The girlfriend and I decided we wanted Sushi on Cinco de Mayo since we figured the Mexican resturaunts would be packed, and we head over to our regular Sushi place for an early dinner.

We get there and we are the only 2 in there having an early dinner (probably around 5pm) and in walks this HUGE guy who I immediately think to myself looks exactly like a certain showbiz person of minor to medium fame. Of course, living in Southern California and in the greater LA area, its pretty common to run into look alikes or even the actual celebritys from time to time.

As soon as he comes in (alone), he says he wants the all you can eat sushi special and sits at the sushi bar right next to me. Anyway, once he opens his mouth and I hear his distinct voice, I immediately know this is the actual Bill Goldberg (ex- LA Ram and Atlanta Falcon, ex- WCW and WWE professional wrestler, current host of Bull Run on the Speed channel, and tough guy bit actor in many movies).

So I point this out to my girlfriend who immediately recognizes him as well. Anyway, we go about our normal dinner routine and let him enjoy his food as well while he texted people on his blackberry. Don't want to be one of those schmucks who interupt someones dinner.

We finish up about 45 minutes later and he is about done as well, so I tell him I didnt want to bug him while he was eating but think his show Bull Run is great. He immediately thanks me for being considerate and letting him finish his food and then proceeds to talk to me for about 15 minutes about the show and a lot of stuff that went on behind the scenes this last season. He then asks me about what I drive and I just happened to take the firebird to sushi that day. I tell him I have a 67 Firebird and he asks if its the one out front and tells me he was checking it out before he came in. He even told me to submit a tape and enter it in next season's Bull Run. I told him he is crazy... lol

We then proceeded to talk about cars for the next 15 minutes and come to find out, the guy owns 23 classic cars that he works on regularly. He was telling me about his 70 Trans Am Ram Air IV that he just restored along with a few other Pontiacs (and many other cars)..

Anyway, Goldberg ends up paying our bill (unbelievable!!) and takes a picture with me before we leave. Talk about one of the nicest and most down to earth "celebrities" that I have ever run into! I guess when you run into another car guy, its just good conversation no matter who they are!



By the way, for those of you who watch Bull Run, he said they will be back for a season 4, but he doesn't think it will be on the Speed Channel and he had some pretty strong opinions on how this last season ended.. lol. Apparently we were both rooting for the same car to win.

That's cool! I saw Troy Aikman at Subway when I was in high school, my girlfriend was going nuts and got his autograph on a napkin.... kinda seemed like a dick but I wouldn't want to be bothered all the time too.

Living in LA (and Im sure others on here from So Cal will attest), its not uncommon to run into celebs occasionally depending on where you are.. I have run into my share over the years and most of the time I leave them alone. But on the rare occasion that I actually want to compliment them on something they have done or something I enjoy, I will wait for as best an opportune time as I can and pay them the compliment. Usually they will just say thank you and move on. Some are more pleasant and may talk for a couple of minutes (usually hockey players), on a couple of occasions, the celeb came across as if they thought they were too good to talk to you. But Goldberg went above and beyond and was actually extremely friendly and had a great time carrying the conversation many times. The guy is just a great down-to-earth person that actually really enjoys good conversation and treated me like I was his next door neighbor.. lol

Just really surprised me.. Enough that I actually posted a thread about it (and the fact that he is a vintage car fan and has a soft spot for Pontiacs and Firebirds). In current times, you just dont run into people with friendly personalities like that much anymore..

I totally understand what your saying, there are few people persons out there anymore...

you reap what you sow.. your consideration was a class act..

Very cool! In 2000 just after we purchased our Bird in PA, we moved to Irvine, CA (SoCal). Right after we moved into our rented house, this kid a couple of houses down started hanging out with our Son who was 10 at the time. So this kid would come to our house almost daily and play video games etc. one day the kid mentions to my son that he is an actor. My kid says oh yeah, that's cool and leaves it at that. A couple of months go bye and finally our son tells us about this kid being an actor. Come to find out he played the little brother on Malcom in the Middle. LOL Here the kid had been coming to our house quite regularly for months at this point and we didn't even know it. Then, of course our kids started watching the show and they thought it was the coolest thing ever and still talk about it to this day. I think he liked coming to our house because for the longest time we didn't even know who he was... LOL

NICE story!!! Wanna of the good guys.

As he doesnt post here ,but on the L list, theres another celebrity that actually drives an FGF....of course he`s Swedish...lol.....lives in the general LA area, (I dont want to post his place) and you all will recognize him...Bo Svensson, if the name doesnt ring a bell, think of the Sheriff in the original "Walking Tall", so he`s not a youngster either...he`s currently an "honorary" HALF member as I sent him one of our hats....spoken to him a few times...his daughter who played on the Swedish Volley ball team also rented an Apt in Stockholm from one of my friends...

and most on the L list have no clue to who he is...he doesnt talk about it,and only once someonme commented "are you THE Bo Svensson." no reply...lol
these people like to be "not seen"...

you can google him if you dont know who I`m talking of....hes done many movies and TV stuff...but one of US!
Red 68 Vert is his car...maybe I should post a pic of it?

here`s Bos car....

if I remember correctly, he said he took the spoiler off...

hardly retired.. Inglorious Basterds too!!


http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004149/

OH THANK GOODNESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL

yes true, but as he said he "only HELPED" Quentin with that....as I was emailing him at the time he said he would be "out of town for a bit" to go to Berlin with Tarantino, also he said " dont blame me for the title" ! lol, Basterds was Quentins title, not his doing!

also if you google him you`ll see he is also very active in "defense sports"....got a new title this year!

LOL.......guess hes not in need of "help" at higher speeds.....lol