Not sure that I came to the greater Lost Angeles area with any serious expectations of catching sight of celebrities. That's just really not my thing. I did not really want to do a tour of celebrity houses, which I understand is one of the things that people visiting this part of southern California often like to do.
That said, I have viewed some rich and powerful people. At the event I am working at (and which brought me to southern California in the first place), I spotted Anthony Ledru, the CEO of Tiffany and Company. Not really all that surprising, since this is a Tiffany event, of course.
However, one surprise came on Friday, when all of the rooms were suddenly there was a noticeable hush and an obvious decrease in activity. Each room was cleared of all unnecessary traffic Even employees setting up and/or cleaning up the jewelry were told to hold off. Then, three or four employees (sales reps) accompanied Jay-Z, who was apparently going to arrange to purchase some of the jewelry. Supposedly, according to one of the other guys, he was on the phone with his also very famous wife, Beyoncé, at some point, although certainly not while he was in the room where I was in.
That was a surprise, but not a major one. After all, he and his wife, Beyoncé, are apparently regular customers of Tiffany. They were among the names whom people said to expect.
However, there was one celebrity who I just happened to see, and actually be right by. This was former undisputed heavyweight champion, and boxing legend, Evander Holyfield. It's funny, because one of the other memorable celebrity sightings for me was Mike Tyson, way back in June of 1990, when I went to New York City to see Nelson Mandela just months after he was released.
Certainly was not expecting to see Tyson then, much like I was not expecting to see Holyfield now. Yet, there they were, just feet away from me both times.
It happened fast this time. With Tyson, he and Don King - he was the one I recognized from a distance - were walking down a street by themselves, and could be seen from a distance. People began to point and say that was Mike Tyson, who had only months before lost his heavyweight title to Buster Douglas.
This time around, we were walking along Santa Monica Pier, when one of the three other guys I was visiting with said, "That's Evander Holyfield!"
So I looked and saw a small crowd of people standing around someone, who had his back to me. He turned around, then started walking in the opposite direction of me. I snapped a few pictures, since I already had the camera out, having just been taking some pictures of the ocean and the coast just to the side of the pier.
There he was. Of course at first, I had not recognized him. But he looked like Holyfield, and was wearing a t-shirt with his name on it. Also, it seemed like he had a small entourage. So I went ahead and snapped some quick pictures. It didn't seem like he minded the attention. After all, if you are trying to remain anonymous or under the radar, you're not about to wear a t-shirt with your own name on it, are you?
Below are the pictures of my brief encounter, if you can even call it that, with Evander Holyfield.
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