All right. Believe me or not. It’s late and I doing have the energy to give each of these the proper context and background etc. and these are off the top of my still nicely toasted head. And plain “sightings” like just seeing a famous person at an airport or a movie theater, well, that would be a longer list. And contrary to my absurd pseudo-baller persona here, I grew up without any money at all, but, I did grow up around a lot of rich and famous people.
the quick child hood encounters…
getting Woody Allen’s autograph and sitting and talking to him (don’t worry my mom was there chaperoning and it was before all that creepy stuff came out , I was maybe 4-5) and apparently keeping him entertained for a solid 10 minutes. I was a strange and precocious kid, and apparently he was fascinated by my weird chatty little self. I sh!t you not he busted out an oboe and played a few scales for me and my mom. I think it was at like, a diner in Manhattan someplace. Wasn’t any sort of event, we just kind of bumped into him
christie Brinkley and billy Joel lived next door to one of my friends (bunch of you have met him, he is my homie who lived in Leucadia for several years) when we were super young, they would come over occasionally. I’ve met Christie again on a number of occasions over the decades. I actually slept with her kids’ nanny a few times when I was in college (totally random though)
spent a couple of days on the Ranch as a guest of Jackson Brown. Surfing rights and lefts with him, seeing his house, playing the 3 chords I knew back then, on one of the 87 guitars he kept in his Hollister home. Apropos of nothing, the first time I had ever had soy milk was from his cooler on the beach in between sessions
pete Rocky got me on the phone with McCrystal when I was 16 (1995) and I ordered my first custom board, a semi gun for big rincon. And that winter got big a bunch. That March of 96 were those bad floods in SB/carp/Ventura.
That same winter I exchanged pleasantries with Tom Curren as he was coming in from a session at Rincon and I was making the cobble walk out. I sort of shamessly but politely said hello to him and he was immediately and understandably hesitant, but I referenced a trip he had made to montauk when I was maybe, 9 or 10, and he signed autographs for a bunch of us and surfed knee high slop to our awe struck oohs and ahhs. He remembered it fondly and was nice enough to smile and shake my hand, even took the few seconds, in thigh deep cobble stone Rincon wash, to say he was glad I remembered his Montauk visit and thought it was cool to bump into one of those kids, several years later surfing HIS “home” break. Side note- he was just getting deep into his Fish phase, and I remember thinking wow that’s a strange little board
went to school a couple of years with Cameron Douglas, Michael Douglas‘s son. Much longer story there In our 2 years of early teenage hood together… Mike was a class act, at least outwardly. Charm for miles. Son, not so much. Spent several years In Fed prison for interstate meth disto. hard drugs, greed, ego, and bad karma are a dangerous mix
Alec Baldwin was a long time friend of my dad. We used to train our retrievers on the meadow in front of his home. He was pretty sincere in his efforts to come across as a regular guy without trying too hard to pretend like he was or wasn’t famous.
shot duck and geese for a couple of seasons on David Salle’s pond behind his home in Sagaponack. thats For you art dudes….super nice guy. He would come down and drink coffee in the blind with us sometimes. No interest in taking any shots himself (it also wasn’t a terribly productive pond, but it sure was pretty) , and he was fascinated by the whole thing in an unpatronizing way
i was on a rich friend’s father’s 83 foot Ketch for 2 weeks, spring break of 8th or 9th grade, sailing around the French West Indies. Paulina Porzkova spent a day on the yacht with us, sailing to governors bay on st Barth. She was very kind, and to 14 year old subway, a goddess like her left an impression. her husband Rick dropped her at the wharf at Gustavia, he seemed pretty cool too though didn’t come on the day trip.
was working in a coffee shop one summer, maybe 16, and I got to make a latte for Cindy Crawford. She had been running or working out, wearing what you would hope she would wear whilst working out in the summer, and she had a little ball cap on with her pony tail out the back. no make up and a little sheen of perspiration. Looked better than any glossy photo I had ever seen her in.
I have some more, but I’m tired….last one. Ian Lithgow lived on our block on LB for several years until he and his wife split I think just before or maybe during Covid. Such a nice guy, and got to meet his father briefly. Watching the great Jon Lithgow caper like a leprechaun with his young grandchildren is a sight I will always remember fondly. he always seemed to tower over the cast of 3rd Rock, but he is is much shorter in Person.
