Celebrity Sightings

Posted by Jeffrey Wank on January 06, 2009

The other night I walked into Astro Burger (which is a burger stand in Los Angeles that gained some notoriety because Hillary Swank was photographed there  with one of her Oscars after the Academy Awards), and I saw Golden Globe nominee Anne Hathaway with a nameless pretty boy date, waiting for her to-go order, taking pictures with the staff that should have been making her food, and listening to an aspiring actress that would not stop talking long enough for Ms. Hathaway to get in a word.  Based on the black town car that was waiting for her in the parking lot, her stylish stiletto heels, and the coat that was certainly covering a cocktail dress, I am guessing that she was coming from an award show.  In the last three days, I have also seen rap/sitcom star Eve, new mom on “90210″ Lori Loughlin, and Warren Beatty with his daughter (who looks more like his great granddaughter).  Usually, I don’t care too much about seeing celebs, but seeing Warren Beatty was pretty cool (almost as exciting as seeing Billy Crystal), as you don’t see a legend like that too often.  Living in Los Angeles, these are the celebrity sightings that I see on a fairly regular basis.

Now, I have been to Salt Lake City a few times, and besides seeing them on the floor of the then Delta Center, I never saw any Utah Jazz players just walking around downtown, on the slopes, or in some restaurant.  One time, I saw the entire Clipper team at the SLC Monaco Hotel, and I thought to myself, out of all the NBA players to see randomly in Utah, why am I seeing the Clippers, who I can see back home in Los Angeles shopping at Foot Locker?  The answer is that they were playing the Jazz the next night, but the point is, when I go to Utah I would like to randomly bump into or spot the celebrities of Utah and those are the past and present members of the Utah Jazz or some higher up from the Mormon church.  Given that I am not Mormon, I probably wouldn’t know the King of the LDS if I stepped on him, so I want to see Jazz players.  Where do Boozer and Brewer grab a brew and booze it up?  Where does Deron do his grocery shopping?  Where do all the foreign players take their English lessons?  As a life-long and die-hard Utah Jazz fan these are the celebs that I would be really excited to see.  I am definitely not an autograph-hound, but I wouldn’t mind having Deron putting his signature on my signature D-Will House of Hoops Nike kicks or talking in my best fake Russian accent with AK-47.  Even when I went to the fancy restaurants in SLC (Spencer Steakhouse being my personal favorite), I didn’t see any of them.  I know they are in town because I schedule my trips around the home games.

I am not sure of the next time I am going to be in SLC, but if any of you locals could tell me the regular hotspots for the Jazz stars, I’ll gladly tell you the best places to spot celebs in LA, the next time you are here.  I’ll give you a clue, it is usually a deli.

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10 Comments

Eric Ferguson on January 06, 2009 said:

go to the night clubs, I’ve seen carlos, deron, ak there, lumpy’s is one to check out

Eric on January 07, 2009 said:

I see Dr. J down here in St. George every once in awhile. He lives here. Other than that I can’t help ya.

Lisa on January 07, 2009 said:

A friend of mine saw Deron at California Pizza Kitchen at the Gateway and another Saw Boozer at Cafe Rio on 4th South. I’ve only seen AK in his Bently. I live in Ogden and though I go to school and work in SLC I don’t get out on the streets much so that’s all the help I can give.

Kortnie on January 07, 2009 said:

I saw Andrei in his car while stopped at a light once. He pulled up right next to us. It was the light by Crown Burger just across from ESA. But other than that I’ve never seen any of the team outside of their cars.

Utah1256 on January 07, 2009 said:

I also saw D-Will at the California Pizza kitchen at the gateway. Didn’t get close enough to get an autograph. Other than that, I saw Jeff Hornacek once at the Cottonwood mall….way back when the mall was cool. (And I was like ten) Sorry, I don’t know besides that.

Ashley Parker on January 08, 2009 said:

Go to Blockbuster and you will see several players there. I worked at the store in the Avenues for 2 years and Karl Malone came in with his kids several times as well as Boozer and his wife. When I moved to the North Temple store I could always tell when a road trip was coming up because Okur and Collins came in to stock up on movies. Okur was the nicest man I have ever met, he helped me turn on the tv’s several times (they are suspended from the ceiling and even with a stool I couldn’t reach them but he could!). My dad was playing golf in Thanksgiving point when Williams showed up, and a couple of my friends work at the local bank where some players come in to do business. My point is that the players are out there all time. Maybe you are looking too hard for them.

Ashley Parker on January 08, 2009 said:

I forgot to mention that my husband saw Matt Harpring at Home Depot the day after getting home from a late night road game.

Melissa on January 12, 2009 said:

I just saw Korver after Saturday’s game at Happy Sumo in the Gateway mall. I have seen Price and Okur at the Gateway mall as well.

dee on January 13, 2009 said:

i’ve seen okur a couple times up by the capitol in his yellow Ferrari, and randomly in park city at the nike outlet. I saw Jason Hart all the time last year.

JayD on January 18, 2009 said:

I jealous , I have never seen any of them . Although havent lived in Utah for over 10 years , I do come down there to visit family and freinds . I did see one of the famous news anchor man ( I beleive it was the channel 5 news at 10 pm ) at Harmons on 13 th , when I was working there in the late 80 ‘ s . He sure looked differant in person .
I am sorry I cant help you , but good look in our quest to see them .
Sincerly Jay

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