The Moto method

The days grow shorter. The smell of chimney smoke fills the crisp night air. For those attuned to the rhythms of the party seasons, this could augur only one thing -- the annual Motorola holiday bash.

Now in its fifth year, this celebrity-chocked get-together -- which took over a hangar-sized warehouse in Culver City on Dec. 4 -- forms the centerpiece of the corporation’s strategy of cultivating brand loyalty within the entertainment community in the expectation that its products will rate a mention in the glut of fetishizing journalism the famous generate.

“This being an anniversary year,” said Motorola director of entertainment marketing Dave Pinsky, “we felt we would ramp up the event to a higher level.” How do you top last year’s Missy Elliott extravaganza? Well, think pink -- as in the entry carpet, the wigs of the hosts and hostesses and, with a capital P, the evening’s performer.

While Motorola no longer hands out its latest gizmos to those with boldface-worthy names, the seasonally appropriate tradition of giving goes on. To the needy, that is. Entering guests dropped gifts in a Toys for Tots bin and mugged for the cameras with the Marines -- whose mission it is to deliver the goods to underprivileged kids.

“That’s better,” said “Alias’ ” Melissa George. “They gave me free phones a couple of years ago.” George brought a Thomas the Tank Engine, while other celebrities -- Pink, Taryn Manning and the wrestler-turned-pinup Chyna -- arrived packing Play-Doh.

The main room was splattered with the Moto 5 logo, go-go boys and girls -- one shaking it in a giant souvenir snow-dome -- and some way out furniture, such as beds suspended from the rafters. “Like an adult swing,” said “Girlfriend” and Diana daughter Tracee Ellis Ross.

The throng soon invaded an adjacent wing as Pink took the stage. By the time she and her band led off with -- what else? -- “Get the Party Started,” the room was jammed. The pop siren plowed through a set of up-tempo numbers and a slow one she warned was “going to make you all suicidal.”

“I couldn’t see her well,” said Tori Spelling after the crowd charged back into the main room. “But she was great.”

The performance time (around 10:30) seemed to have caught many by surprise. So rather than petering out after the set, the party momentum was kept up by a wave of latecomers. These included a large contingent from “The O.C.,” who hit the dance floor en masse. “We all came here together,” explained the show’s alpha blond, Mischa Barton. “We’re all really good friends.”

But there was still a little bit of Pink to be had in the goodie bag, which contained not the raw and uncut but the “edited version” of her latest CD, “Try This.” And as if that didn’t drive home the point that this was a wholesome holiday affair, a container of organic milk and a pair of Mrs. Fields cookies were also included.