So, last night I'm doing my semi-weekly "long walk," which entails strolling the Hudson River from Battery Park up to the ferry terminal - it takes longer to get home, but I'm all about enjoying the nice weather while it lasts. Being crammed into a PATH train full of grouchy people all winter is coming soon enough. Anyway, as I'm coming upon the restaurant I always remind myself to tell my friends about because it has a really nice view with decent prices, I see a dog stationed near the al fresco dining entrance, and I'm all, "Aww, Rookie," because any big black dog makes me think of my onetime semi-psychotpathic Labrador. The dog's barking a little, and that's when I see someone get up from their table (the only full table in the section) and start walking over to the dog. Much like the times I've crossed paths with possums near my urban apartment, my eyes are all like "Is that...?" and my brain's like, "Holy cow, shyeah." Except in this case it isn't a giant nocturnal creature that I have to register, but Orlando Bloom.
This weirded me out because 1) I'd seen him in Romeo and Juliet last week 2) I was thinking not ten minutes prior to this passing how I rarely ever see celebrities in their natural habitat (i.e., living like humans like the rest of us) 3) My job requires me to look at his photos and read about him every now and then - and I just had read a nugget about him like an hour before. So I was like, "Yes, someone spiked my iced tea lemonade and I'm hallucinating this." I kept on walking.
But then, because of my job and the assorted photos that come with it, I remember the dog. And his (adorable) kid (sitting at the table he came from with two other guys). Still, I was like, "It could just be a tourist doppleganger family or something." Basically, I didn't believe it was him until our morning work meeting today and there was a paparazzi shot of him yesterday in the same outfit I saw him in. Now, I'll never be 100 percent sure because I didn't have any witnesses (like Ken, who is like a soaring eagle spotting mice in a corn field when it comes to celeb sightings - it's even MORE part of his job than it is mine, so his skills are sharp) and if I don't talk to you (and I'd never bug a celeb who's just trying to enjoy their free time), I will always doubt.
But still. I may have been working in a celeb-related field for the last eight years, but I am not jaded enough not to dork out when I see or think I see someone famous out and about. Not that I ever see them that often, mind you (see my thought ten minutes prior to spying Mr. Bloom).
It all goes back to 1999, when the first famous person I saw when I started working in NYC was the Knicks' coach at the time, Jeff Van Gundy. He was leaving my office building (right above Madison Square Garden) and the dark circles under his eyes alone gave him away, but then one of the security guards was all "Hey, Coach!" and that was my proof. You'd think I'd seen Brad Pitt, I was so excited - my first celebrity sighting! (I was easily won back then.) I got to see a few more famous people when I worked in that building because there were a few radio stations in there. For instance, the day the Yankees won the 1999 World Series, I rode in an elevator with the Goo Goo Dolls. Like, who'd think they were a harbinger of good things to come later in the day?
Others I've seen (and this is scattered over, like, 14 years, so it really isn't that many):
Molly Shannon on 8th Avenue - A gaggle of school kids in uniform had surrounded her and she delightedly signed autographs for them.
Jessica Lange at the Gap - This was a Ken sighting. She was wearing sunglasses indoors and I NEVER would've noticed her had he not pointed her out.
Matthew McCounaughey outside Yankee Stadium - The night of Game 2 of the 2009 World Series. He can come back any time he likes since they won that night.
Jon Bon Jovi at a bar - This was pretty awesome because it was in Red Bank. This was like three weeks after 9/11 (he was doing a benefit down the street) and my friends and I were in said bar, just hanging out when someone spied him toward the back. No one bothered him. Didn't stop us from being like, "OMG!" the entire evening.
Every now and then, TV shows/movies film near my office and actors' trailers get stationed outside our door. Because of this, I've seen Matt Bomer twice.
I saw Sarah Jessica Parker and Ron Livingston filming a scene for Sex and the City, and Bobby Flay filming his show and a good number of celebs at Yankee games, but those don't count. They weren't, like, navigating around swarms of tourists or buying zucchini at the supermarket or something epically mundane.
But the unfairness of all this is that I NEVER see Yankees out and about. Back in 2000, my dad and I were sitting on the 4 train at Yankee Stadium, waiting for the doors to close and Chuck Knoblauch walked by on the platform and we were like, "Was that...?" And then a couple of months later, I almost crashed into him on 42nd Street near Grand Central. But that's it. No other Yankees in the wild, ever (meeting Thumper at a press event a few years ago does not count). How this happens when I live near/work in the city they allegedly play for is sort of BS, right?
I'm too old to take up clubbing, so I'm just going to have to hope we cross paths at Starbucks or something. But if Derek Jeter gets the last of the iced tea lemonade, I will have to hate him. Just so we're clear.