The LA Times recently ran a story about a very stylish building ,”Sierra Towers” on Doheny Drive, that has become young and fashionable again after years of being associated with older people. It seems that such distinguished folk as Matthew Perry and Lindsey Lohan can be seen around the premises:

“Now, paparazzi waiting for a glimpse of Lindsay Lohan or Matthew Perry leaving the condominium building might mistake an underweight Juicy Couture-clad blond toting a teensy dog in a Louis Vuitton carrier for a boldfaced name. A thirtysomething entertainment lawyer, just back from exercising his horses in Malibu, tracks dust on the travertine floor on his way to the elevator. Outside, Mamas Mesforoush, a polite young man who shuttles between homes in Los Angeles and London, hands a valet the keys to his customized Range Rover. He’s just in time for a meeting with Mike Russo, the veteran contractor who’s going to turn his apartment into a showplace, at a cost of $1,000 a square foot.”

It is one of the hallmarks of LA that we like to talk about famous people and where they work, live and play. We think, sometimes, that name dropping is akin to having the same amount of fame and power ourselves. It isn’t.

I worked for Ralph Lauren on Madison Avenue in the early 1990’s. Sometimes Tom Selleck, Jacqueline Kennedy, Audrey Hepburn and others would come into the store. I waited on them, got them champagne from the dumbwaiter and helped them ring up purchases. I got to wait on my childhood idol, Elizabeth Montgomery, and stupidly sent her, months later, a treatment I wanted to sell about “Bewitched Revisited”. I never heard from her again.

I’m mentioning these celebrities because I know you won’t think any better of me because of it. I don’t have their credentials or money or worldwide recognition. The only honor that comes from talent and fame is when you possess some it yourself. Then you are powerful, and people ask you for favors.

Now that the LA Times has revealed how very important Sierra Towers, we here in Van Nuys can console ourselves that Dr. Bombay (Bernard Fox) from “Bewitched” is allegedly one of our neighbors. That’s a man with talent. But living near him won’t make me cool. Only witchcraft or ambition could do that.