See anybody interesting lately?

[Mark Flanagan]

When Sun Chronicle advertising representative Wayne Chapman stopped in for his Sunday morning breakfast at the Black Bear Cafe several weeks ago, part of his routine when he goes to his summer house in Naples, Maine, the counterman told him: “You left 10 minutes too early yesterday.” How’s that? Chapman was wondering. And it seems that just after he had finished his coffee the day before, a familiar figure from late night television dropped in at the Black Bear: Ted Koppel. It was an unannounced visit, to the chagrin of the cafe’s staff. No one had a camera on hand. “But we’re ready for him today.”
Chapman wasn’t, and had to leave again before Koppel made an expected return visit, where it would seem a flashbulb greeting was awaiting him.
There’s something to love about these celebrity sightings, and the near-misses, that usually occur around the area in the summer months. The years when then President Clinton was vacationing on Martha’s Vineyard were particularly productive of elbow-brushing with the rich and famous for residents of Sun Chronicle country.
If your travels have yielded any celebrity sightings, please drop us a note about them in the comment space below.
Of course, I wouldn’t be much of a father or an uncle if I neglected to brag about celebrity contacts made by a couple of family members.
My daughter Accacia Flanagan, who makes and sells handmade bicycle racing hats under the Ace Caps brandname, and her associate Hally McGehan, who sells laminated objets, had a couple of Hollywood heavies drop by at a craft fair they were working in Boston’s South End. You might say John Malkovich took the cake when he came to browse (he also took one of Hally’s business cards; we’re still waiting to hear if he calls with an order that will make her rich and famous), but Mary Steenburgen iced it when she checked out their goods later in the day.
And niece Heather Flanagan of Warwick, R.I., got even closer to heartthrob Robert Redford -- close enough, anyway, to serve him a glass of wine. Redford had picked up at honorary degree at Brown University and Heather was on the catering crew that worked the reception held that day at Brown President Ruth Simmons’ house.