up on the Strip in the Swinging '60s through the Sleazy '70s and Heavy Metal '80s up to today, when the show is parked in the midnight-to-3 a.m. Sunday slot. As a friend muses in the film, ``I could never understand how he could have been so influential, helped so many people and not be a millionaire.''

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2 photos

Photo:

(1) STILLER: No shrimp for you!

Theo Wargo/WireImage.com

(2) BINGENHEIMER: Sunrise, Sunset Strip.

Steve Granitz/WireImage.com