California student inherits Paris Hilton's phone number — and calls

LOS ANGELES — Shira Barlow had her new cellphone number for two days before the flood of calls began.

Birthday wishes, inquiries about locations for "in" parties, requests to get on guest lists at the hottest Los Angeles nightclubs.

Most of the calls were placed between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. on weekends. Some were annoying. Many involved slurred words.

When the callers were told they had reached a college student at the University of California, Los Angeles, they refused to believe it.

"Baby girl, how are you?" a man purred in a foreign accent.

"Why are you doing this?" one woman asked. "This is so rude."

Little did Barlow — or her callers — know that she had inherited the phone number of one of the nation's most ubiquitous and sought-after celebrities: Paris Hilton.

At first, the junior communications major thought the random references to "Paris" were some kind of nickname. "I didn't make the connection," she said.

But by the time Hilton was sentenced to jail in June for violating probation, there was no avoiding it.

It all began on Valentine's Day during a night out in West Hollywood with friends, Barlow said, when she accidentally dropped her cellphone into a toilet.

The next day she went to a store to replace it, and when she got the new phone, her wireless carrier assigned her a new number.

As it turned out, Barlow had inherited a recycled phone number that had been Hilton's.

Service carriers say it is common for them to hold numbers for users an average of six months before reassigning them. In theory, the wait allows people to inform family, friends and business associates about the change.

But Michael Shames, executive director of the Utility Consumer's Action Network, says the turnaround time for recycled numbers actually can be as little as one month. That means many people may not get the message in time.

But what if the old number belongs to a VIP or celebrity?

Lansing, Mich., high-school student Katie Kamar found that out this year when she randomly inherited a phone number that formerly belonged to Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm. Calls for the governor came in during the wee hours. At their peak, there were about a half-dozen a day from callers ranging from business owners to the Fraternal Order of Police.

New York resident Laura Maxwell still gets calls for entertainer Chris Rock on the number she got three years ago from Verizon.

Maxwell says she fielded calls from movie producer Jerry Bruckheimer, documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, directors Spike Lee and Peter Farrelly, and actors Adam Sandler, Jerry Seinfeld and Damon Wayans. Jack Nicholson's office called several times.

Rather than an annoyance, Maxwell said Rock's old number had been a boon.

"How could you not be entertained by getting the phone number of an A-list Hollywood celebrity?" Maxwell said.

Barlow agreed that it was amusing to inherit such a phone number.

The Los Angeles Times came across Barlow when a reporter dialed a number that several sources had said was Hilton's mobile line.

The first flurry of calls and text messages came within days of Hilton's Feb. 17 birthday, just after Barlow got her new phone.

"Oh my God," a caller said, indicative of most. "Where's the party?"

One weekend, Barlow answered a call and was lectured by an unidentified woman who took umbrage when asked if she was calling from Florida.

"I'm so insulted. You must be on drugs," the woman said before calling back five times to lecture Barlow on how "tacky" people from the Sunshine State were.

Another time, she had a half-hour conversation with an aspiring rap artist who, after learning he was not talking with Hilton, still invited Barlow to a party.

More often than not, however, the conversations were brief and polite. Then came the day that Hilton went to court for violating probation after pleading no contest to an alcohol-related reckless-driving charge.

Barlow was at her internship at a production company in the Los Angeles area May 4 when Hilton was sentenced to jail.

In short order, calls and text messages that previously inquired about parties and nightclubs were replaced by dozens expressing condolences. "People were scared for her," Barlow said.

The phone traffic trailed off when Hilton entered jail, but with the heiress now free again, a new crop of communiqués is flooding Barlow's phone.

Barlow resisted the temptation to pose as the heiress to get herself and friends on the guest list of exclusive parties.

But she plans to keep the number, she says, because it's been more amusement than hassle.

"It was really out of convenience," she said. "I didn't want to switch again."