Celebrity Sightings – January

Hollywood is always crawling with celebrities.  They’re everywhere and anywhere you go when you’d least expect it.  It’s natural to see one while you’re just walking down the streets of L.A.  I once saw actor Richard Gere at my local pharmacy in Valley Village, before I moved to Valencia.  With it’s close proximity to L.A., celebrities frequent the Santa Clarita valley, as well.

Remember Tracey Gold from the long-running television show, Growing Pains?  She can regularly be seen at the Valencia Town Center Mall with her children and in fact was recently spotted getting a series of family photos taken at a photography studio.  Gold played “Carol Seaver” in more than one hundred episodes of the popular family show over a seven-year period in the late-80s and early-90s.  Being a child star that grew up on television, she may have found some common ground with actor Jerry Mathers.  Remember Mathers?  He played Beaver (“The Beav”) on Leave it to Beaver back in the late 50s and early 60s.  The Beav and his older brother Wally were characters on the show that portrayed the picture-perfect 50s family.  Recently, the T.V. icon was being fitted for new eyeglasses at a store in the Valencia Town Center.  Hmmm … I wonder if June Cleaver, his T.V. mom, would have approved of his selection?

The hundreds of girls who showed up to see the Jonas Brothers perform at the Jingle Jam event in December more than approved of their idols.  In fact, they were so crazy about the singing teenage brothers that dozens of them were wrapped up in blankets and waited for the perfect seat at four in the morning when Jalina Warner, Marketing Director for Westfield Valencia Town Center, showed up to prepare for the hugely successful free event.  She said it was just crazy to see them there waiting in the dark for the group that wasn’t even scheduled to start for at least another four hours.  Now that’s what I call loyalty. 

If you’re a sports celebrity fan, it’s very possible you’ll see former Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Bill Russell chowing down on steak at Salt Creek Grille.  After the excitement of playing with the Dodgers when they won the World Series and four National League Pennants, I’d say he deserves to dine on whatever he desires.  Paul Teutel, Sr. and his son Paul, Jr., the co-hosts of American Chopper, a show touted as the “soap opera” for men, got their fill of beef recently at Salt Creek Grille, as well.  I wonder if they talked at all about ideas for their next custom-made motorcycle creation?  That’s the basis of each episode of the popular Discovery Channel show.  It’s funny how I can imagine the character “Venus Flytrap,” played by actor Tim Reid in the 80s on the hugely successful television series, WKRP in Cincinnati chilling out and shooting the breeze with the father-and-son co-hosts of American Chopper.  Instead Reid, an Emmy-nominated actor, producer and director was recently sited buying a compact refrigerator at the local mall to use for his office.  I always thought he was pretty cool.  Maybe not as cool as Gere, but cool, nonetheless.

If you have a celebrity sighting tip or anything else you’d like to share with me, email me at lisa@santaclaritamagazine.com.  I’d love to hear from you.