oh which reminds me, Bonzer! (sorry couldn’t resist it evolved organically)
and I’m glad I got meet AB one time, however brief. I don’t mean to act all big body, but for those of you that didn’t get to meet him, we all really did share this forum with one of those once in a generation type minds/spirits/life forces whatever you want to call it. I’ve met a lot of people from a lot of walks of life, and his whole being was one of those you may only meet but a couple of times in your life if you’re lucky. Any superlative we may attach to him doesn’t really capture him, and he would just think we were goofballs for making a fuss, but he would also graciously accept our admiration
the quick child hood encounters…
getting Woody Allen’s autograph and sitting and talking to him (don’t worry my mom was there chaperoning and it was before all that creepy stuff came out , I was maybe 4-5) and apparently keeping him entertained for a solid 10 minutes. I was a strange and precocious kid, and apparently he was fascinated by my weird chatty little self. I sh!t you not he busted out an oboe and played a few scales for me and my mom. I think it was at like, a diner in Manhattan someplace. Wasn’t any sort of event, we just kind of bumped into him
christie Brinkley and billy Joel lived next door to one of my friends (bunch of you have met him, he is my homie who lived in Leucadia for several years) when we were super young, they would come over occasionally. I’ve met Christie again on a number of occasions over the decades. I actually slept with her kids’ nanny a few times when I was in college (totally random though)
spent a couple of days on the Ranch as a guest of Jackson Brown. Surfing rights and lefts with him, seeing his house, playing the 3 chords I knew back then, on one of the 87 guitars he kept in his Hollister home. Apropos of nothing, the first time I had ever had soy milk was from his cooler on the beach in between sessions
pete Rocky got me on the phone with McCrystal when I was 16 (1995) and I ordered my first custom board, a semi gun for big rincon. And that winter got big a bunch. That March of 96 were those bad floods in SB/carp/Ventura.
That same winter I exchanged pleasantries with Tom Curren as he was coming in from a session at Rincon and I was making the cobble walk out. I sort of shamessly but politely said hello to him and he was immediately and understandably hesitant, but I referenced a trip he had made to montauk when I was maybe, 9 or 10, and he signed autographs for a bunch of us and surfed knee high slop to our awe struck oohs and ahhs. He remembered it fondly and was nice enough to smile and shake my hand, even took the few seconds, in thigh deep cobble stone Rincon wash, to say he was glad I remembered his Montauk visit and thought it was cool to bump into one of those kids, several years later surfing HIS “home” break. Side note- he was just getting deep into his Fish phase, and I remember thinking wow that’s a strange little board
went to school a couple of years with Cameron Douglas, Michael Douglas‘s son. Much longer story there In our 2 years of early teenage hood together… Mike was a class act, at least outwardly. Charm for miles. Son, not so much. Spent several years In Fed prison for interstate meth disto. hard drugs, greed, ego, and bad karma are a dangerous mix
Alec Baldwin was a long time friend of my dad. We used to train our retrievers on the meadow in front of his home. He was pretty sincere in his efforts to come across as a regular guy without trying too hard to pretend like he was or wasn’t famous.
shot duck and geese for a couple of seasons on David Salle’s pond behind his home in Sagaponack. thats For you art dudes….super nice guy. He would come down and drink coffee in the blind with us sometimes. No interest in taking any shots himself (it also wasn’t a terribly productive pond, but it sure was pretty) , and he was fascinated by the whole thing in an unpatronizing way
i was on a rich friend’s father’s 83 foot Ketch for 2 weeks, spring break of 8th or 9th grade, sailing around the French West Indies. Paulina Porzkova spent a day on the yacht with us, sailing to governors bay on st Barth. She was very kind, and to 14 year old subway, a goddess like her left an impression. her husband Rick dropped her at the wharf at Gustavia, he seemed pretty cool too though didn’t come on the day trip.
was working in a coffee shop one summer, maybe 16, and I got to make a latte for Cindy Crawford. She had been running or working out, wearing what you would hope she would wear whilst working out in the summer, and she had a little ball cap on with her pony tail out the back. no make up and a little sheen of perspiration. Looked better than any glossy photo I had ever seen her in.
I have some more, but I’m tired….last one. Ian Lithgow lived on our block on LB for several years until he and his wife split I think just before or maybe during Covid. Such a nice guy, and got to meet his father briefly. Watching the great Jon Lithgow caper like a leprechaun with his young grandchildren is a sight I will always remember fondly. he always seemed to tower over the cast of 3rd Rock, but he is is much shorter in Person.
oh which reminds me, Bonzer! (sorry couldn’t resist it evolved organically)
and I’m glad I got meet AB one time, however brief. I don’t mean to act all big body, but for those of you that didn’t get to meet him, we all really did share this forum with one of those once in a generation type minds/spirits/life forces whatever you want to call it. I’ve met a lot of people from a lot of walks of life, and his whole being was one of those you may only meet but a couple of times in your life if you’re lucky. Any superlative we may attach to him doesn’t really capture him, and he would just think we were goofballs for making a fuss, but he would also graciously accept our admiration
