Starstruck in L.A

Now I wasn’t born yesterday and I like to think I’m reasonably cool around celebrities.  And by D.C. standards I totally AM cool - able to not-stare at the likes of Teddy Kennedy, John McCain, even Hillary and Barack!  But damn, on my short visit to family in Los Angeles the first thing we do is go out for brunch and there’s David Schwimmer in front of us in line for a table.  That’s right, Ross from "Friends" ($1 million per episode) has to wait in line with the rest of us.

Subsequent walks around town and meals at other trendy restaurants yielded no sightings, despite my very best rubber-necking.  But when a family connection landed us in the second row of the "Tonight Show," close enough to garner a handshake with Jay Leno himself, my ear-to-ear grinning was a dead giveaway: Out-of-towner right here!  Honestly, he was 6 feet in front of us giving his monoloque, looking just inches over our heads at the camera.  More silly grinning.  And I’m not even a particular fan of his - well, until now* - or of his guest, Bill Maher.  But to observe the whole production up-close, especially the during-commercial goings-on, was just fascinating.  My only complaint - and you bloggers out there will identify with this - photos weren’t allowed, except for the lucky, ballsy few who asked to have Polaroids taken with Jay himself.  Sorry!

Coming up next - outasight architecture, and even some garden photos.  (Yes, I’ve read online complaints lately about gardenbloggers going off-topic but it’s winter, for chrissake - cut us some slack!)

*No, he didn’t win me over with just the handshake.  It was seeing his preshow outfit (every night) of jeans and a workshirt, and hearing from people who work with him that he’s a good guy.