Marc D. Meredith

The Ad Hoc Traveler

Celebrity Sightings

July 2002

 

Living in Los Angeles, I see celebrities just often enough that it doesn’t surprise me anymore. It’s one of things where the stereotype is based in some bit of truth. I’ve noticed however, that the more and more, the most likely place for seeing the famous (or nearly so) is the airport. Traveling back and forth to New York has increased the frequency by quite a bit.

 

A partial list from the last couple of years (in no particular order):

 

Charles Barkley, Sky Harbor- a woman walking the other direction said “is that him?” I said “yes, it is.” He just smiled and kept walking.

Dennis Franz, Washington Dulles- on the people mover between terminals, I was uncomfortable close to his armpit- he didn’t smell bad or anything, it was just really crowded.

Brooke Shields, JFK- I’ll admit to being a bit star struck with this one. She smiled at me and I smiled back and by my estimation, she really is just as pretty as she looks on television.

Neve Campbell, JFK

Snoop Dog, JFK- no entourage, just one other guy. Snoop Dog was quite approachable and was signing autographs.

Anthony Garcia, LAX

Jonathan Silverman, LAX-coming off the same flight as Anthony Garcia.

Janel Maloney, LAX- Starbucks in hand

Tim Robbins, LAX- McDonald’s in hand, he is really tall.

Al Jarreau, LAX- heading for baggage claim, even just talking about his flight, he has a great voice.

Joann Worely, onboard a LAX to O’Hare flight, traveling with her dog.

Former Calif. Gov. Pete Wilson, onboard a LAX to Honolulu flight

Barry Williams (Greg Brady), Long Beach airport, waiting for his luggage

Anna Paquin, LAX, waiting for her bags too.

William Daniels, onboard a LAX to JFK flight

 

Some random tips/suggestions for celebrity sightings:

 

I’ve found that they fly early in the day and late at night, especially on cross country trips.

If it’s coming or going from LA or NYC, odds are pretty good someone is on the flight.

If it looks like someone, is probably is but I find that like all the rest of us, celebrities tend to be not quite so young, or tall or “perfect” as they look on the screen.

My advice, take interest in the sighting but leave them be. Sure it is fun to see famous folks, clearly I enjoy it enough to keep track, but other than a nod or smile I suspect that they want the same thing all of us want when traveling, a short security line, a good seat on a non-full flight and a minimum of delays in getting to their destination.

 

Happy sightings…..