This One's Not Lindsay's Fault

Lindsay Lohan's driver hit a photographer outside the Hotel Café this past weekend and now the paparazzi says he's injured and going to sue Lindsay.

"So what?" you say. "That's what those people do to each other out there and they're all asking for it anyway."

Maybe not. The tabloid press and celebrities have enjoyed an uneasy truce for years. If you went for sushi at Koi on La Cienega, you were going to get your picture taken. If you chose Sushi Nozawa out in the Valley, you would have a better meal and the paps would leave you alone.

Same thing for the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. Get your caffeine at the Sunset Plaza location, you were fair game but no one bothered you when you visited the Larchmont Village store. If you took your family shopping at the Malibu Country Mart, you would be inviting the Enquirer to take your picture but photographers almost never hassled your and your kids at The Grove.

Everyone understood the rules, tabloids got their photos and no one could say they didn't know what they were getting into when they chose where to shop or have dinner. More importantly, civilians could avoid spots that were lousy with paparazzi and conduct their business in peace.

That's what makes the video above so infuriating. The Hotel Café is one of the great music venues in America, but the entrance is behind the building, down a long, narrow alley. Because it's almost impossible to park in the neighborhood (near Hollywood & Vine), you pretty much have to drive down the alley and park in the club's tiny, overpriced parking garage.

Most nights, customers deal with the hassle for the music and the ambience inside the club. Once you add a slew of tabloid monkeys blocking the entrance and exit, real music fans might decide that the young acts who play the room are no longer worth the trouble.

Watch the video: big guy was blocking the alley. Play in the street and you deserve to get hit; everybody learns that in kindergarten. I'm not sure why the Hotel Café management doesn't have them thrown off the property, but here's hoping they learn soon.

Lindsay Lohan has done a lot of stupid things in her life; going to a show isn't one of those things.