okay, i admit it -- i'm starstruck. when i visit nyc later this month, i would love to spot some celebrities (or maybe watch scenes being filmed -- i understand that "men in black II" is filming this month in the city).

is there any sort of listing that indicates what productions might be shooting at what locations? i checked the mayor's film office website, but it doesn't have that kind of information.

thanks for any suggestions. (and no, i'm not the type of person who would bother someone for an autograph -- i'll just gawk from afar.)

They're all around you as you walk up and down the streets of NYC. On my last visit, whiel lwalking down the street I ran into Warren Beatty, Meg Ryan and Steve Martin all within an hour.You just have to be paying attention - they don't always look like what you'd expect.

They're around. However, it's usually a case of just happening to be in the right place at the right time!
However, they can be spotted at Joe Allen's on West 46th after the theater on many nights.
Then, of course, you are guaranteed to catch a celebrity or two if you stand at some theater stage doors and wait for the performers to come out after the show. Here'ds a list of celebrities of various levels of notoriety who are currently performing on Broadway:
Eric McCormick of Will & Grace (The Music Man)
Reba McEntyre (Annie Get Your Gun)
Gary Sinise (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest)
Nathan Lane & Matthew Broderick (The Producers)
Brian Stokes Mitchell (King Hedley II)
Ben Vereen (Fosse)
Polly Bergen, Blythe Danner, Gregory Harrison, Judith Ivey & Treat Williams (Follies)
Mary-Louise Parker (Proof)
Henry Winkler & John Ritter (The Dinner Party)
Linda Lavin, Tony Roberts & Michelle Lee (The Tale of the Allergist's Wife)
If you're a baseball fan, I believe the visiting teams still stay at the Grand Hyatt, and you can hang out at there a few hours before gametime to catch them before they leave for the ballpark.

I live across the st. from The Museum of Natural History, and the 81st block between CPW & Columbus Ave., is great for celb. spotting. I regulalry see Billy Baldwin walking is dog, Matt Dillon jogging, Tony Randall hailing a cab, Rosie talking a stroll, Jerry Seinfeld walking around.

Bill Baldwin is a celeb?

Ther is a listing available of current film/tv productions in NYC at http://www.nyc.gov/html/filmcom/html/tech.html
--Mayor's office of film theatre and broadcasting "tech list", in PDF format--(related to the permits that have to be obtained to close streets for filming, etc)

Also, definitely try various residential neighborhoods popular with the 'type' of celeb you're looking for, e.g. Soho, Upper West Side, etc.
NY celebs tend to shop for their own food at least some of the time (try gourmet stores like Fairway, Zabars, Dean&Deluca, Balducci, etc). I often see someone I recognize ahead of me on line with a big basket of goat cheese and sundried tomatoes...

How about Central Park West?

I guess there's no guarantee, but I used to be a dept manager (I managed boys' wear dept.) in Bloomingdale's and we had celebrities in my dept fairly frequently (like Jacqueline Kennedy, no kidding, she was shopping for her son--that was many years ago when he was fairly young, which shows how old I am). Boys wear was actually better for celebs than the silver dept where I was before that.

Howard, how about some "Celebs" ( Other than Henry Winkler ) that somebody has HEARD of ?!

That's not fair, WhoHe. Harold, I recognized all of the names except Tony Roberts. (Is he that scary-looking guy with the big teeth that used to do infomercials about becoming great?)

Y'all've given me some great ideas. Keep 'em coming, and thanks!

To: WhoHe?:
If Henry Winkler is the only name you recognize, I would assume that you haven't had much of a life since Happy Days went off the air!

On the contrary Howard, I would assert that this is exactly why I DO have a life !

WhoHe needs to get a life.

Last time I was in New York, Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson were eating dinner at the table next to ours. And I saw Barbara Walters earlier in the day.

To: WhoHe?
Huh?

i live in greenwhich village and this neighborhood is used for filming all the time. I would say about 99% of the time I don't recognize anybody. I also find watching anything being filmed is not all that interesting. They generally repeat a very short scene over and over and over. Occasionally I've seen people in the neighborhood walking around or in restaurants. Although I'm not the best spotter. We also rode the subway to a mets/yankees game with Chuck Knoblauch waiting at the same subway platform and then sitting opposite us (Chuck kindly obliged to an autograph for my son).

I just had to post this...my husband and I just returned from NYC this weekend and spotted three celebs - Phil Donahue, Montel Williams, and.....Billy Baldwin!

"Who he," you're advertising your ignorance and being a little out of it re: celebrities -- you are either too old, too young, or two parochial to know what/who a NYC celeb really is. I'd love to know who the heck you think qualifies -- Brittany Spears? Charlton Heston? Or just a Wayans or two?

This will sound mean, but can someone tell me what attracts one to celeb spotting and then talking about it? I always thought it was only for the National Enquirer set.

Please Please, once privacy is lost, a piece of you is gone forever

"Yeah you" - what are you trying to say ?