The fourth time is the charm, by which I mean I hope I see more celebrities than last year because the third time certainly was not the charm.

1. Jade Chang.  Jade Chang is the author of one of the favorite novels I read in 2018, Wangs vs. the World.  Even better, I actually met her and did not know who she was for the first hour or so of talking with her, which means I was totally cool.  I was at a colleague’s birthday party and was introduced to the only other childless person there, Jade.  She mentioned she wrote a book about a cross-country trip, which did remind me of WvtW, but I honestly did not remember the author’s name.  But then some annoying other guest played that upper middle class, very Westside status matching game, which is how it came out that the Jade who struggled with me to figure out Spikeball is the Jade who was a journalist before switching to fiction full time.  She is nice.  We also talked about my protest research for awhile, while Annoying Lady butted in to talk about the two Important People she knows who work in labor movements.  So fetch.
2. Jon Hamm.  My wife saw him while out with friends at the Silver Lake location of Night & Market Song.  He wore a low baseball cap and was there with a confidant.  People gave him space, though my wife could barely contain herself even though he was almost on the other side of the restaurant.  I was told he is as good looking in person as on television.
3. Kyra Sedgwick.  Once again, this sighting goes to my wife, though I was at least with her this time.  We were at the Los Feliz location of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, which, like that neighborhood, is interesting but a bit overpriced.  Kyra has had a long career in films and shows I have not seen and often have not heard of, except for Brooklyn Nine Nine.  The coolest part of this sighting is that we are now two degrees removed from Kevin Bacon, her husband and ninth cousin once removed.
4. Joe Sasto.  I went to pick up food from Here’s Looking at You on its last Friday of operation.  So did Joe, a two-time contestant on Top Chef whose taste leans too far to pasta for me.  It is my second time seeing in, both times at food places (makes sense), so we’re almost friends.  Some people say he doesn’t count as a celebrity, but I say that if it’s someone from television that I can recognize, it counts.
5. Ray Romano.  You have to go to Malibu to see the A list, which makes sense once I think about LA.  I took a Monday off and went to Zuma Beach in Malibu.  It sucked because Santa Ana winds drove sand and debris everywhere.  There were a lot of filming trailers and a few nice cars in one parking lot, but I did not think much of it because those sights are common enough.  As I approached the trailers from a public sidewalk, a compact SUV drove by.  I heard a young woman shout, “We love you Ray Romano!”  I then noticed a very large Paramount Studios trailer separate from the Star Wagon ones, which is not common enough.  I never actually saw Ray or people walking around the trailers, but it’s 2020 and I need something happy so I’m counting this!