Timeless Tinsel : For the Tourists, Hollywood Still Has Its Glitter

New York tourist Marianne Muraca was puzzled when a stranger stopped her on Hollywood Boulevard and handed her a long-stemmed yellow rose.

A few steps away, a guitarist was softly strumming a flamenco tune beneath a colorful, wall-sized portrait of silent movie actress Dolores Del Rio. Onlookers were nibbling on grapes, melon slices and cheese.

Muraca was just as surprised by what happened next.

Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Woo stepped forward to tell those gathered at the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Hudson Avenue on Thursday that the new $27,000 Del Rio mural was another step toward sprucing up Hollywood’s tacky, tarnished image.

“This gives residents as well as tourists something to look at,” said Woo, who represents Hollywood.

Fingering her rose and glancing at her surroundings, Muraca confided that the Movie Capital of the World didn’t look all that bad to her.

The sidewalk known throughout the world as the Walk of Fame was filled with people. The boulevard throbbed with excitement. The sun was shining and the sky was blue.

“It’s like New York City--only cleaner,” Muraca said.

“And more elegant,” added her companion, Long Island resident Brian Arnold.

Hollywood’s main street is dismissed by many in Los Angeles as Holly weird Boulevard--home of degenerate rock ‘n’ rollers, runaway kids, panhandlers and prostitutes.

City officials are convinced that Hollywood’s decline is more than cosmetic, however. Four years ago they launched a $922-million redevelopment effort to improve the area’s mix of businesses, theaters and visitor accommodations.

The comments of critics notwithstanding, Hollywood Boulevard still seems to glitter for most tourists flocking there this summer.

“Am I disappointed? Not at all!” exclaimed visitor Tina Harris of Vancouver, Canada, as she gleefully compared her handprints with those of Marilyn Monroe in the concrete courtyard of Mann’s Chinese Theatre on Friday.

Nearby, other tourists crowded around barricades to watch a promotion stunt being staged by Warner Bros. for the new Bill Murray comedy, “Quick Change.” A few visitors were picked from the crowd to climb into costumes to re-create a bank robbery scene in the movie.

Gary Glover, a visitor from Edinburgh, Scotland, was one of them.

“This is the best place I’ve ever been too,” Glover said after he finished. “Everything here is brilliant.”

At a Los Angeles Convention & Visitors Bureau office a few blocks down the boulevard, Denver visitor Bill Baldwin examined a rack of brochures for Hollywood tourist attractions.

“Hollywood is not as bad as I thought it would be,” he said. “I thought I’d see more druggies and prostitutes, more litter on the streets, more panhandlers and more run-down buildings. But I haven’t. Either the media has overdrawn the negativism of the area, or it’s on the rebound.”

Back out on the boulevard, self-styled Hollywood street person Dan Tanner voted for the rebound theory.

In the “six years, off and on,” that he has lived on the streets, Tanner, 22, says he has seen police crackdowns on loitering, the demolition of notorious transient crash pads and a general cleanup of litter and graffiti.

He and his buddies have learned to keep moving when they are strolling the boulevard in their torn jeans, studded leather jackets and spiked hair, said Tanner, who grew up in Palos Verdes Estates.

Tanner sports a blue-and-black striped Mohawk haircut and wears eight rings on his ears, tongue and other parts of his body. His appearance has made him a Hollywood tourist attraction of sorts.

“People from out of town freak out when they see me. Tourists come up all the time and ask if they can take my picture,” he said. “I say sure, for a dollar. It’s better than bumming.”

As if on cue, visitor Mireya Gaxiola of Mexicali, Mexico, shyly tapped Tanner on the shoulder and asked if she could have her photo taken standing next to him. A few flash shots and one greenback later, the deal was done.

Tourists say they are not surprised that genuine celebrities never seem to actually walk on the Walk of Fame that bears their names. But in a pinch, Hollywood can live up to its reputation as a town of make-believe, discovered visitor Tammy Strohl of Palmertown, Pa.

Strohl was waiting in line at a boulevard tourist shop called “Pose With Stars” to have a $10 photograph taken of her standing next to a cardboard cutout of her favorite entertainer, Dolly Parton. The shop’s walls were covered with life-sized head-and-shoulders portraits of such entertainers as Elizabeth Taylor, Sylvester Stallone and musician Jon Bon Jovi.

“I was hoping to see stars,” Strohl laughed. “And here they are. All of them.”

Back at bigger-than-life Dolores Del Rio, visitor Scott DeSantis of Bound Brook, N.J., admired the mural. “I’ll probably see more stars back in New Jersey than I’ll see out here,” he said. “But I’m not at all disappointed.”

After the speeches ended, the civic leaders lingered to discuss among themselves future Hollywood improvement projects.

Woo listened politely as boulevard shopkeeper Mariam Hejazi buttonholed him to complain that the litter problem is out of control in front of her store. “The whole world looks at Hollywood. But when you look at it, it’s really dirty,” Hejazi asserted.

Hollywood Chamber of Commerce President Larry Kaplan--whose organization represents many of the 1,200 businesses along the Walk of Fame--was also fretting over tourism.

“The problem is they don’t stay long enough to spend money,” Kaplan said. “They pop a quarter in the meter, look over the stars on the sidewalk and the footprints over at Mann’s and they’re out of here.”

The one face in the crowd that seemed unconcerned was that of Del Rio, which gazed demurely toward Hollywood Boulevard.

No wonder. City officials said muralist Alfredo de Batuc has protected her with a special anti-graffiti covering.