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Since NYC is so walkable and a Mecca for celebrities, just wondering.
When I worked at One Madison Avenue, many of my coworkers used to see celebrities. Some were staying at the W hotel a bit down Park Avenue South. I was oblivious most of the time and probably walked right past some people, but I did see a couple of them. People I worked with saw Elle McPherson, Drew Barrymore, Richard Thomas and his family, Uma Thurmann and Julia Roberts (multiple sightings, both lived in nearby Gramercy Park at the time), and a coworker swears Diddy almost ran her down when she was crossing the street.
Once I was out on the 24th Street side of my building smoking my cigarette, and I noticed a woman walking on the sidewalk across the street. What caught my eye was her nice outfit--sea green pants and a blouse, and they looked like silk. I saw the smokers on the other side of the street do a double take, and only then did I look at her face. It was Rue McClanahan, who was Blanche on the Golden Girls and appeared on other TV shows before that. She walked to the corner and hailed a cab.
I looked her up to make sure that she did indeed spend time in the city and it wasn't just my imagination, and I was pleased to discover that not only did she have a home in the city, she led the effort after 9/11 to rescue the pets of people who could not return to their downtown apartments and find temporary care for them until they could be reunited with their owners.
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Twice while outside smoking in that same spot the cops came and blocked off the end of the street and building security was talking on their radios, so we knew someone biggish was coming. The first time, it was then-California-Governor Arnold Schwarzeneggar, coming for a meeting and a speech at 11 Madison.
The second time it was during the Democratic primary race in 2008, and it was Barack Obama. People started chanting his name after his car pulled into the parking garage in our building, and he came out and waved to everyone. Interestingly enough, VP Dick Cheney was on the board of Credit Suisse, which owned OMA, and rumor was always that he had an office on a floor in the building that the elevator never stopped on. I know that during the RNC, there were NYPD posted at all entrances to our building but none other in the neighborhood. Was Cheney lending Obama his office for a break? Makes ya say "Hmmm."
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I was at Union Square at lunchtime in winter, and I noticed a short guy in a big parka walking on the sidewalk near me looking in windows. What caught my eye was that there was a taller, younger man who seemed to be looking around and acting protective of the short guy, so I took a closer look. The short guy was Anthony Hopkins. Again, I checked the Internet to verify my own eyes, and sure enough, Hopkins was in town.
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Madison Square Park across from One Madison Avenue is a popular spot for TV and movie scenes. I got there one morning when they were putting down fake snow for that Jim Carrey movie about the penguins, and I saw scenes filmed for The Other Guys, a movie that was in the theater maybe one day, lol, but I did get to see Samuel L. Jackson, "The Rock" Johnson, and Mark Wahlberg shooting at one another. Will Ferrell was in it, too, but I didn't see him.
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At the original One WTC, I left the office with a friend to head to our holiday party at a nearby restaurant. They used to have celebrities do different activities at the WTC from time to time, and that week they were having famous people do Christmas story readings on the mezzanine. Just as we passed, we saw a smallish crowd waiting in one corner, so we went to look and see what was going on. Out walked Lauren Bacall, up in years but looking fabulous and dressed in a beautiful wool suit. She read "A Christmas Memory" by Truman Capote in that marvelous voice of hers, and my friend and I left late for the party with tears in our eyes.
I guess celebrity sightings are one advantage of smoking!
Not worth it, though. I quit more than seven years ago. Costs too much, plus you're a slave to the damn things.
One more that came to mind--In the late 80s, it was the 50th anniversary of the creation of Superman. Again at the WTC, which always had these little odds and ends going on, they had a guest appearance by actress Noel Neill and actor Jack Larson, who played Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen in the original 1950s TV series.
They both had white hair, but people were going up talking to them and getting their autographs.
These were arranged appearances, not, random meetings on the street, but it was still fun.
Oh yeah, and I also saw actor Jack Warden back in the 80s when I went to the New York Boat Show with the guy I was dating at the time. He was just there with everyone else in the crowd, looking at all the boats. Didn't even notice until someone recognized him and shook his hand.
I didn't realize until I wrote all this out how many people I did see over the years.
It depends if movie / TV shoots count. They recently shot "Law and Order SVU" on my block. Pretty much the whole cast was there (Mariska Hargitay, Ice T, etc.) Years earlier the original "Law and Order" was being shot in the neighborhood, got to talk to Jerry Orbach. When they shot the last remake of "The Pink Panther", they did the shoot on a street in midtown in the middle of rush hour. As I was walking to the subway, I noticed that I was in the middle of a movie shoot. I managed to actually walk into the middle of the shot, and Steve Martin shooed me away.
Randomly (not as part of a shoot), Liza Minelli. One of the Baldwin brothers, I think Danial (in Central Park, with a baby strapped to his chest). Jennifer Jason Leigh in The Village. A few foreign pime ministers. The PM of Japan in the old midtown east Hermann's Sporting Goods, buying tennis balls. Ehud Barak (PM or Israel), in the old Borders Bookstore.
I have a friend who manages musical acts. She had a show for one of her acts at a venue in the Flatiron. Essentially no one showed up for her show, but we hung around for whoever the next act was. That's when the celebs started showing up. Al Pachino, Sean Penn, Sydney Poitier, and Billy Zane Apparently the act was Billy Zane's sister. My friend's intern at the time was Puerto Rican. Not being Puerto Rican, I didn't know this, but the apparently movie "Carlitos Way" is (or at least was at time) iconic in the Puerto Rican community, which makes Al Pachino a big deal (if he isn't already for his other,much more well known roles). This has the girl flipping out that he was there. She was yelling. It was hilarious and bit embarrassing at the same time.
Too many to name over almost 40yrs of living here is working in high end salons/spas for many yrs.
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