Walk of Hollywood Stars (USA) – description, history, location. Exact address, phone number, website. Reviews of tourists, photos and videos.
Los Angeles is associated primarily with Hollywood, and Hollywood is associated with the stars, so it is not surprising that the Avenue of Stars is rightfully considered the most popular attraction in the city. Every year, more than 10 million tourists stroll along the Avenue of Stars, reading with delight and trepidation the names of idols immortalized in the stone slabs of the sidewalk to the glory of the entertainment industry. As it should be for any attraction “with a name”, the Avenue of Stars has a long, varied and very interesting history that continues to be created to this day: new “stars” are laid here about twice a month. See acronymmonster for nickname of California.
A bit of history
The Avenue of Stars did not arise at all spontaneously: the idea of creating a new attraction belonged to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce – both as a means of maintaining the public fame of celebrities, and as a way to provide the city’s budget with additional injections. The original plan was to use a brass caricature rather than a star shape with the actor’s name written in it, but this turned out to be quite difficult and costly to implement. Therefore, the Hollywood City Hall decided not to philosophize slyly, but took an ordinary five-pointed star as a model, “copying” it from the ceiling of the Hollywood Hotel.
In addition to the name of the celebrity, the stars include one of five icons: a movie camera, a TV set, a phonograph, a radio microphone and two masks, thus indicating which area of show business the owner of the star belongs to.
The first memorial plate appeared on the Avenue of Stars in 1958. More precisely, these were the first eight plates from the 1550 celebrities selected by the members of the Chamber of Commerce, who in the future were to be awarded their “star”. Since 1960, the regular laying of slabs began, which continues to this day. However, the history of the Alley knows many defeats: in the 60-70s there was almost fifteen years of stagnation, complicated by litigation, and then it began to flourish again. Today, the Avenue of Stars has more than 2,500 nominal plates.
The laying of a personalized “star” on the Avenue of Stars is not free at all: the lucky recipient of the personalized plaque will have to pay 30 thousand USD of “organizational costs”.
What to watch
The Avenue of Stars is one of the longest attractions: its total length is more than 18 city blocks! The main part stretches for 15 blocks along Hollywood Boulevard, and since its length was clearly not designed for numerous bohemians, there is also a three-block “tail” of the Alley on Vine Street. Only avid fans of show business are able to see them all, so before going to the Alley, it makes sense to refer to the official website of the attraction and find out the exact location of the “star” of the idol.
The “address” of the name plate is indicated by the exact address of the building opposite which it is located.
Some particularly prominent representatives of the entertainment industry have two stars on the Walk of Stars: for example, John Lennon, Ringo Star and George Harrison are immortalized as members of The Beatles and as solo artists. And in exceptional cases, stars that do not fall under any of the categories of show business were noted on the Alley – for example, Mohammed Ali (in his case, the Committee equated the boxing fights of an outstanding athlete with theatrical art).
And of course, there were mythical characters: Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Snow White and the Dwarfs, Shrek, The Simpsons and many other cartoon characters are on a par with the names of real people.
Star-laying ceremonies
Getting to the ceremony of laying the name plate of a star is quite easy: just read the schedule of events on the Avenue of Stars website in advance and arrive early. The ceremonies usually start at 11:30 am and last about 45 minutes. The entrance is free; it must be borne in mind that climbing on anything (shoulders of a companion, a chair or a ladder) will not be allowed. An indispensable condition for bookmarking a “star” is the personal presence of a celebrity.
Address: Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles
Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame (USA) – description, history, location. Exact address, phone number, website. Reviews of tourists, photos and videos.
Immortalized in Concrete is about the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The courtyard of the magnificent Grauman’s Chinese Theater is completely covered with concrete slabs with handprints, footprints, and in exceptional cases, paw prints of celebrities. Unlike the Avenue of Stars, the local “hangout” is not at all massive – the history of cinema is long, and less than two hundred figures of the magical world of cinema were honored to “inherit” it.
Among the “non-human” prints on the Walk of Fame are Harold Lloyd’s glasses and Harry Potter’s wand.
A bit of history
The history of the Walk of Fame began in 1926, as often happens with all brilliant ideas, by chance. During the construction of the Chinese Theater in its future courtyard, preparatory work was carried out, in particular, cement was stirred. Silent film actress Norma Talmadge, rushing to rehearsal, stepped on raw material and left her mark. Sid Grauman picked up the idea – and a year later, footprints of the stars began to appear in the courtyard of the Chinese Theater. At the same time, the Walk of Fame was the most “undemocratic” evidence of being chosen: the lucky ones were determined exclusively by the theater owners.
Until recently, celebrities left their prints directly on the surface of the Walk of Fame filled with fresh concrete, for which they had to lie down on a red carpet specially laid out for the occasion. Now the stars are invited to “attach” to the surface of the concrete form – after a while the material will harden and the slab will be hoisted into place.
What to watch
The Walk of Fame is that rare case when, when sightseeing, you need to look only at your feet. For almost a century, the most prominent figures in cinematography “signed” in front of the facade of the Chinese Theater. On the first plates, the stars also signed wishes to Sid Grauman, later the tradition changed, and modern plates bear prints of the palms and shoes of celebrities and their autographs.
When planning a visit to Grauman’s Chinese Theater, it makes sense to familiarize yourself with the location of the plates on the Walk of Fame in advance – it’s easy to get lost in the names and prints on the spot.
Among the most popular are the plates of Charlie Chaplin and Marilyn Monroe, Johnny Depp and Arnold Schwarzenegger, Al Pacino, Michael Jackson (with the imprint of his diamond gloves and boots), Frank Sinatra, etc. And the last ones in the courtyard were Robert de Niro, Jane Fonda and Jackie Chan. Four-legged actors were also not forgotten – on the Walk of Fame there are paw prints of everyone’s favorite commissioner Rex – the Rin-Tin-Tin shepherd dog. Among other things, the contours of popular cinematic objects were imprinted in concrete: Harold Lloyd’s glasses, Harry Potter’s magic wand, Betty Grable’s full-sized legs of the 50s beauty Betty Grable and Bob Hope’s nose.
Slab-laying ceremonies
The Walk of Fame is replenished with prints quite rarely – no more than 2-3 times a year. Accordingly, the laying ceremony of the next slab turns into a significant event, which is not easy to get to, but possible. In addition to the fact that you need to “stake out” a place for yourself on an already limited spot for the public as soon as possible, the matter rests on banal luck: the main action takes place at the sidewalk level, and you can simply not see an idol behind the back of some tall spectator in front of you. Information about the ceremony is posted long before the event on the Grauman’s Chinese Theater website.
Address: Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles
