Sinise on the street

I’ve had not one, but two good celebrity sightings in the past week. In Chicago, I saw Gary Sinise filming an episode of CSI: New York outside the Tribune Tower. I admit it, I didn’t have to work very hard for that one, since Chicago magazine offices are inside the building. Sinise didn’t want his picture snapped directly, but one of the directors agreed that he could “walk by me” and I could “happen to snap a picture.” Um, OK.

The second was entirely accidental, and it happened this past weekend when I was visiting New York. I was all hot and bothered about visiting the Vitra design store in the meatpacking district. My friends and I had gone down for brunch at Pastis (a delightful experience that later was marred when a former employee claimed that they poach the eggs the night before).

Eggs Benedict at Pastis

After brunch, we ducked into a few places, including a boutique-in-a-van called Caravan (my friend Stephanie picked up a $96 T-shirt and wondered aloud what was so great about the boutique being mobile if you’re not getting a deal). Disappointed with the designer-shirt truck, we headed on to Vitra, where I bopped cluelessly through a door held open by Steven Spielberg. I, of course, sailed right past Spielberg in search of these Vitra wall algue I’ve been coveting, but my coterie of girlfriends stopped to take in the scene. His wife, Kate Capshaw, was standing at the counter buying something. His stepdaughter Jessica, a new mother, was standing outside with her two-month-old inside a pricey-looking pram. The Spielbergs must be all warm and fuzzy about babies lately, because Kate remarked how very pregnant my friend is (she’s eight months along.).

I considered snapping a photo of Spielberg. I had, after all, just snapped a bunch of pictures of (potentially) day-old poached eggs and of a mobile design truck. But this—this just didn’t feel OK. If Steve were filming a scene on the street, that would be one thing. But here he was, standing in a design store mulling over a sectional. I guess the great thing about celebrity sightings is that people love to hear about them; they need not always be documented to be believed.

Photography: Cassie Walker