What’s missing from Chicago’s cultural landscape? A Hollywood-style walk of fame, according to the Grant Park Advisory Council. It’s promoting the idea of putting stars on the beaux arts walkway that runs along the east side of the Metra tracks in Grant Park, from Balbo to 11th Street.
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The idea came from Gene Martin and Ron Renke of the Motion Picture Hall of Fame Foundation, who told everyone at an October 24 advisory council meeting that they could create a promenade of three-foot-wide granite stars honoring Chicago’s most prominent citizens. Renke said there’d be room for 400 to 500 stars and there’d be no problem coming up with nominees–celebrities, of course, but also Congressional Medal of Honor winners, authors, musicians, architects, and athletes. The price? A mere $15,000 per star, including installation, dedication ceremonies, and annual maintenance.
The foundation, which has nothing to do with the Hollywood Walk of Fame, got its start 13 years ago in Palm Springs, where it has put almost 250 stars along Palm Canyon Drive, the city’s prime shopping street, honoring everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Cheetah the chimp. The foundation began the Las Vegas project late last year and has signed a contract with Branson, Missouri. It’s also apparently negotiating with, among other cities, Detroit, Philadelphia, Atlantic City, and Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
The original Hollywood Walk of Fame draws on that city’s historic identity as the motion picture capital of the world–stars in a sidewalk make sense there. But the Motion Picture Hall of Fame Foundation is trying to turn the idea into a franchise–creating a Planet Hollywood of memorials, one in every city. It’s worth remembering that it didn’t take Chicagoans long to run Planet Hollywood out of town and replace it with Gino’s East, purveyor of Chicago-style deep dish.
