This February marked the 50th anniversary of the start of construction on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, created as a means to “maintain the glory of a community whose name means glamour and excitement in the four corners of the world,” according to the local Chamber of Commerce. Stretching 2.4 miles along Hollywood Boulevard and Vine, the famous Walk immortalizes more than 2,400 celebrities for their contributions to film, television, radio, recordings, and live theater. From Marilyn Monroe to Mickey Mouse, the top names in the entertainment industry have attended the ceremonies to unveil their stars resulting in a feeding frenzy among the paparazzi whenever a new star is dedicated.

Paying tribute to the unsung heroes of the movie industry is the NoHo (North Hollywood) Gateway sculpture designed by Los Angeles artist Peter Shire to celebrate the area’s history of providing "behind the scenes" support to the entertainment industry. Supported by a standard, overhead street span, the gateway depicts characters building sets, operating cameras, and designing costumes. Other multi-colored design elements include musical notes on a bar, balloons attached to a fence, and imagery connected to the area’s residential community and airport. The name “NoHo” is centered on the yellow truss, which is illuminated at night. The shop-applied coatings for the project included an epoxy primer, Tnemec’s Series L69 Hi-Build Epoxoline II, and a high-solids fluoropolymer, Series 1070V Fluoronar with outstanding color and gloss retention.

The same coating system, which meets South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) regulations in the Los Angeles basin, was used for another North Hollywood public art project designed by Erin Lareau, a theatrical designer who received an Emmy award in 2006 for costume design. Lareau’s mosaic shoe sculptures are in honor of the performing arts in the NoHo arts district, which is home to more than 30 live theaters. The sculptures consist of three sets of high-heeled shoes set on top of stainless steel shoe boxes that were coated with Series L69 primer and Series 1070V finish coat. Since the shoe sculptures will be displayed on street level and are susceptible to public abuse, a key consideration in choosing Series 1070V Low VOC Fluoronar was its ultra-durable finish in the most severe exposures. The shoe sculptures will be displayed near the Millennium Dance complex, the Academy, and El Portal Theater in the one-square-mile NoHo arts district.

Both the NoHo Gateway and shoe sculptures were selected and funded by the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles (CRA/LA) in its effort to draw attention to NoHo’s identity as a destination to experience contemporary theatre, art galleries and arts-friendly businesses. A public agency regulated by the State of California and operating within the City of Los Angeles, the CRA/LA has been involved with nearly 200 art projects in 17 redevelopment areas that include Hollywood and North Hollywood. “The Los Angeles area experiences 300 days of full sun, adversely affecting color and gloss retention of the coatings and it has a long and well-known history of graffiti,” Tnemec coating consultant Dustin Kaatz noted. “To meet requirements for lowered VOC limits, gloss and color retention, and graffiti resistance, many of CRA/LA’s projects are being specified with Fluoronar products.”

More than two dozen CRA/LA art projects are located in North Hollywood. At the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, for example, CRA/LA projects include bronze statues of Johnny Carson, Lucille Ball, and Jack Benny by sculptor Ernest Shelton and concrete wall reliefs of Steve Allen, Walter Cronkite, and George Burns and Gracie Allen by artist Richard Ellis. Rehabilitation projects include the El Portal Theatre, the Lankershim Art Center, and the North Hollywood Regional Branch Library. And the NoHo Commons features artwork on building facades by artists Christina Ulke and the Los Angeles-based design firm, Electroland.

Celebrities are the focus of the Hollywood High School Auditorium Mural by Eloy Torrez, Catherine Hardwicke’s art-deco gazebo with stainless steel sculptures of famous actresses, and the Hollywood Night Art Gallery, featuring 40 photographic murals painted on roll-down doors of retail businesses along Hollywood Boulevard. Erika Rothenberg’s Road to Hollywood marble mosaic and concrete floor piece in the main courtyard and on the second floor of Hollywood at Highland contains 49 stories of how people in the entertainment business came to Hollywood and started their careers. Façade renovations include the Ivar Theatre and Ricardo Montalban Theatre, to name a few.

Several of the CRA/LA art projects have been referenced in the Art in America Annual Guide. 

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