With Neighbors Like These, Who Needs Friends?

Kidding of course! ;-P
Without friends, who would we tell about our 'neighbors' to?
Thing is, if there is one indisputable fact to living in New York City, it's that sooner or later you're gonna bump into someone famous.
Anyway, for those of you old enough to remember that Sesame Street toon,

"These are the people in our neighborhood,
In our neighborhood,
The people that we meet each day!"
(ok not quite each day... but here's a list of the people we've met in about the year plus we've been here.. in no particular order..)

Tilda Swinton. British Actress.
Chronicles of Narnia, Thumbsucker, The Beach.
Saw her on 16th Street as we were walking from Union Square towards The Container Store on 18th Street. Tall, elegant and luminescent even in the falling light.

Sarah Jessica Parker. Actress.
Sex and the City, Ed Wood, Footloose.
Saw her in Chinatown doing a 'Visit Chinatown' thingy, with a small camera crew and hair & make-up in tow. Petite and just a wee wrinkly (But we still love her!) Very bubbly and smiley. Dressed in a v. cool, slight quirky, so-cute-it-hurts way that only she can carry. In Mary Jane pumps. Not contorted.

Chuck Schumer. New York Senator. Democrat.
Shook our hands (and almost every other passenger) on the Staten Island Ferry the day after he was re-elected. Said: "Thank you for making me Senator." in a voice suitable for any House. Quite a big dude. Un-oily and did not smell bad, so he gets our vote!

Lee Ranaldo. Sonic Youth guitarist and all round artist good guy.
Can produce the harmonic equivalent of a car crash or the languor of a dawn full of flurries. Had met & shot him years back when Sonic Youth toured Singapore. Nice and laid back. Was reading on the R train, emanating no dissonance, only peace and quiet. Had on a Volcom jacket.

Jim Reid. One half of Jesus & Mary Chain with brother William. They are credited by some as the progenitors of Indie music.
Ok I saw this guy on the R train by the door. He looked exactly like Jim Reid of the Jesus & Mary Chain circa this photo (and sleeve photos of 'Psychocandy'). I was humbled in, I thought, the presence of greatness. Then months later I caught a documentary on JAMC and saw that the present day Jim Reid no longer looks like that.. not even close! I figure I must either have been blessed by a Ginsbergian Vision of a Holy Spirit or had too much MSG for lunch... either way.. as JAMC would say: "Yeah.. I'm a bad motherf**ker now, but I once was cool!" ROCK ON DUDES!

Diddy. Formerly P. Diddy. Formerly Puff Daddy. Formerly Sean 'Puffy' Combes. Rapper/Mogul. Owner of Sean John Clothing and Bad Boy Entertainment. Reputedly worth $315million. More impressively, dated J. Lo!
Saw him outside his office building walking from the front door and getting into the second of two heavily tinted, very big, double-parked, (probably bullet-proofed) SUVs with attendant ginormous dudes/posse guarding the doors and holding up traffic on midtown Broadway. I guess that's the price you pay for being a Bad Boy! Closest we ever got to some serious Bling.

Shalom Harlow. Erstwhile supermodel and sometime Actress. Was in Chanel Ad.
House of Style, Vanilla Sky, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.
Walked past her on West 4th between 7th and 6th Avenue. We were struggling to suck up the bits of mango at the bottom of our Jamba Juice. She was with some dude. Smoking with cigarette arm under sling of cross shoulder slung bag. Lithe and cool. Had on pedal-pushers and a small pimple on left of chin.

Jack White. The White Stripes. Credited with reinvigorating and introducing the blues to a new generation. Married to model Karen Elson.
Was standing outside Economy Candy, a neighborhood wholesale candy store in the Lower East Side across the street from Hotel on Rivington, when this tall, very.. er.. white, slightly chubby-in-the-jowl dude (with a ridiculously thin chinstrap) walked past and into the store. He saw the queue, made a U, and a beeline for the door. I quickly went in and informed Tessa and Ginnie who were shopping in there. He was standing across the road when we came out. We were still discussing whether to ask for photos when he and his band mates sauntered off round the corner of Rivington and Ludlow (where Paul's Boutique's at). Has veryveryveryveryvery matted hair. If he spent only half of the time he did on trimming his chinstrap, he could maybe wash and condition and comb his hair.. twice over.. But that just ain't Rock & Roll, Izzit? Cool on the axe but not so cool on the 2-in-1. Did I mention his hair was matted?

Famke Janssen. Actress.
Bond Girl, Xenia Onatopp, in Goldeneye, Jean Grey in X-men.
On 6th Ave in Greenwich. Has legs up to her armpits and a lot more svelte than on film. Was walking her dog. We were late to meet Tessa and Arthur.





Harvey Fierstein. Brooklyn-born Gay, Jewish Tony Award winning actor.
Mrs Doubtfire, Independence Day, Torch Song Trilogy.
Recognised him by his very raspy voice. Crossing a busy street in midtown manhattan, rasping excitedly.



Frances McDormand. Actress.
Fargo, Almost Famous, North Country.
On Central Park West. We were on our way to The Natural History Museum. It was drizzling a little. That explains the poncho thingy she was clad in I guess. Looked like she just stepped out of the set of North Country, not very glam.

Isaac Mizrahi. Fashion Designer. More Martha than Donatella, his clothes can be found in Target. Like Oprah, Tyra, Jerry Springer, he has his own eponymously titled tv show. Had a movie made on his 1994 collection, Unzipped
Erm.. was walking his dogs in Chelsea.

Alec Baldwin. Actor. Oldest of the Baldwin brothers. Once married to Kim Basinger! Was Dennis, Plankton's hitman in The Spongebob Squarepants Movie.
Beetlejuice, Working Girl, Mercury Rising.
Passed him on our walk back from Chinatown, on the corner of White Street and Broadway. Bespectacled and on cellphone. Had briefcase in other hand. Pudgier than in photo, un-Brylcreemed and more dishevelled.

Dave Gahan. Singer of Depeche Mode. Nuff said.
Met him with Alan on our way to lunch appointment with Soh Chin at Corner Bistro. We were late and had a mini debate as to whether to ask for a photo. ("What good is a photograph of you?") Stubbly, salt-&-peppered but moves with animal grace. Lanky and very very cool.

Ethan Hawke. Actor. Once married to Uma.
Dead Poets' Society, Reality Bites, Training Day.
Bumped into him at Columbus Circle. He was on cellphone. He was in a Broadway play then. Looked like he just stepped out of Reality Bites. Had lighter colored hair. Not very tall. (... 'angon.. he's about my height..mmm...) OK. He's tall!

Arthur Elgort. Old fogey photographer. Shot for Vogue et al. Did the 1990 Pirelli Calendar.
We passed him on 42nd Street doing a photo shoot with a cloth backdrop and a quite large entourage in front of Starbucks. Still uses film and polaroids. Didn't recognise the model.

Curtis Sliwa. Former McDonald's Restaurant manager. Founder of the Guardian Angels. Conservative radio talk show host
The Guardian Angels were a civilian-watch type, anti-crime force that patrolled the subways and other seedier neighborhoods. Founded in 1979 when they were much in need, but as far as we can tell, no longer in service (The NYPD is presently a 40 000 plus strong force after all). The Guardian Angels are recognised by the red berets not the bubble gum. Ginnie saw him in the Daily News newsroom. He is a witness in an on-going trial involving an attempt on his own life by John "Junior" Gotti and the Gambino crime family for comments he made on air about the late crime boss, John Gotti (the senior).