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Originally Posted by Retired_in_Texas
Thanks for the great screen shot for those of us who remember Hollywood and Vine when it was actually part of a neighborhood where people did normal things. Amazing how the Walk of Fame, radio and TV shows transitioned it into a tourist trap and ultimately into being virtually skid row for a number of years. Regardless of all the attempts to bring the area back, it will never again be as it was in the years before 1960.
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Before 1960! That's nearly 55 years ago! You'd be hard-pressed to find any place in the U.S. that would "be as it was in the years before 1960."
Hollywood & Vine and Hollywood has always been a tourist trap. Before 1960 there were far more places in that area where tourists saw radio shows and television programs and live eprformances in nightclbs and movie premieres etc. And people still do normal things there, too.
But "tourist trap" doesn't have to be a negative thing, either.
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Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug
Yes, Hollywood Blvd. has turned into an endless Dollar Store.
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That's stretching the truth of things. The Blvd. is not the shopping mecca it once was and that happened when the populace began moving into the valley and shopping malls began to emerge. There was no need to travel to Hollywood to shop somewhere in particular.
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Originally Posted by Retired_in_Texas
In some cases a Dollar Store might be an improvement.
If I were a tourist hoping to see anything as history on the WEB and in books might reflect I'd be a bit disappointed to find no Brown Derby, No Schwabs, etc. I would certainly be a little surprised to find my favorite entertainer's star among those in front of the PEP BOYS auto repair an parts store in the 6100 block of Hollywood Blvd.
Of course if I were an entertainer who had been approached about a "Star" on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, there are locations I simply wouldn't shell out the $15,000 it costs, which a number have refused to do.
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Like many, I have a fondness for the Hollywood area in the 30's and 40's but tourists can still find places of that era to visit. The Chinese Theatre (with feetprint in cement events) and the Pantages. The El Capitan was restored around 1991 and is a fantastic venue. The Egyptian Theatre has transitioned to the base for the American Cinematheque and you can see vintage movies there all year long. And celebrity visits from those of yesteryear, too.
You can visit Musso & Frank's Restaurant, the Pig & Whistle, Boardner's and Miceli's restaurant. You can have a cocktail at the Frolic Room. There's always the Roosevelt Hotel and the Hollywood Bowl.
On Sunset you can still visit the Florentine Gardens and the Palladium.
And there's still plenty of movie premieres and live performances. Oh, and the Academy Awards. And the Hollywood Christmas parade.
TCM's week long movie extravanganza merges the past with the present and is a huge annual event now.
No, it's never going to be what it WAS like, but there are things to appreciate and celebrate.
By the way, the Walk of Fame doesn't extend past Vine Street, so no one has a star in front of Pep Boys.
I don't know what stars you cite that have refused a star on the Walk of Fame, but the stars themselves, if they have any integrity, are sponsored by someone (studios or groups or contributions or individuals) and don't pay for the honor, nor solicit it themselves, as you suggest. The only thing required of them is that they show up for the ceremony. Paul Newman was one who refused the honor because he didn't want to show up. Barbra Streisand is the only one I know that accepted the honor and then didn't show up. (They should've removed the star!)
I prefer to have the attitude of someone like the Hawaii historian DeSoto Brown. He was asked if he'd like to live in any particular era of Hawaii's past and he genuinely admmitted he would love to go back for any number of reasons, but would prefer to take all that knowledge and bring it back to the present.
If we really lived in these periods of time we like to look back on, would we really enjoy it as much as we think? Would we be able to afford eating out in all the restaurants we admire? If it was the depression would we even have a job? Would we be in the service during WWII? Would we like breathing the air of the 1950's?
I guess I just don't see the negativity of dissing something because it's not what it used to be.