I've been meaning to go...acording to NYC Fodors, Woody Allen plays in a Jazz Club on Mondays. What a hoot!
I think it would be great to meet someone wonderful and have it turn out that they'd been a famous person at one time. That way, you'd know you liked them for them, not for what the world thinks of them....

I enjoyed reading the rest of these posts.

Is it true that the small and old restaurant called Rao's in Spanish Harlem is where you can spot movie stars and La Cosa Nostra (Mafia) godfathers and wise guys? I was told by a pretentious and shallow New Yorker who I absolutely can't stand, that if you can get a table there , you are a made man. I do not believe this. Please enlighten me.
Thanks. {

They wouldnt let Bill Clinton in....

Rao's. You cannot get in. Period. You either have to be a long time (20 year) customer or go with a long time (20 year) customer who has a standing table.

What they do is - In January they open their books and call all of their 20 year standing customers and offer them a table, 6 times per year. Once every two months. They get their dates, and that is it. The table is theirs for the night - no matter what time they arrive before 9:30 - 10:00 ish.

They have 10 or 12 tables, I forget. There is no eating at the bar.

However, if you really want to, you can go and hang out at the bar for a drink. Do this often enough and perhaps, just perhaps, if a regular customer comes in early for dinner and clears out by 9 pm, they MAY let you sit down. They do not have a 2nd seating so it is completely at the discretion of the mgr.

The food is good, not great, but the meatballs and seafood salad are fantastic.

I have two sets of friends who are 'members' and I go with them once in a while. They are not mafia by any means--one guy is a math professor.

Go to broadway after an afternoon show on Sat or Sun there are usually leads leaving with huge wave to crowd. I saw Julia Roberts when coming out of a show that David Schwimer starred in.

They shot down my whole block last night to film a scene for a new pilot. It's starring Peter Falcinelli - he was standing right outside my building smoking. It was kind of annoying tons of flood lights and people being noisy.

My mom and her friends (80 year olds) were in Soho and one of them couldn't figure out where the subway was (don't ask me why - they're all from NYC and they've done this a thousand times). So one of the ladies approached a couple walking by to see if they knew. The couple stopped, the man helped her out, and they turned out to be Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft! He said some funny thing after pointing her in the right direction (sorry I don't remember what) and then they walked their way the ladies walked theirs.

Bugswife is right, basically someone has to die for a table to open up at Rao's. If you are fortunate enough to know one of the owners of a table, as Bugswife does, then you can go as one of their guests.

We have been to NYC a few times and been fortunate to see a "celebrity" each time we were there. We saw Mary Tyler Moore in Central Park and saw Stanley Tucci at the MET. I agree with others - It's hard to recognize a celebrity off camera....Good luck!

Your comments sparked my interest in Rao's and I went to their website. Only one seating a night at their 10 tables! On the site I read that they are opening a Rao's in Las Vegas.

The Rao's in vegas is open already. The owner's son is running it, which may mean the demise of Baldoria which he already runs in NYC theater district.
You may get close to the same food in Vegas, but it is the ambiance that you are really going for, not the food, which I fear must be compromised in Sin City.

No doubt, bugswife, I agree with you there! Have you or anybody else ever attended Marjorie's Parlor for jazz on Sundays? She has hosted celebrity musicians in her living room for years. I will definitely try to make it there the next visit to New York.