Touring *

From U.S. 101 in Hollywood, take the Hollywood Boulevard exit west. Pay parking is available on the boulevard within a block, or you can drive a couple of blocks farther to look for public parking after you pass Gower Street (the 6100 block). The Walk of Fame starts at Cahuenga Boulevard (the 6300 block) and extends several blocks west.

Hollywood Boulevard, which is crowded with tourists and a tough crowd of street people, will not be every skater's cup of tea. However, adventurous skaters who want to be able to put another notch in their wheel frames should roll up the 10-foot-wide sidewalks of the boulevard to straddle the marble-embedded stars. Skate during daylight hours to reduce (but not eliminate) the chance of unwanted encounters with unstable street characters and drug dealers. Skate up the street in front of such famous (but for the most part tacky) attractions as the Pantages Theater, the Hollywood Wax Museum, Ripley's Believe It or Not, and Mann's Chinese Theater, in that order. The most impressive building is the Hollywood Galaxy Theater, still new enough to be attractive. The Walk of Fame ends at La Brea Avenue, 13 blocks from the start. Special note: The projected completion date for the Los Angeles Metro project had yet to be determined at the time this book was published. Therefore, parts of the street may be in a state of disrepair, and stars may have been removed temporarily for safekeeping until the street and sidewalk are restored.