MANILA, Philippines—There is an unwritten rule for New Yorkers—that when one crosses the path of a celebrity, they must pretend not to notice.

Liv Tyler. Tina Fey. Bono. Steve Martin. Woody Allen. Ignore them all.

But because I’m not a New Yorker and it was my first trip to The Big Freakin’ Apple, I decided to do the opposite.

I decided to chase them.

The hunt begins

With countless personalities living in New York—movie stars, TV icons, musicians, athletes, artists—I figured there was a good possibility I’d run into at least one of them during my almost six days there. Larry Horowitz, who sells the “Movie Star’s Homes New York City Map” says one has a better chance of running into celebrities in New York than in California.

I liked those odds but I thought it would be better not to leave it up to fate. I wanted to use the hours between my official coverage to conduct celebrity interviews for Super.

Step one was consulting my crystal ball (known to the rest of the world as Google). I tried to find out which celebrities live in New York. Google led me to a gem of an article that New York Magazine came out with two years ago. Entitled “Notes on New York’s Celebrity Infestation,” the story included a Star Map, which I decided would be my Bible.

I quickly scanned the map and swooped in on the personalities I was interested in writing about. Adrian Grenier. Sarah Jessica Parker. Oh god, Conan O’Brien. I love Conan O’Brien.

I started doing Google searches on each of them, trying to find an e-mail address, a phone number, their agents—any way to contact them. I was often led to websites that sell celebrity contact info (celebrityemail.com, contactanycelebrity.com)—but I found them shady. I stumbled upon some old e-mail addresses online but the e-mails I sent requesting for interviews either bounced or were ignored.

Dead-end

I contacted record labels to ask if they can help hook me up with Regina Spektor, John Mayer and Norah Jones. But Regina wasn’t available, there was no answer from John’s people and apparently, Norah is taking the year off.

I hit dead-end after dead-end. Apparently, Google doesn’t have all the answers.

It was time for me to call in the big guns. And by big guns I mean Ruben Nepales, Inquirer’s Hollywood columnist.

I sent an SOS to Ruben who replied a few days later with contact info for Conan O’Brien, Ellen Degeneres and Adrian Grenier. I also asked if he had Paris Hilton’s contact info but he replied with 10 question marks. “Not a fan, huh?” I wrote him back.

I quickly sent e-mails to the addresses given to me by Ruben—and I even wrote a funny one for Ellen. But only NBC replied, asking me to contact the local broadcaster to set up the Conan interview. “It’s standard protocol,” I was told.

I did just that but it didn’t help either. I left for New York still unsuccessful, armed only with ideas thrown around by my friends on who I should try next. “What about the cast of Ugly Betty? Or Gossip Girl?”

Reese, Cynthia and Jillian

I finally arrived in New York on Sunday night. Walking past Carnegie Hall, I saw a poster announcing Joan Osborne’s March 7 show. For a second, I considered buying a ticket. But I was instantly ashamed. Had I become so celebrity-crazy that I was willing to pay and spend my precious New York time watching a one-hit wonder from the 90s whose song I didn’t even like that much?

At that moment, I abandoned all thoughts of celebrity-chasing. Sure, there were signs of celebrity everywhere—Broadway’s billboards, Times Square’s insane lights, the magazine covers that screamed from the stands—but I figured I was done. I was just tired.

I put all my energy into covering Avon’s Global Women’s Summit—and it soon made me realize that I shouldn’t have gone nuts trying to track down all those personalities. My official coverage gave me a dose of celebrity—and I didn’t have to bend over backwards in setting it up.

The dinner party and interview with Cynthia Rowley, getting a quick smoky eyes tutorial from makeup artist Jillian Dempsey (yes, McDreamy’s wife), the hours spent at the United Nations listening to Reese Witherspoon speak about women’s issues.

I guess in New York—and everywhere else, really—celebrity-spotting is just a matter of being at the right place at the right time. According to Gawker.com’s Stalker page, New Yorkers saw a number of celebrities during the days I was there. Renee Zellwegger at 7th Ave and West 57th Street (which was really near my hotel), Molly Shannon at West 34th Street and Broadway, Ethan Hawke, Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Danny DeVito, Jeremy Piven, Lindsay Lohan, Robert De Niro, Kevin Bacon, Julia Stiles—I didn’t see them but other lucky fans did. Our ride back from Avon’s Research and Development facility broke down on the way back to Manhattan and the girls who decided to walk back to the hotel spotted Adrian Brody crossing the street. I walked into Broadway’s Neil Simon Theatre to watch Hairspray, not knowing that Cheers’ George Wendt was starring as Tracy Turnblad’s mom and Tevin Campbell was there as Seaweed. Several times, I thought I spotted Matthew Perry and Sean Hayes. But that can be blamed on my overactive imagination and the too many hours I spent watching “Friends” and “Will and Grace.”

Conan oh Conan

If there’s one person I didn’t want to give up on—it was Conan O’Brien. Sure, I didn’t have an interview scheduled, but I could always try watching a taping of his show. I woke up on Thursday morning with a good plan—eat breakfast and then run down to Rockefeller Plaza to try to get a standby ticket to his 5:30 p.m. taping. A standby ticket does not guarantee admission but I just wanted to try. It’s a good thing I called NBC’s ticket hotline while attacking my buffalo wings. On the phone, I received heartbreaking news. Conan wasn’t taping any show that week.

I briefly considered searching for his address and standing guard outside his door but I realized that would qualify as stalking. And so I didn’t.

I left New York on Friday morning, excited to go home. Sure, I never got my moment with John Mayer or Regina Spektor but I had Reese Witherspoon and Cynthia Rowley.

And as for Conan, I haven’t completely given up. I still believe we’ll have our chance.