On a night when may opted to stay home, these intrepid partyers rang in 2000 across the Southland

At his 31-room Holmby Hills Playboy Mansion--where a driveway entrance sign reads “Caution, Playmates at Play”--Viagra poster boy Hugh Hefner, 73, rang in the New Year at an extravagant bash for about 1,000 guests.

Among the revelers: Fabio, Kato Kaelin, Scott Baio, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Lou Ferrigno, Burt Reynolds, Ruth Buzzi and Lainie Kazan. Also there were Bill Maher, Robert Culp, Martin Landau, Red Buttons, Robert Blake, Jerry Vale and Ray Anthony, composer of, natch, “The Bunny Hop.”

Speaking of bunnies, there were plenty--former playmates, present playmates and wannabes--in clothes that showed off more curves than Mulholland Drive. The invitation, after all, read “black tie or lingerie.”

Guests partied until 3 a.m. under a massive white tent--decorated with giant balloon bouquets (which later did double duty as cover-ups for a few dancers) and dangling silver tinsel--that spread across the mansion’s backyard, pool and famous grotto. An Astro Turf lawn featured a tiled dance floor and stage for go-go dancers who wore only airbrushed body paint--an orange bikini on one, a lavender lace unitard on another.

Partiers dined buffet-style on rack of lamb, sturgeon and seafood brochette and downed 3,000 Jell-O/vodka shots and 50 cases of champagne.

Minutes before midnight, Hef and his three girlfriends, twins Mandy and Sandy Bentley and Brande Roderick, bounded to the stage, where they were joined by a crush of revelers.

Many in the throng held their cameras and camcorders overhead to capture the scene as balloons and silver confetti drenched the gathering at midnight.

“We are going out on a celebratory high as a people and as a global economy,” said Hefner. “I hope for more of the same in the coming year.”

Julie Kline, 19, who moved to Los Angeles two months ago from Dyer, Ind., took the dress code to heart in a $50 sheer, white baby-doll outfit, trimmed in pink faux fur and accessorized with a flashing red light in the cleavage area. She customized white ankle boots with pink and white faux fur.

“A lot of the girls stop me and say, ‘You are so cute in that outfit,’ ” she said, adjusting a “Happy New Year” tiara on her head.

And the guys?

“Well, they just stare and then ask for a photograph.”

Verne Troyer, the 32-inch-tall actor who played Mini-Me in “Austin Powers: The Spy who Shagged Me,” also garnered his share of stares. Dressed as “Half-a-Hef” in a velvet smoking jacket and silk jammies, Troyer turned 31 after the stroke of midnight and doled out slices of birthday cake.

“It’s definitely exhausting,” said the actor about his recent popularity. “But I don’t mind taking advantage of every opportunity I’ve got,” he added as he reached for the hand of his towering friend, 5-foot-4-inch Jenele Sanford.

“We’re best friends. Don’t make anything more out of it,” said Sanford, in a backless gown that showed off several tattoos. “We met dancing in the street. Verne is very friendly and warm.”

Like Troyer, romance novel cover boy, author and philosopher Fabio was a babe magnet. But Fabio, who said his nose was fine after a bird slammed into it while he rode a roller coaster earlier this year, was more interested in talking about his approach to life. “I live my life moment by moment, in the present. That’s my advice to everyone for the new year.”