The Hollywood Walk of Fame

The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California. The stars are permanent public monuments to achievement in the entertainment industry, bearing the names of a mix of actors, musicians, directors, producers, musical and theatrical groups, fictional characters, and others.

The Walk of Fame is administered by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and maintained by the self-financing Hollywood Historic Trust.

According to a 2003 report by the market research firm NPO Plog Research, the Walk attracts about 10 million visitors annually — more than Sunset Strip, Grauman's Chinese Theatre, the Queen Mary, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art — and has played an important role in making tourism the largest industry in Los Angeles County.

The Walk of Fame runs 1.3 miles (2.1 km) east to west on Hollywood Boulevard from North Gower Street to North La Brea Avenue, plus a short segment of Marshfield Way that runs diagonally between Hollywood and La Brea; and 0.4 miles (0.7 km) north to south on Vine Street between Yucca Street and Sunset Boulevard.[2]

As of November 8, 2011 the Walk consists of 2,454 stars.[3] These are spaced at 6-foot (1.8 m) intervals, each consisting of a coral-pink terrazzo five-point star rimmed with brass (not bronze, an oft-repeated inaccuracy)[4] inlaid into a charcoal-colored terrazzo background. In the upper portion of the pink star field, the name of the honoree is inlaid in brass block letters. Below the inscription, in the lower half of the star field, a round inlaid brass emblem indicates the category of the honoree's contributions. The emblems symbolize five categories within the entertainment industry:

• Classic film camera representing motion pictures
•  Television receiver representing broadcast television
•  Phonograph record representing audio recording or music
•  Radio microphone representing broadcast radio
•  Comedy/tragedy masks representing theatre/live performance 

Of all the stars on the Walk to date, 47% have been awarded in the motion pictures category, 24% in television, 17% in audio recording, 10% in radio, and less than 2% in the live performance category. An average of twenty new stars are added to the Walk each year.