A New Star for Jewish Stars Needs a Home

With flags and fanfare, the first star was unveiled Wednesday for the Jewish Walk of Fame. The only trouble is, the blue cement slab--with a gold star and handprints to honor Los Angeles City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky--is too much like a page out of Jewish history.

It doesn’t have a home.

“We want this to go into the sidewalk somewhere,” said Nann Miller, who dreamed up the concept and presented the star at a public ceremony on Wilshire Boulevard. But the star never touched ground on Wilshire--where it lay framed on a table--nor may it go elsewhere if Wednesday’s less-than-dazzling send-off was any indication.

“I have no idea where it’s going to go,” Yaroslavsky said afterward.

Miller, a private publicist, staged the presentation as a prelude to Israeli Expo, a free public celebration of the Jewish New Year to be held Sunday at the Hyatt Wilshire Hotel. It is her hope, she said, that the walk someday will honor outstanding Jewish achievers like George Burns in entertainment and Jonas Salk in medicine.

It could be laid somewhere like the Fairfax District, she suggested, if city officials and merchants agree to tear up sidewalks in that heavily Jewish neighborhood.

“After all,” Miller said, “Jewish people have made so many contributions to science and the arts. We believe there should be a Walk of Fame for everyone . . . for the Japanese, for Hispanics. Not just for Hollywood stars.”