HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME

- What you need to know -

This tour of Hollywood Blvd. in Hollywood, CA provides a deeper look into this world-famous street. I’m sure many of you have walked along the Walk of Fame, but do you actually know how celebrities get a star? Do you know how much it costs to have one? How often is a new star added? Can you attend an induction ceremony? Well, I’ll answer all those questions and also get into the rich history of this famous street.

I’ll get into some unique alternative star designs as well as special category stars and provide interesting backstories on the location of some stars. 

There is also one very special star - it’s the only star that no one can step on. Do you know who it is?

A: Marilyn Monroe ; B: Muhammad Ali ; C: Michael Jackson ; D: Mickey Mouse

I’ll reveal this mysterious star at the end of the tour.

If you ever wondered how to attend an induction ceremony, this tour will give you all the details while attending the Red Hot Chili Peppers ceremony in March 2022.

The stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame are located on both sides of Hollywood Blvd. from Gower St. to La Brea Ave. as well as on Vine Street from Sunset Blvd. to Yucca St. in Hollywood, CA.

The Walk of Fame is an internationally recognized icon and certainly a top visitor attraction in the Los Angeles area. It is estimated that the Walk attracts 10 million visitors annually, giving the LA tourism sector a major boost.

Let’s briefly talk about the history and how it all started. 

A man named E.M. Stuart, who served as the volunteer president of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, is credited with the idea of creating the Walk of Fame.

It’s not quite certain where the original idea came from, but the ceiling of the dining room of the historic Hollywood Hotel once had stars painted on the ceiling with names of celebrities and that may have been a precursor of the idea to place stars on the sidewalks.

That hotel was located right where the Dolby Theater at the Hollywood/Highland Complex is located today.

The Oscars are held here every year and this is where the celebrities walk along the red carpet into the Dolby Theater. 

Anyways, back to the history of the Walk of Fame… The so-called Hollywood Improvement Association, moved forward with the idea of placing stars on the sidewalks between May 1956 and the fall of 1957 in selecting the honorees to be initially placed in the walk.  At the time, four different categories were established: motion picture, television, recording and radio. Each category was represented by a committee that included prominent names such as Walt Disney. 

The cost for building the Walk was determined to be $1.25 million.

On August 15, 1958, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and the city unveiled 8 stars on Hollywood Blvd. at Highland Ave. to create buzz and to demonstrate what the Walk would look like. 

The eight honorees were: Olive Borden, Ronald Colman, Louise Fazenda, Preston Foster, Burt Lancaster, Edward Sedgwick, Ernest Torrance and Joanne Woodward.

However, construction of the actual Walk did not start until early 1960 with the first star of American director Stanley Kramer being laid near the intersection of Hollywood & Gower, which is the start point of the Walk of Fame.

By Fall 1960, work on the Walk has progressed so much that it was decided to dedicate the Walk on Nov. 23, 1960 in conjunction with the Hollywood Christmas Parade. 

The actual completion of the project with the first 1,558 stars was actually in spring 1961.

However, that did not mean that all stars already had names in them. So the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce developed rules and procedures to add names to the vacant stars. This took several years and no names were added for about 7 years until 1968.

That is when producer/studio executive Richard D. Zanuck star was revealed in front of the world-famous Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, which today is called the TCL Chinese Theater.

From this time forward, star ceremonies were held on a fairly regular basis. In 1972, Charlie Chaplin was awarded a star on the Walk of Fame. By May 21, 1975, when Carol Burnett received her honors, a total of 99 names had been added to the original Walk

In 1980, the Chamber presented a star to entertainer Johnny Grant who then went on chairing the Walk of Fame Committee. Under his leadership, a fifth category of “Live Theater” was added in 1984 to allow persons who excelled in all types of live performance to be considered for stars. 

Grant also solved the problem of running out of space to add stars by adding a second row of stars on the sidewalks, which would alternate with the existing stars. 

On Feb. 1, 1994 the Walk of Fame was extended one block to the west from Sycamore to LaBrea on Hollywood Blvd.. 

