An A-list love fest welcomes the Beckhams to L.A.

The Beckhams’ crash into L.A. last week didn’t always smell like roses, what with Posh’s prime-time special blasted by the critics and Becks’ team failing to score in his first game Saturday. But that didn’t mean the hosts of their Hollywood-style welcome bash — the Cruises and the Smiths — nixed the hundreds of blood-red rosebuds scattered under glass tabletops at their Sunday night party downtown.

The 600-strong love fest, held behind barriers at the Geffen site of the Museum of Contemporary Art, drew out the likes of A-listers including Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, Eva Longoria, Brooke Shields, Bruce Willis, Stevie Wonder, Brian Grazer and Ron Howard and, of course, Victoria Beckham’s longtime manager, “American Idol” creator Simon Fuller. But inside it was hardly the star magnet expected — some insiders having buzzed it would rival Vanity Fair’s Oscar blowout. Suffice it to say, VF editor Graydon Carter’s pull in these parts remains unscathed.

Then again, there were no sponsored banners, no gift bags and none of the tacky stuff that’s become as standard as La Lindsay and Paris at Tinseltown parties. In fact, none of the post-rehab posse were there. Although Lohan gal pal and deejay Samantha Ronson did take the party from James Brown to Madonna, and even managed to draw Tom Cruise onto the dance floor in a moment of abandon (OK, controlled abandon. With all the onlookers gawking in amazement, one guest quipped, “What is this, his bar mitzvah?”)

The red and white theme — down to the ruby vintage Galanos gown Katie Holmes picked up from Decades last week — was nothing short of a valentine for L.A.’s latest British expats. Even the cops keeping the plebes off the streets surrounding the site in Little Tokyo were sweet. On snow-white leather sofas strewn throughout the space, guests nibbled comfort food served from buffet tables — fish and chips, burgers and fries, chicken tenders and mashed potatoes. The only things that didn’t come with a side of starchy nightshade, in fact, were the cupcakes.