So Young and Fabulous

AT Greenhouse, no one could hear you scream, and it wasn’t for lack of trying. The music at the club on a recent Thursday night — a procession of Michael Jackson songs played at airplane-engine volume — ricocheted off the low green-and-purple ceilings, sabotaging all attempts at spoken communication. Until Kim Kardashian grabbed the microphone.

“O.K., guys, let’s party!” she instructed from the well-fortified V.I.P. section of the SoHo club. Ms. Kardashian, who is famous for any number of reasons, was there lending her name to a new brand of vodka, which sponsored the event (never mind that she herself does not drink).

The densely packed crowd was young, fabulous and occasionally recognizable. Danielle Staub from “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” made conversation with a dapper middle-aged man with shiny, slicked-back hair.

“This is not my scene!” Ms. Staub screamed, as “The Way You Make Me Feel” transitioned into “I Want You Back.” Then she felt compelled to explain, “I turned down a few other things and ended up here, but I think Kim is beautiful.”

By 11 p.m., Ms. Kardashian and her entourage, which consisted of a sister, Khloé, and a celebrity publicist, Jonathan Cheban, grew tired of screaming and made a covert exit through the club’s kitchen with the help of some bouncers and other publicists. They ducked into a black S.U.V. for the short ride to Delicatessen, a restaurant on the Lower East Side.

There, nibbling on fried chicken and spinach-and-artichoke dip, the sisters talked about their own show on the E! network, “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” the conversation morphing into one about reality TV in general.

“ ‘Big Brother’ is one of the best shows on TV — I’m completely obsessed with it,” Mr. Cheban said.

“I’ve never watched that,” Kim said.

“It gets crazy,” Mr. Cheban said, explaining how the show’s producers deprive the cast of food and contact with the outside world. “After a few weeks they get stir-crazy, and people get nasty, and someone once tried to stab another person on the show.”

“What?” Kim shrieked.

“We’ve never tried to stab each other,” Khloé said, looking at Kim. “Yet.”

Mr. Cheban, who grew up in Fort Lee, N.J., said that “every show about Jersey is amazing.” Then he ticked off “The Sopranos” and a show on MTV called “True Life,” which featured some episodes about the Jersey Shore.

“It’s so stupid, but it’s so good,” Khloé interrupted, referring to the MTV show.

Khloé, the more free-spirited of the sisters — a characteristic played up for comic effect on the show — seemed to embarrass Kim when she started talking about one advantage to partying in New York rather than in their hometown, Los Angeles: no driving.

“Ever since I had my D.U.I., and now like I’ve never drank and drove since that,” she said. “I mean now I can’t have one sip of alcohol and drive.”

As she was speaking, Kim mimed shooting herself in the head.

“I’m on probation,” Khloé continued, then noticing her sister, asked, “Kim, are you upset?”

“No,” Kim said, shrugging.

It was after midnight when they made their way back into the S.U.V., though only after an encounter with a photographer outside the restaurant. “He must have followed us here from the club,” Mr. Cheban said.

They were soon at the night’s final destination, Avenue, a new celebrity hot spot in the meatpacking district. There was a crowd outside, but the doormen unhinged the velvet ropes for the Kardashians and opened the doors to the club, revealing a crowd of young, fabulous people flouting New York’s antismoking laws. The music of the moment? “I Want You Back.”