Your Local "Celebrity"

That would be me.

This is New York.
You would have to poll the citizens of each city block, maybe just the street from one avenue to the next.

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Up in the Heights where I live, I can think of at least three candidates for "Oddball of the Block" beginning with the guy who goes to the Starbucks at 181st and Ft. Washington wearing only very loose fitting orange cut-offs and sandals.
(Wait...I haven't seen him lately. Maybe he goes to Florida in the winter.)

There is the guy who goes around Associated Groceries blurting out "The price is 500 dollars, can you believe it? $500!!" to everyone he gets near.
No one knows to what he refers.

Then there is the guy who seems to run everywhere he goes, up to the bank, down to grocery store, over to the Post Office, up the stairs to Frank's Market and Vines on Pine for a bottle of wine.
It's like he's obsessed!
He runs the whole way, every day.

Joe(except when my girlfriend is in town. Then we walk.)Nation

Springfield, MO - Brad Pitt.

A
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Ours is a guy who loves to have his picture taken. I don't know his story -- he seems to be deaf, and he doesn't talk, but he doesn't sign either and scurried away from me when I asked him, in ASL, if he was deaf.

He might be homeless, I'm not sure.

He shows up at any sort of community event (especially parades, but also sports events, all kinds of things) and if he sees that you have a camera, he indicates that he wants you to take a picture of him. He's pretty insistent about it if he's brushed off at first.

But since we're a friendly community, people pretty much always do, and there must be about a bazillion pictures of him extant.

We've got a guy who dances along a busy stretch of road. The police gave him a ticket because he was a distraction to drivers, but then a youtube campain started and then a local radio station got into the act. They paid the ticket and as far as I know he's still dancing.. I'm not sure, I don't live in the west end so I don't see him very often.
We had a street preacher here for years. He was very old and his side kick was a very young looking woman. She got pregnant and soon after I never saw her again. He would yell at people going by, she would hand out literature. I never read it... He regularly called me a slut and told me I'd burn in hell. I don't think he swayed many to his cause.

There's so many I couldn't tell you.

Some that stand out - one eccentric man who looks sort of homeless and likes to wear women's type hat and coats. I personally think he is just an eccentric rich man as the coats and hats look expensive even though he looks a bit unkempt.

John - homeless man who I have purchased coffee for - don't see him so much as I do not take public transportation - but tends to stay at a homeless shelter in my city. He seems harmless enough - and I don't have a problem telling him I won't give him money, but will on occassion buy coffee or something for him in the morning.

Our local library is a breeding ground for these "celebrities". As the homeless shelter is not far from it.

One man likes to bless you all the time and talk about God - he isn't pushy and actually very sweet about it and wishes you well all the time - although I wouldn't doubt he is a regular at the shelter.

"The price is 500 dollars, can you believe it? $500"

Next time ask him - what he is referring to - I'd love to know.

I have no idea but seeing how I live in Florida he’s probably a Nascar Driver.

too many to count

You want me to TALK to him? How unNewYorkerish!

We do not invade the space of our deranged.

Joe(Which is why I'm allowed to freely walk about the city.)Nation

Oh, our small coastal town has an approx. 80 year old "Miss America". She drives this old (but in pristine condition) pastel yellow Cadillac, wears more make-up than Tammy Fay Baker ever did, dresses like a sultry teenager
in skin tight miniskirts and revealing tops. She is thin, so she can afford to wear tight clothes, if it weren't for her age. Her hair is platinum blonde, impeccably styled and hairsprayed to death. She always wears a black hat, similar to a police cap and when she walks in front of you with her incredible high heels, you could think she's much younger, but she definitely startles you when she turns around - her face is just ludicrous with all the make-up and false eye lashes and what have you.

Everyone in town knows her and I have never seen her without her "uniform" of miniskirt, high heels and hat, plus heavy make-up. She's truly a unicum!

Yes, of course. I talk to my local celebreties thats what makes it so much more fun.

I bumped into a co-worker on the subway once - and shocked her when I talked to one of these guys (beyond the normal - sorry no change or whatever). She was horrified. I actually got a nice response. But she was scared when I engaged him.

In Wells, there's Les, this very skinny, bearded long-haired man who sits crosslegged on a rug placed on the side of the path between the car park and the High Street (where everyone goes to shop).
In the winter he wears a black hat. But winter or summer, he plays blues harmonica and has a cup placed to collect donations. He's actually a very good harmonica player and interesting to talk to. He's funny too.
Once he was playing a song I didn't recognize and I asked him what the name of it was and he said it's called, 'Hold on to what you got' and then he laughed and said, 'Now that I think of it, not a great song for me to be playing given my line of work...'

In Cheddar there's Richard. I ran into him the first day I moved here as I lived in a house across from the village church and I'd walked over to look at the grave stones in the cemetary to try to figure out how old the church might be.
He was there having a meltdown - he was talking to himself and crying. I got scared and left, but I asked my next door neighbor about him and she said, 'Nobody really knows where he came from, he just appeared in the village a few years back. He won't hurt you though, so don't be afraid of him.'
And then it seemed like everywhere I went I'd see him as he walked as much as I did.
I'd see him when I went up on the Mendips just walking and/or sitting looking at the trees and sky and talking to himself- I was always sort of fascinated by him because he just seemed to possess this quiet gentleness and intelligence - although he was often ranting and raving, he seemed at the core, a gentle person, but I never wanted to intrude on his space or make him uncomfortable, so I never initiated a conversation with him.

Finally, last april, a band made up of friends of mine played for my birthday in the local pub and Richard happened to come in for a beer. We sat and talked for hours. He is a gentle, intelligent, well-read and learned man whose life has been affected by schizophrenia.
Whenever I see him now, if he's not hallucinating we say hello and talk. If he is, I just watch him go and feel that I've just been in the presence of someone really special.

aw, your story about Richard was sweet. See some of these people are very unique and interesting and worth the listen to..