His Holiness

Whenever I have brunch at Henrietta's Table in Harvard Square, I almost always see some sort of local celebrity. It's a power brunch kind of place, at least by Cambridge standards. Mind you these are B-level, Boston-provincial style celebrities, but they are celebrities nonetheless. I confirm this by noticing that other diners are much more diffential and awestruck by them then they are by me over coffee and french toast.

Examples include, Kasey Kaufman, a Boston channel 4 news anchor, Dr. Dean Whittla, former Dean of the Harvard Ed School (note the inevitible confusion over his double use of "Dean"), and Alan Dershowitz, brash legal talking head.

Some people have reported seeing John Malkovich at Henrietta's as well, but alas I cannot. I have seen him at a local bookstore though. And my friend reports having seen him at Pier 1 Imports not once, but twice (that's a mystery in itself). JM sighting are so common in Cambridge these days that he seems to barely count now.

Mildly interesting celebrity sightings? Yes. Particularly noteworthy? No.

Now, things have changed. Yesterday morning catapulted me into a whole new land of Cambridge celebrity sightings. While looking for the bathroom to relieve myself from my five cups of coffee, I noticed that my companion's face had suddenly become quite slack. I looked in the direction at which it seemed his awe was coming from, and it suddenly became quite clear the reason for his awe. Standing in the atrium of the Charles Hotel stood Richard Gere, his wife Carey Lowell, a few seemingly local Cambridge types, and a Tibetian looking man in Buddhist robes.

Now, we are pretty sure RG wasn't dining with the actual Dalai Lama, but he did seem to be engaging in some of his non-acting work. I later heard that Richard had been awarded the annual Harvard Hasty Pudding award, so it made a little more sense that he was here in our fair city (and I also happen to know that his sister is a Dean at Cambridge's Lesley University).

However, even with these Massachusetts connections, I still find his local sighting more interesting and intriguing than any of my previous ones. One of the reasons of course is his higher placement on the celebrity food chain, but there was something else as well. I think it was the juxtaposition of his celebrity with the Tibetian monk. It was so "very Cambridge" and yet so very "not Cambridge" at the same time.

Half of Cambridge's population probably fancies themselves as dabblers in Buddhism and progressive politics. More power to them, but they are usually doing it in oversized LL Bean sweaters and with fuzzy, uncombed hair. This is the Cambridge way. However, RG clearly has more "it factor" than about 99.9 percent of the regular Cambridge population, and to see that "it factor" engaging in more typical Cambridge life (eating at Henrietta' Table, brushing snow off one's shoulder, socializing with those oversized LL Bean sweater types, etc.) was most interesting to see.

After a few more moments of furtive glancing, my companion and I went off about our business and left Richard to his. Henrietta's Table will never be the same again.