By Gabriela Resto-Montero
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
UPPER EAST SIDE — When Katherine Ilovar Rodriguez, 68, visits her neighborhood coffee shop or Duane Reade these days, she's often stopped by the waitresses or servers who ask for her autograph.
An Upper East Sider for more than 40 years, Rodriguez suddenly finds herself a minor celebrity after being featured in the 92nd Street Y's new ad campaign for its May Center for Health, Fitness and Sport.
Posters around the neighborhood poke fun at the racy ads of other gyms by featuring 12 of the Y's regular members, such as Rodriguez, with the tagline, "Where real New Yorkers work out."
"I've had women ask me, 'So what work have you gotten done?,'" Rodriguez said. "I say, 'no I haven't had any plastic surgery, it's just good living.'"
While the Y didn't pay models to pose in the campaign, it's easy to see how many of the Upper East Siders it features could easily become the envy of the gym.
"Most people tend to look around the room and they want to see if these are people they can identify with and want to be next to on a treadmill," said Stacey Eisler, deputy director of the May Center for Health, Fitness and Sport.
"I think it's very inviting."
Alison DeNoia, a 38-year-old mother-of-two, said her kids stopped in their tracks when they saw their mom on the side of a Third Avenue bus shelter.
"I think it's a great photo, but it's not overly done," said DeNoia, who works out at the Y three or four times a week. "I think I look like the person next door."
The posters and billboards, which are featured on phone booths and bus shelters from Madison Avenue to Second Avenue, between East 86th Street and East 94th Street, will run through May. Then, the Y plans to post the photos in a newspaper campaign.
Jennifer and Devin McLean, who were photographed with their sons Tate, 9, and Troy, 7, said the boys were surprised when the ad went up outside the 92nd Street Y.
The boys thought it was great to be on the side of the building but had one question for their mom.
"They asked, 'Why is dad kissing you? Ew'," Jennifer McLean, 39, said. "That freaked them out a little bit."
