Hollywood Walk of Fame - Theft and Vandalism

Theft and Vandalism

Four of the stars, which weigh about 300 pounds (136 kg) each, have been stolen from the Walk of Fame. In 2000, James Stewart's and Kirk Douglas's stars disappeared from their locations near the intersection of Hollywood and Vine, where they had been temporarily removed for a construction project. Police recovered them in the suburban community of South Gate when they arrested a man involved in an incident there and searched his house. The suspect was a construction worker employed on the Hollywood and Vine project. The stars had been badly damaged, and had to be remade. One of Gene Autry's five stars (it is not clear which one) was also stolen from a construction area. Johnny Grant later received an anonymous phone tip that the missing star was in Iowa, but it was never found. "Someday, it will end up on eBay," Grant once joked. The most brazen and ambitious theft occurred in 2005, when thieves used a concrete saw to remove Gregory Peck's star from its Hollywood Boulevard site at the intersection of North El Centro Ave, near North Gower. The star was replaced almost immediately, but the original was never recovered and the perpetrators never caught.

In late 2009 rumors circulated widely on media outlets and the Internet that John Lennon's star had been stolen, but it was merely being relocated further south on Vine Street to an area near the circular Capitol Records Building, adjacent to the stars of bandmates George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Paul McCartney's star was installed in the same location in 2012.

Random acts of vandalism occur on the Walk on a regular basis, ranging from profanity and political statements written on stars with felt-tip markers to attempted removal of brass emblems with chisels. Closed circuit surveillance cameras have been installed on the stretch of Hollywood Boulevard between La Brea Avenue and Vine Street in an effort to discourage mischievous activities.