BEVERLEY HILLS is a city in its own right. The opulent homes of Hollywood filmstars take up a large part of the residential area and the local luxurious restaurants, department stores, shops and boutiques reflect that opulence. HOLLYWOOD is situated just across the city's eastern boundary and it is here, on Hollywood Boulevard, that the 'Walk of Fame' and Mann's Chinese Theater are located.

THE WELL KNOWN HOLLYWOOD SIGN was created in 1923 to advertise a piece of real estate development called 'Hollywoodland'. In 1949 the letters LAND were removed. The sign is now a protected historic site. In the nineteen seventies the forty-five feet high (thirteen metres) letters had to be replaced, the cost being recovered from donations amounting to $27,000 per letter.

"I BELIEVE that God felt sorry for actors so he created Hollywood to give them a place in the sun and a swimming pool. The price they had to pay was to surrender their talent." Sir Cedric Hardwicke 1961

MANN'S (FORMERLY GRAUMAN'S) CHINESE THEATER was opened in 1927 for the premiere of King of Kings, Cecil B. De Mille's epic film. The forecourt is full of signatures in cement of the famous, together with imprints of their hands and shoes. The idea was put forward by the cinema's creator, Sid Grauman, possibly as a result of an accidental occurence when the original cement for the forecourt was being poured. The first stars to (officially) make their mark in wet cement on 17 May 1927 were Norma Talmadge, Douglas Fairbanks (Sen.) and Mary Pickford.

"Hollywood is like being nowhere and talking to nobody about nothing." Michelangelo Antonioni in the London Sunday Times

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