Walk of Fame Falls by Wayside : Brass Plaques Along Studio City Sidewalk Are Leftovers of ‘60s Bid for a Bit of Show-Business Glory

So many people walk along this busy stretch of Ventura Boulevard each day. No one stops to notice the small brass plaques set into the sidewalk.

Studio City’s forgotten “walk of fame” is overgrown with weeds and littered with garbage. Thirteen plaques are spaced every 20 feet or so, each bearing a name.

Some of the names you might recognize; others you probably haven’t heard of. Elke Sommer and Marjorie Lord are honored there. So are Rhys Williams and Jay Novello.

Twenty years ago, Studio City hoped to rival Hollywood’s Walk of Fame. But the plaques never stretched any farther than a block west of their starting point at Laurel Canyon Boulevard. Somewhere along the way, grand plans fell by the wayside. No one seems to remember how or why that happened.

“That was so long ago,” said Berny Thorsch, who has owned a camera shop on the boulevard since 1948. “We now walk by and don’t even look at them.”

And, every once in awhile, radio newsman Stan Bohrman checks on his plaque outside the Sav-On Osco drugstore. Sometimes he notices some dog excrement on it.

“It’s not quite immortality,” Bohrman said.

Maybe because the walk has been abandoned and forgotten, it has become sort of a local mystery. Most of the people who live and work in Studio City don’t know it’s there. Even those familiar with the plaques know little about how they came to be.

Chamber Records Vague

The Studio City Chamber of Commerce was responsible for starting the walk. All but a few of the members from that era are dead now, said Sondra Frolich, the chamber’s executive director. So are at least half of the celebrities. Chamber records are vague when it comes to this part of the area’s history.

By most accounts, the plaques were installed in the early 1960s, a few years after the first stars were dedicated on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame. They were placed at the base of young palm trees that were planted to beautify the shopping district.

A number of merchants in business at that time pause when asked to recall specifics about the walk. Their accounts often conflict.

Thorsch said the plaques were instigated by a beauty supply house owner named Anthony. Others insist that it was the manager at the Bank of America branch, which isn’t there anymore.

The walk had a quiet birth, unlike a number of “walks of fame” that have sprung up in Los Angeles amid some publicity--the Sportswalk in San Pedro, the Jewish Walk of Fame on Wilshire Boulevard and the Hispanic Starwalk downtown. Thorsch said Studio City’s version was meant to remain low-key.

But Keith Tolman, a local jeweler, and Erwin Herman, who owns Erwin’s Bootery, said the chamber set out to rival Hollywood’s multiplying stars. Bohrman recalled that there were plans to dedicate as many as 100 plaques.

“I think they were going to have a ceremony and everything. A big thing was going to be made of it,” said Marjorie Lord, who played Kathy Williams in the television series “Make Room for Daddy.” “I don’t think anything ever happened.”

Lord’s name was bolted onto Ventura Boulevard mostly because she lived and shopped in the area, she said. That seemed to be the primary prerequisite for inclusion.

Herman recalled that he selected the star whose plaque was installed in front of his bootery.

“She was one of my favorite actresses then,” said Herman, who has worked in the store for 28 years. “I can’t even remember her name now.”

Recognizable Name

Herman picked Sommer, the German-born actress, whose name is one of the walk’s most recognizable. Lord and comic actor Cliff Arquette were famous as well, and garnered stars on Hollywood Boulevard. Others on the Studio City stretch were less celebrated:

Wanda Hendrix had the lead in the 1950 movie “Saddle Tramp.”

Jay Novello’s career highlights included a part in the 1948 film “Port Said, Kiss the Blood Off My Hands.”

Jaye P. Morgan is perhaps best known as a regular celebrity guest on the “Gong Show.”

And although Frank Ferguson and Rhys Williams were hardly well-known for their character roles, they live forever on Ventura Boulevard.

Some people think it would be a good idea to revive the walk. Others, like the guys at Phil’s fresh fish market, would rather see the chamber spend its efforts on putting more trash cans along the street.

Thorsch says nobody cares about the plaques, so why put in more?

“I never even noticed that,” said Raphael Masegosa, who for 11 years has owned the French restaurant facing Ferguson’s plaque. “Who was that guy?”