Back in Indianapolis, I ate at the same restaurant as Larry Bird once. Also, Isiah Thomas was one of my customers at Blockbuster. I remember Thomas as being rather shy.
Not dining, but encounters of the actor kind:
Rhea Perlman was in line behind me at the Holocaust museum in D.C. We had a short, pleasant chat about the weather. My gosh, she is tiny!
I walked my doggie with Richard Kind (Spin City and lots of other TV) in Manhattan. We happened to be standing on the corner and had similar pups, so we strolled for a few blocks and chatted about things canine. (And, my gosh, he is a really big guy!)
I wanted to glurge over both of them, but I restrained myself and pretended as if I didn’t know who either of them were.
Save your airfare and head to Burbank instead.
A friend once took me to one of the hot eateries in LA and we sat not far from the beautiful Ms. Loren.
Pele ate lunch at my house when I was a kid. He was doing some promotional tour and my dad invited him over and he accepted. We had sloppy joes and chips and fruit salad- which was pretty standard fair for a summer lunch. It wasn’t until college before I really realized who Pele was- I mean I knew, but I always thought that meeting Bill Johnson ('84 downhill gold medalist) was cooler. The crazy thing is that there are no pictures or autographs from the Pele visit nor did we even kick the ball around with him. My dad said that the invitation was for a home cooked meal and Pele loved the gesture that my dad refused to allow it to be made into any sort of event or big deal as clearly Pele just wanted to be out of the constant spotlight for a bit.
My Dad used to have some of the Indy car drivers over for a poker night. Andretti would have been one of them. I never knew those guys were anyone at all - they wanted normal.
(All their wives/girlfriends had really big hair. That’s all I remember. Oh, and I met Ethyl Merman at that time at the Indy races apparently - she had the suite next to ours for the race).
I’ve eaten at Tony Packo’s in Toledo,OH with over a thousand signed “buns” (mostly plastic look a likes) that have been signed by celebrities over the years. it’s a real place not a fictional creation for the show MASH.
Years ago I was in Rochester, MN with my grandmother who was having cataract surgery at Mayo Clinic the following morning. We had stopped for lunch at an Italian place near the hospital as we had arrived prior to check in time which was 1:30 pm. Sitting behind us was Forrest Tucker, the actor. My grandmother asked me if that was the ‘fellow who played the drunks on tv’. I was about to answer when he did so himself. He said, ‘why yes, ma’am, that’s me.’ He chitchatted a bit with my grandmother and after a few moments asked if we minded if he joined us as he disliked eating alone. Of course we agreed and he proceded to regale us with tinseltown tidbits to my grandmother’s complete delight. After lunch, he insisted on picking up the check, gave my grandmother a peck on the cheek and wished her luck. We never thought to ask why he was in Rochester, of all places. It would have been interesting to know.
Virga - ugh - we get that here in Colorado when it is dryer than usual. So frustrating to see the rain falling up in the clouds and knowing our lawns and gardens won’t get a drop.
We live in a celebrity-lite part of L.A., but our favorite Italian restaurant is a little place up in Brentwood that gets a fancier clientele. We’ve crossed paths with several celebrities there. The most notable was an anniversary dinner a few years ago where Robert Redford was seated at the two-top adjacent to ours. Like good Angelenos we acted like it weren’t no thang. 
Phooey - wrong forum :smack:
Only if you take your clothes off.
I saw Dennis Rodman in the airport in (I believe) Cedar Rapids, IA. Some guy went up and tried to talk to him, but it was clear he didn’t want to be bothered.