This shot of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre taken from across Hollywood Blvd is from 1929, so it’s within a couple of years of the May 1927 opening when you could still find parking right outside the front door. What luxury! Those people looking at the handprints in the concrete would have been gathered a forecourt with a lot more room for fresh prints. And this was long before they installed a long, red marquee stretching from the door to the sidewalk.
This is how Grauman’s Chinese looked in November 2021:
Looked better in 1929.
Those two little sad trees (bushes) by the entrance are pathetic. Would it be so expensive to bring back even a couple of those palms? That would improve the courtyard and not take up too much room.
Does anyone know when the stars were first placed in the sidewalk in front of the theater?
08FEB1960 – Official groundbreaking ceremony for the first 8 stars on the Walk of Fame are installed at the corner of Hollywood Blvd and Highland. The personalities were Olive Borden, Ronald Coleman, Louise Fazenda, Preston Foster, Burt Lancaster, Edward Sedgwick, Ernest Torrence, and Joanne Woodward. Dedication on 23NOV1960