Ivy Stalker Cams: Over the Line? Or Just a Poor Allocation of Resources?

(Flickr pic by DNewey.)

According to the LA Business Journal, celebrity magnet The Ivy is tired of all the media publicity. The final straw: TMZ’s use of a live, ongoing video stream outside the restaurant. According to the paper:

“I find it abhorrent and an invasion of privacy,” said Richard Irving, co-founder of the Ivy restaurant on Robertson Boulevard in Beverly Hills, a longtime hangout for Hollywood celebrities and the photographers who follow them. “We’ve always had our share of paparazzi but this is much more invasive.”

TMZ photographers recently began camping out for hours near about a dozen restaurants, hitting different ones on different days. The Ivy is a favored spot because it’s easy to film over its low-slung white picket fence and to get good shots of celebrities eating lunch on the patio.

Unlike TMZ’s television show, which typically features 30-second video clips of celebrities coming to and going from restaurants, bars and courthouses, TMZ’s unflinching electronic eye near the restaurants streams live video for hours at a time.

As the LABJ notes, there’s only so much the Ivy can do. Its wide-open patio puts celebs out in the open — and that’s fair game for telephoto-equipped paparazzi.

Ivy Stalker Cams: Over the Line? Or Just a Poor Allocation of Resources?

(Flickr pic by DNewey.)

According to the LA Business Journal, celebrity magnet The Ivy is tired of all the media publicity. The final straw: TMZ’s use of a live, ongoing video stream outside the restaurant. According to the paper:

“I find it abhorrent and an invasion of privacy,” said Richard Irving, co-founder of the Ivy restaurant on Robertson Boulevard in Beverly Hills, a longtime hangout for Hollywood celebrities and the photographers who follow them. “We’ve always had our share of paparazzi but this is much more invasive.”

TMZ photographers recently began camping out for hours near about a dozen restaurants, hitting different ones on different days. The Ivy is a favored spot because it’s easy to film over its low-slung white picket fence and to get good shots of celebrities eating lunch on the patio.

Unlike TMZ’s television show, which typically features 30-second video clips of celebrities coming to and going from restaurants, bars and courthouses, TMZ’s unflinching electronic eye near the restaurants streams live video for hours at a time.

As the LABJ notes, there’s only so much the Ivy can do. Its wide-open patio puts celebs out in the open — and that’s fair game for telephoto-equipped paparazzi.

Too Bad I’m Not a 12-Year-Old Girl

Attended the SAG awards last night, and brushed past Jake Gyllenhaal before nearly walking right into Zac Efron. A little cooler: I walked right out of the men’s room right as Christopher Walken was walking in. Nice guy award: Cuba Gooding, Jr., who stopped to shake the hand of a worker and exchange pleasantries before heading to the men’s room as well.

Angelenos of the Week: Paris Hilton and Larry King

And then came the interview. In what will likely be considered the most anticlimatic moment on TV this year, Larry King sat down with Paris Hilton on Wednesday. And better than any media critic had done in shaming the media and the public, the interview itself served as a smack in the face to the masses who had been following the Paris saga.

Anyone watching the interview quickly realized, You know what? She really is quite boring. Even her money, her jail time and her preference to go sans underwear have failed to make her remotely interesting. Thanks to that painfully unexciting hour of television, I have some hope for the first time that people really are ready to move on.

For that, Larry King and Paris Hilton are our Angelenos of the Week.

The Law of Paris

Wait, so when did the Paris Hilton story move from being “entertainment” to becoming a legit news story? ABCNews.com, for example, has placed its latest Paris coverage under the “Law & Justice” subhead rather than “entertainment.” I guess I shouldn’t be surprised anymore by things like this. Yet I still am…

Live from the Twin Towers: Me and Paris

Visited Paris today in lockup… as you can see, she’s doing just fine. She appreciates all of your good wishes, and looks forward to her inevitable guest spot on “Oprah.”

