TINSELTOWN SPYWITNESS.

Byline: Joel Stratte-McClure

GOLDEN GLOBE CENTRAL: Kicking off the Hollywood awards season won't be as geographically challenging as taking a flight to Vegas for a New Year's party.

The Golden Globe Awards on Jan. 16 have become a one-stop affair at the Beverly Hilton, which has just completed an $80 million renovation and is celebrating its golden anniversary.

The Hilton is not only the venue for the 63rd annual Golden Globes, which get under way in the International Ballroom with cocktails at 2:30 p.m. for 1,296 invitees of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. More than 5,200 people will also cram into after-parties thrown by NBC Universal, HBO, InStyle/Warner Bros., Fox and the Weinstein Co.

Who, besides some 200 media outlets and 1,200 journalists, is going to show?

Virtually everyone.

Presenters include Leonardo DiCaprio, Harrison Ford, Jamie Foxx and Natalie Portman. Anthony Hopkins will receive the special Cecil B. DeMille award for his contribution to the entertainment field. And the seemingly unending list of nominees range from most of the ``Desperate Housewives'' to Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp, George Clooney, Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Pierce Brosnan, Terrence Howard, Judi Dench, Keira Knightley, Gwyneth Paltrow, Charlize Theron, Sarah Jessica Parker, Reese Witherspoon and Naomi Watts.

There's also competition among the studios and nominees for the hotel's 16 revamped Penthouse Collection suites on the eighth floor.

``Sony and E! use the suites for VIP guests who tune in to our private live feed from the ballroom on 42-inch HDTV plasma screens,'' confided Hilton's Brian O'Connor, noting that one nominee likes the spa bathrooms and vaulted ceilings.

And what are the room numbers for Ledger, Depp, Knightley and Theron?

``Let me get back to you on Jan. 17,'' said O'Connor.

KNOW WHEN TO HOLD 'EM IN 2006: It was definitely considered chic to get out of town on New Year's Eve to party in Las Vegas or Miami.

One Vegas hot spot was the new multimillion-dollar poker room at Caesars Palace, where Pure Nightclub held a daylong tournament. Hosts were Nicky Hilton and ``Entourage's'' Kevin Connolly. Others attending included Shannon Elizabeth, Lance Bass, Jennifer Tilly, Benjamin McKenzie, Ashton Holmes and some professional card players.

Recently divorced Elizabeth, who wore a diamond on her left ring finger, was the big winner and took home $54,747.

What was the first thing the vegetarian and animal-loving actress did with her winnings? Ordered a healthy room-service dinner before changing into a saucy flowered corset top, black skirt and knee-high boots to host a New Year's Eve party at the Tangerine Lounge & Nightclub. Elizabeth stayed close to ``good friend'' Bass throughout the evening but joined DJ Grandmaster Flash for the New Year countdown. But she refused to spray the crowd with champagne when the clock struck midnight.

``I hate it when someone does that to me,'' Elizabeth said.

Some of the losing poker players consoled themselves at an intimate dinner thrown by Hilton and Connolly at Wolfgang Puck's Spago before heading en masse to the Pure Nightclub with Hilton's parents and Stevie Wonder.

The hot host couple led a New Year countdown, toasted with Dom Perignon and kissed for the first time in 2006. Then they popped the cork on a massive $100,000-plus bottle of Cristal to celebrate Pure's first birthday.

And where were party girls like Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie, Lindsay Lohan and Mischa Barton? Paris arrived at Pure at 2:30 a.m., and then joined her sister and the gang for a fully catered after-party in Nicky's suite until 6:30 a.m.

But you had to go to Miami to find Richie, Lohan and Barton. They wanted to be sure to celebrate the New Year a few hours before the Hiltons.

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BASS and ELIZABETH: Good Time, good friends.