On my way to the gym today about 5:30pm I saw the actor Chris Noth at the corner of Eighth Ave. and 54th St. looking exasperated while on his cellphone and out in the street waving his hands in an excited fashion. He didn’t look like the calm, collected rich guy he plays on Sex and the City…”Mr. Big.” He also didn’t seem like the cool-headed cop he played on Law & Order or the arrogant lawyer/politician he plays on The Good Wife. I recognized that look….it appeared he was trying to locate his car service driver and was on his cellphone frantically trying to talk to either the driver or the dispatcher. I know that look…I’ve been there myself! What did we ever do before cellphones? I suppose he was trying to meet someone for drinks or dinner before he was due at the theatre on West 45th St where he’s one of the stars of the Broadway hit THAT CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON. I thought to myself “why don’t you just walk, take the subway or just go to the theatre and chill out”…he only had ...

There's a new tourist attraction in NYC called The Ride...it's basically a midtown bus tour that covers no more than 20-30 blocks. Along the way through traffic they have set up street performers...a ballet dancer, a break dancer, a couple of mimes, etc. Instead of a guide, you've got TWO stand-up comics "narrating" NY as you drive by these staged performers. TWO comic/actors pretending to be guides! They do a verbal back-and-forth which must be even more confusing to the tourists on board who are already dumbfounded by the ordinary sites and sounds of our metropolis! They are basically using New York City as the "backdrop" to their little Off-Off Broadway show. MY question: why go to all this trouble? New York is already a stage show with things to see everywhere without having to "stage" events. The people who dreamed up The Ride probably took the awful GrayLine double decker tour and thought "we can improve on this" (anyone could i...

OMG-- I just saw an item that Sarah Jessica Parker and Mathew Broderick, who have been hunting for a new house for a long time, have apparently bought a 19th century townhouse on East 10th Street (for $18million!!) next door to where I once lived! And...wait for it....directly across the street from Chris Noth's apt. in the Brevoort Apartment Building on University Place near NYU!! Sarah and Mathew have lived in Greenwich Village for years over on Charles Street...Mathew grew up in the Village at nearby 27 Washington Square North (same building as my acting teacher, the late great Uta Hagen) and their Charles Street home is, by coincidence, right around the corner from the location used on SEX AND THE CITY as "Carrie Bradshaw's apt."...66 Perry Street. Funny how these things happen! In my mind's eye I still remember Sarah and her Mom and family...we all worked together in the Alvin Theatre back when a young teenage Sarah was the third "Annie" on Broadway...

Celebs in the City by Jim Dykes LADY GAGA?? KIM KARDASHIAN?? As a guide in New York these days, we are constantly changing our information especially concerning celebrity names and movie references. With the constant flow of reality shows, internet news and pop culture information spewing out PLUS younger tourists, celebrity names that used to mean something no longer spark interest from most groups. Gilda Radner (long dead) means nothing, Meg Ryan (career dead...means nothing), Madonna (has-been), Tom Hanks (mildly interesting), Barbara Walters (might as well by dead), and many other names which I used to mention in my tour 5 years ago. Young, hip celebrity names are the answer! I recently did a tour where every young person on the bus dozed thru celebrity names like Tom Hanks, Kelly Ripa, Regis Philbin…even Madonna got a few yawns…they are yesterday’s headlines. As soon as I mentioned Lady Gaga…the bus erupted…they love it when you show them her old high school on Fifth Avenue (Conv...