Shining farewell to Tinseltown's mayor
Johnny Grant is remembered as a bridge to the past who held a bright vision of the future.
The brass star on the terrazzo sidewalk was perfectly polished. The crowd of onlookers included fans young and old. The ceremony started right on time.
Johnny Grant would have approved.
The man who presided over thousands of presentations and awards on Hollywood Boulevard was the center of attention for a final time Thursday as community leaders and movie fans praised his role in helping to rejuvenate the town's image.
Grant, who for decades was known as Hollywood's honorary mayor, died Wednesday in his penthouse suite atop the boulevard's Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. He was 84.
"He was the bridge between Hollywood's golden past and what's happening today," Hollywood Chamber of Commerce President Leron Gubler told the crowd gathered to place flowers around Grant's star in front of the Kodak Theatre, a symbol of the community's revitalization. "Johnny was perhaps the greatest cheerleader Hollywood ever had, even in its darkest days."
Indeed, Grant remained a faithful and unrelenting booster for Tinseltown even during the decades when the once-famed boulevard was mired in crime, blight, boarded-up storefronts and subway construction that damaged many of his beloved sidewalk stars.
Hollywood finally began turning around about a decade ago -- suddenly becoming hip again in ways Grant could only imagine. An explosion of trendy nightclubs drew new generations of young people into Hollywood, including young starlets and the paparazzi who follow them.
Grant, who came to Hollywood during its silver screen glory days, didn't have much in common with some of the new Hollywood denizens -- but he embraced them nonetheless.
Elizabeth Peterson, who has opened several nightclubs and bars in Hollywood over the last decade, said she had the wrong impression of Grant when she met him in the late 1990s.
"I thought he was sweet and lovely but he was caught in a time capsule," she said. "I was wrong."
Instead, Peterson found Grant to be an agent of change -- someone who looked past the blight to see a vision of Hollywood as a prime entertainment destination.
And Grant endeared himself so much to her she didn't mind his nickname for her -- "Legs."
"He always thought I had great legs," Peterson said. "Without him, people like myself could not redevelop. He held everything together in such a positive light."