Angeleno of the Week: Sheriff Lee Baca

He released Public Enemy No. 1 — that would be Paris Hilton — from jail, without any good excuse. And more importantly, without the permission of the judge who sent her there. This is the most national and international press that Sheriff Lee Baca has ever gotten — and very little of it is good. He’s not up for re-election until 2010, and that’s good news for Baca — who probably would have been defeated if it were held last week.

For checking Hilton out earily — and clearly underestimating the furor that would come with it — Lee Baca is our Angeleno of the Week.

Angeleno of the Week: The Man Who Threw The Book at Paris Hilton

Give this man a syndicated court show. Judge Michael T. Sauer immediately gained the respect of many tabloid-loving, entertainment-obsessed Americans (the kind that actually watch those cheesy courtroom strips) by simply demanding that socialite Paris Hilton do some hard time.

Of course, that hard time won’t likely be the 45 days the judge ordered (I’d be happy with even just a few)… and the judge dismissed a TMZ report that he was given a standing ovation at his church (I prefer to believe that one anyway).

From this week’s LA Times profile of the judge:

Making references at points to Shakespeare’s “Henry V” and the Watergate scandal, Sauer repeatedly questioned Hilton on her understanding of the restrictions of her license suspension — stemming from a September 2006 alcohol-related reckless driving charge. Hilton claimed she mistakenly thought she was still allowed to drive as long as it was for work. Sauer, referencing Watergate, said he sought to understand what Hilton knew and when she knew it.

His ruling, forgoing lighter sentences that wouldn’t have involved jail time, indicates that Sauer didn’t fully believe Hilton’s claims. Since the original incident last fall, Hilton has been pulled over three more times, and each time warned or cited by the officer for driving with a suspended license.

Referencing Henry V and Watergate to an undereducated rich celeb who I’m 100% sure didn’t recognize either… we like him even more. That’s why Judge Michael Sauer is our Angeleno of the Week!

Andy Richter Controls the Los Angeles Universe

Andy Richter easily wins the prize for the celeb most readily spotted in regular places around the city.

Most recently, my colleague Kathy wound up standing in front of the “Andy Barker, P.I.” star at Philippe’s. She writes:

“He was very nice. I asked him what that secret way you’re supposed to order is… before I realized who he was. He didn’t know either. Isn’t there some special thing you’re supposed to ask for when you order?

Last year, Maria saw Andy Richter eating alone at Cassell’s Hamburgers on 6th in Koreatown, scarfing down a burger.

I’ve also seen Andy and his family at LAX, waiting for baggage. Another time, I was driving down Highland Ave. — and hell, there was Andy climbing into his car!

Then there’s this tale, from Mark Evanier (link via blogging.la):

So about forty minutes ago, I’m in my friendly neighborhood CVS Pharmacy and a lady shopper comes up to me. She says her “favorite actor in the whole world” is over in the next aisle…and I guess she’s so excited about it that she has to tell someone. So she tells me and naturally, I ask, “And who might that be?”

She says, “John Candy,” and my immediate thought is just what yours would be in this situation: “I don’t think so.” As I’m thinking that, she’s telling me how much she loved him in Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

Let’s leave aside the question of how someone could be your “favorite actor in the whole world” and yet you’re unaware they died thirteen years ago…

Just then, she points to a gap in the aisles and says, “There he is,” and I can see the person she thinks is John Candy. There, wearing a green t-shirt and shorts, is Andy Richter. “Do you think it would be okay if I went up to him and asked for an autograph?” she asks me.

I think to myself, “Hmm…I wonder if Andy Richter would enjoy being mistaken for John Candy. He might get a great anecdote out of it, one he could tell on his next talk show appearance. Or he might just feel insulted…I don’t know.” I decide to save the lady the embarrassment and I break it to her, as kindly as I can, that John Candy passed away some time ago.

There you have it. Andy Richter, at Philippe’s, Cassell’s, LAX, on Highland, and at CVS. Stars… they’re just like us!