Making lasting and historic impressions
The celebrity imprints in front of the TCL Chinese Theatre Imax are part of Hollywood lore. But how much do you really know about them? We attempt to answer any questions you may have.
Where are these famous Hollywood concrete hand and footprints?
You can find the decades-old landmark at 6925 Hollywood Blvd., right in front of the theater. The official name for the area is “The Forecourt of the Stars.” So if you ever find yourself lost on the streets of Hollywood just ask the wandering Batman busker.
Who’s this Sid everyone seems to have loved?
While many of the late 20th and early 21st century imprints bear only the owners’ signatures, a number of the older slabs feature messages to “Sid,” who is Sidney Patrick Grauman, proprietor of several Hollywood theaters including the Chinese as well as the Egyptian Theatre.
How many handprints are there?
When “Alien” and “Blade Runner” director Ridley Scott made his imprint on Wednesday, his impression was the 304th stone added to the theater’s legacy (according to a theater representative). Who’s next? “Transformers” director Michael Bay.
Are all of them on display?
No, the recent boom in prints created space issues. At any given time, some slabs are in storage or being repaired.
Where are they stored?
According to a representative for TCL, all of the stones are stored in the Chinese Theatre except those that have been sent away for repairs.
Are the imprints restricted to actors only?
Nope. Singers, athletes, producers, cars, various animals and even protocol droids have pressed their boots into the historic cement.
In 1938 ventriloquist Edgar Bergen pressed the tiny feet and monocle from one of his dummies into the stuff. Silver screen cowboy Roy Rogers brought his horse (Trigger) to his 1949 imprint, as did Western actors Tom Mix and Gene Autry. Don Knotts and Dean Jones helped the Volkswagen Beetle car from “The Love Bug” roll its tires across the wet cement in 1977, and in 2011 Kobe Bryant became the first athlete inducted into the forecourt.
How many mistakes are embedded in the concrete?
Regis Philbin, who was working as a Hollywood correspondent at the time, accidentally stepped into C-3PO’s still-wet square, leaving a shoe print. According to a previous interview with Levi Tinker (TCL Chinese Theatres director of tours) the mistake was later smoothed out by a cement artist. Another accident was later corrected when a worker noticed that Sylvester Stallone forgot to cross the “t” in Stallone on his 1983 signature.
Normally the theater tries to keep the impressions accurate to the day they were made. Helen Mirren’s imprint from 2011, for example, bears the mark of a bracelet that slipped off her wrist and planted itself into the wet material.