Tuesday, April 7, 2009

(not) Celebrity spotting in New York

I should have known something like this would happen as soon as I axed my membership to the swanky Union Square gym, in a fit of recession-induced pique.

From a Tuesday gossip roundup on Daily Intelligencer I learned that yesterday, at the very gym I'd recently abandoned:
Andy Roddick worked out in head-to-toe Lacoste (visor included) at Union Square’s Equinox.


Roddick and his sponsored clothing.... I reckon of all the millions of celebrities, semi-celebrities and pseudo-celebrities milling around NYC on any given day, Roddick in the gym is actually one I might have half a chance of recognizing and meeting. Of course, that was until I deleveraged and ditched Equinox for the much cheaper, much less glamorous Y up the road...

I have a terrible record for celebrity sighting, in spite of having lived in several places known to be rife with them. I once saw radio personality Chris Evans with his then wife Billie Piper at London's Waterloo station. And I saw Scottish comedian Billy Connolly in Union Square (Union Square and the swanky bars and restaurants in its environs are something of a celeb hotbed). Even by Cambridge standards, I think I missed out at college. Yes, Stephen Hawking was there, but he rarely hung out with the kids, and the student body's best celebrity was Lulu and John Frieda's son and a prince from Jordan (Allegedly. He had body guards, that's all I know).

But that's about it. I don't really mind, I guess, but I do feel left out when friends start swapping celeb-spotting stories. A friend in London once spotted Ben Affleck and Gwyneth (in the days of yore when they were a couple) in a pub together, and the resident American has seen Gisele twice in one day and Scarlett Johansson at least once. Completely by accident - he wasn't even stalking them, he claims.

I know we all ought to be above this sort of thing - but what's your best celebrity spot?

6 comments:

Jon said...

I saw Jez from Peep Show on Kilburn High Road, looking extremely shifty.

I also recently was drinking in a Norf London boozer at the same time as Phil Mitchell of Eastenders fame. It doesn't get much better than that.

notfromaroundhere said...

I've seen Steven Hawking twice in Cambridge, once on a punt (!) and the other time rolling down the sidewalk in front of the CUP store. And I saw Nigel Havers walking in front of King's College. Those are pretty much my only celeb. sightings ever, though.

britoutofwater said...

The Special One says that I could spot a celebrity at 200 yards. I've seen Uma Thurman, Kate Winslet, Matt Dillon and Al Pacino on the streets of New York, and a couple of weeks ago in London, I saw Neil Morrissey, Frank Skinner and Michael Portillo (not together) on the same day.

Planes are my best spotting place though - I had an (unpleasant) encounter with Jude Law a couple of months ago, saw John Hurt on a flight to Ibiza, and once sat next to Kate Moss on a BA bus taking us to a flight to NYC.

That sound you hear is the unmistakeable clank of names being dropped...

Mr Potarto said...

My wife completely refuses to believe I saw Paris Hilton waiting for a train to Poughkeepsie on platform 38 of Grand Central Station.

Little Britainer said...

Brit out of water - that's quite a celebrity trawl. Have you had job offers from producers of celebrity Big Brother or Bravo channel yet? They should clearly be lining up.

I like the idea of Paris going to Poughkeepsie. Apart from I know people who live there and not sure they'd get along well...

AliBlahBlah said...

Imagine how I feel, moving to movie-star-ville USA and then learning that Daniel Craig has joined my Mum's gym in Harrogate.

Gutted!

oh, and notfromaroundhere, I see your Steven Hawking story and raise it, as I backed in to his wheelchair at the Arts Cinema in Cambridge, and no, for the record he didn't type 'ow'.