Stargazing

Celebrities pop up everywhere in L.A. If you spend enough time here, you'll surely bump into a few of them. I recently had a random encounter with Roseanne Barr at the St. Regis Hotel, in which a polite exchange at the bar turned into a 2-hour tête-à-tête about politics and the nature of humankind. (Ah, a typically unpredictable day in L.A.) If you're in the city for only a short time, however, it's best to go on the offensive.

Restaurants are your surest bet. Dining out is such a popular recreation among Hollywood's elite that you sometimes wonder whether frequently sighted folks like Nicole, Kobe, and Harrison ever actually eat at home. Places like Matsuhisa, the Ivy, the Palm, Koi, Pizzeria Mozza, CUT, Eleven, the Prime Grill, and Spago Beverly Hills can almost guarantee sightings most nights of the week. The city's stylish hotels can also be good bets -- the poolside cabanas at the Viceroy in Santa Monica are a good bet; Mondrian draws stars galore to its dining room Asia de Cuba, 8440 W. Sunset Blvd. (tel. 323/848-6000), as well as the elite Skybar; Shutters' lobby lounge is the rendezvous of choice for famous faces heading to dinner at the hotel's One Pico restaurant; and spotting stars at the Beverly Hills Hotel is almost too easy. The trendiest clubs and bars -- Whiskey Bar, Viper Room, Skybar -- are good for star sighting, but cover charges can be astronomical and the velvet rope gauntlet oppressive. And it's not always Mick and Quentin and Madonna; a recent night on the town turned up only Yanni, Ralph Macchio, and Judge Judy.

Often the best places to see members of the A-list aren't as obvious as a back-alley stage door or the front room of Spago. Shops along Sunset Boulevard are often star-heavy, as are chichi shops within the Beverly Center mall. Book Soup, that browser's paradise across the street from Tower, is usually good for a star or two. A midafternoon stroll along Melrose Avenue might also produce a familiar face (particularly at Fred Segal); likewise for the chic European-style shops of Sunset Plaza or the Beverly Center.

Or you can seek out the celebrities on the job. It's not uncommon for star-studded movie productions to use L.A.'s diverse cultural landscape for location shots; in fact, it's such a regular occurrence that locals are usually less impressed with an A-list presence than perturbed about the precious parking spaces lost to all those equipment trucks and dressing-room trailers. On-the-street movie shoots are part of what makes L.A. unique, and onlookers gather wherever hastily scrawled production signs point to a hot site. For the inside track on where the action is, check the Daily Shoot Sheet at www.eidc.com. This isn't some word-of-mouth groupie posting -- it's a strictly legit online listing of every filming permit applied for within the city limits. Entries are classified by type (commercial advertisement, feature film, student film, TV program) and working title, and the site lists production hours and exact street addresses.

If you're really intent on seeing as many stars as possible, log on to www.seeing-stars.com, a website that keeps tabs on where all the stars shop, eat, stay, and play in L.A.

Body Double -- Here's a really cheap and easy way to get a great seat at a fancy Hollywood award ceremony: Log on to Seatfiller.com and sign up to be one of those people who make sure all the front seats are occupied.

Another Kind of Spectator Sport -- Attention, sports fans: If you want to see your favorite NBA or NHL players up close in their civvies, find out when they're playing the L.A. Lakers, Clippers, or Kings, and then dress up nice and drive over to the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Marina del Rey. This is where all the pro teams stay whenever they're playing in L.A. You don't have to rent a room -- just order a drink in the lounge and keep an eye on the lobby (you can't miss the huge basketball players). On game nights, they typically check out around 3pm.