The other day I was walking down the street and I see Piper Perabo hanging out talking on a cell phone. Today, I passed by Ed Burns who was on his way into his building. I know where he lives because I usually see him with his wife, Christy Turlington, and their child.

This is something I am going to miss about New York. Not seeing celebrities, but being part of an atmosphere where they walk amongst us and no one bothers them. They are part of the landscape and we like to sneak a peek (oh, so that is how they live"). But we let them be, most of us. And that is why they live in New York. So here are seven of my best celebrity sightings and interactions.

1. I saw Woody Allen and Mia Farrow in a Irish pub just off of Columbus. My friends and I happened to be talking about film when we spotted them at the next table. Soon a woman came up to them saying "Hi, Mia. Hi, Woody." It was obvious that she did not know them. They soon left.

2. While working at F.A.O. Schwarz as a toy demonstrator, I taught Candace Cameron how to use Devil Sticks.

3. I also got to show them to Whoopi Goldberg. "Yet another culture appropriated from the East for mass marketing here in the West," I tell her. She laughs. Awesome.

4. Walking out a shoe store with my then wife, a scrawny white-haired man walks past us. "That was Jim Jarmusch." She asks me if I want to go in to say something. After some thought, I decide not to. "I don't really like any of his movies."

5. Working at a Barnes & Noble – one of the few small ones before they all became SuperStores – I am approached at the counter by someone looking for "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues." It is Uma Thurman. I blank on the author. This was a year before she made the movie.

6. Hanging in a green room for a CNN entertainment show with Aaron Eckhart, Florence Henderson and a very tightly pulled Kenny Rogers with whom I discuss "Coward of the County."

7. At a Tribeca café, I enter behind Leelee Sobeiski who tells the cashier that she just moved into the area. I notice that seated at one of the side tables is Joie Lee (sister to Spike Lee who played Denzel's wife in Mo Better Blues). I keep wanting to introduce them to each other: "Leelee, Joie Lee. Joie Lee, Leelee.