As a friend of mine just observed in his blog, living in the Hollywood, West Hollywood, Los Angeles, West Los Angeles, even downtown, areas mean that we run into actors and actresses pretty routinely. Sometimes more than once. We don't talk of course. They don't know us. We only know their public personas. Sometimes we know way too much about their personal troubles, self inflicted and otherwise. There is no place to hide. They have to buy food, clean their cars, pick up their kids, go to the doctor.
I was going with my dad to the doctor at medical offices nearby an LA hospital. In the plaza area, a tall man strode into the building. I have seen him walk in countless TV shows, and aside from his obvious height, it was unmistakable. David Hasselhoff. It was a side view, but a good one, and hisdetermined pace and angry, or was it sad, face was scrunched and lined. Some of his demons are well known, just as recently as last week, he was in and out of a program. Twenty-five or 26 years ago, I saw him the first time, at a mall just a few blocks from the site of this second sighting. He had just begun to be recognized for the show "Knight Rider". His hair was dark, his face was fresh, and he was browsing a place that used to be called "Futronics" or someting like that, one of those places that had the earliest forms of what would be electronic gadgets. "How about this one" he said to a beautiful blonde, before Pamela, before the kids, when it was ALL before him. We are the same age. It was all before me too. I had just moved to LA from New York, where I was a newbie attorney. I was trying to pass the California Bar and half believing I could really be a television writer after a year or two at lawyer-ing. Or while I was lawyer-ing. Everything was possible. The tall young actor was already realizing a dream, so quickly, soearly. Funny, in that, I think I do know him, and he me. We are all travelling the same road, notwithstanding the apparent differences.
And even if we don't ever talk to one another, we are travelling it together, with the occasional nod of acknowledgment and hope. Here's hoping for a more famous traveller on the road. And don't hassle him. He deserves a break, just as we all do.
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