Thirty stars were added and Sophia Loren was honored with the 2,000th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Today, an average of two-three stars are added to the Walk on a monthly basis and there are currently more than 2,700 stars on the Walk of Fame and just recently in April 2021 Sports Entertainment was added as the sixth category.

How to attend an induction ceremony?

Back in March I went to the induction ceremony of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who received their star in front of the new Amoeba Music location. All star ceremonies are free to attend and no tickets needed. There is a public viewing area for all Walk of Fame star ceremonies. Each ceremony begins promptly at 11:30 a.m. and will be over by 12:15 p.m.

All Walk of Fame events are streamed live exclusively on www.walkoffame.com.

What is the cost of a Walk of Fame star ceremony?

There is a $50,000 sponsorship fee upon selection. The fee is used to pay for the creation and installation of the star, as well as maintenance of the Walk of Fame

What are the requirements to get on the Hollywood Walk of Fame?

Nominees must have a minimum of five years experience in the category for which they are nominated and a history of "charitable contributions".

Who can nominate someone for a Walk of Fame Star?

Anyone, including a fan, can fill out a Walk of Fame nomination form and nominate a celebrity as long as the celebrity or their management is in agreement with the nomination. If there is no letter of agreement included from the celebrity, the committee will not accept the application.

How often are stars voted in?

Stars are voted in once a year in June. An average of 30 stars are selected per year out of the 200-300 applications the committee receives each year.

Now let’s get into some backstories about the locations of some of the stars:

In reference to Roger Moore & Daniel Craig’s roles as James Bond - 007, their stars are located at: 7007 Hollywood Boulevard

Jay Leno requested his star to be placed at the intersection of Hollywood & Highland as he was  twice picked up by police for vagrancy at this location when he first arrived in Hollywood.

The Dead End Kids were a group of young actors from New York who appeared in Sidney Kingsley’s Broadway play Dead End in 1935 and due to their name Dead End Kids, the star is located at the westernmost point of the Walk.

Lin-Manuel Miranda chose in front of Pantages Theater where his musicals “In the Heights” and “Hamilton” played.

There are also some unique Alternative Star Designs as well as Special Category Stars such as the Victoria Secret Star with their company logo or the Los Angeles Dodgers with their team logo. 

While the Apollo 11 Moon Mission does not fit into any of the categories, the selection committee made an exception recognizing the Apollo 11 astronauts for their contributions to the television industry by adding four identical circular moons at each of the four corners of Hollywood & Vine.

As you enter the iconic Roosevelt Hotel, you see a star for LA’s former mayor, Tom Bradley with the Seal of the City of Los Angeles.

Whenever you are visiting, make sure to walk through the Roosevelt Hotel. It’s such a glamorous classic Hollywood Hotel and you feel like Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable might be walking by you any moment.

The 60’s style Tropicana Pool in the back of the hotel is really cool too and worth visiting.

As you leave the Roosevelt Hotel on Hollywood Blvd., make a left and you’ll see this Walk of Fame mural which was unveiled last year in June 2021 to celebrate the 60th year anniversary of the Walk of Fame.

Alright, let’s get to the answer of this question I asked at the beginning of the tour.

Marilyn Monroe’s star is on the sidewalk at the intersection of Hollywood & Highland and people can walk on it.

Same for Michael Jackson, his star is near the Grauman’s Chinese Theater.

Mickey Mouse was the first animated character to receive a star, but as you can see, it is also located on the sidewalk where people can step on.

That leaves us with the iconic boxer Muhammad Ali. 

In 2002, he was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for the first time ever, a star was not placed on the sidewalk, but instead, it now adorns a wall at the Dolby Theater entertainment complex. Ali requested that his name not be walked upon as he shared his name with the Prophet Muhammad. 

The committee made quite some exceptions here and also decided that boxing could be considered a form of live performance and therefore he was added into that category while the sports entertainment category was not available yet. 

And with that, we conclude the tour of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. If you enjoyed the tour, please consider subscribing to my YouTube channel. I really appreciate it!

Thank you and Dankeschön!

For more impressions, check out the video below…