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Seeing Stars: Where the Stars are Immortalized

7711 Beach Boulevard,
Buena Park, CA. / (714) 522-1154 or (714) 552-1155
Alas, Movieland
Wax Museum closed in 2006, and will be replaced by a new shopping center
featuring a Best Buy store and a food court.
However, I'm told that the
"Starprint" hand and footprints of the stars will be preserved
and incorporated into the new development, along with some of the original
wax figures from the museum. The prints will reportedly be scattered along
the new center's walkways, while the wax figures will be inside glass cases
at the corners of the buildings.
More recently,
they announced different plans, to build a Butterfly Pavillion on the
site, "an elaborate complex featuring an atrium full of butterflies, a
movie theater and more". No word yet on what will become of the
Star Prints.
I'll update this page when
the new center opens. Until then, I'll leave this page up, as is, for anyone
interested in reading about the way it used to be. But bear in mind that
the article below was written while Movieland Wax Museum was still open...
UPDATE OCT. 23, 2016:
It's being reported that construction going on outside the old
Movieland site might be endangering the star prints in cement.
(See: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1451576461522772&set=o.8040854595&type=3 )
Considering
that those historic prints (many of which are from stars who are no
longer with us) must be valuable, it would seem foolish for the new
owners to simply destroy them. But I've learned to never
underestimate human foolishness, so we'll wait and see if they value
the history of Buena Park and Hollywood.
I will add more details when they become available...
UPDATE OCT. 25,
2016: Word now is that 8 of the 45 star prints were accidentally
destroyed by the contractor, but that the remaining prints will be
preserved as part of the new Butterfly Pavilion being built on the
site. (No word yet on which prints were destroyed and which
survived...) Thanks to the Buena Park City Council for apparently
intervening to halt the destruction.
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Everyone knows about the famous courtyard at Grauman's Chinese
Theatre in Hollywood, with its renowned footprints of the stars. But
few know that a wax museum out in Orange County has created a smaller version
of that same basic concept: immortalizing the footprints of Hollywood celebrities
in wet cement.
They call it the "Starprint Gallery,"
and it is a broad strip of sidewalk outside the Movieland
Wax Museum (near Knott's
Berry Farm), where the owners have convinced dozens of popular TV and
movie stars to come and leave their autographs, footprints and handprints
embedded in the cement.
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As you might expect, the names of most of the stars
at the Starprint Gallery aren't as illustrious as those at Grauman's Chinese.
Since Movieland only started collecting prints in 1980, there are no Clark Gable
or Marilyn Monroe prints here. |
But you will find footprints from celebrities as
big as Lou Ferrigno and as little
as Billy Barty. The collection
of prints and signatures includes members of the "Star Trek"
crew, the cast of "Roots," and other notables such as
Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Loni
Anderson, and Carol Burnett.
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If you weren't looking for them, it would be easy
to walk right past these star prints without really noticing them. An round
gift shop sits out in front of the main entrance of Movieland Wax Museum;
a wide walkway extends north from this gift shop, out towards "Po
Folk" restaurant. |
The stars' prints are located along both edges of
this walkway. (There are no footprints on the regular city sidewalk out
by the curb.)
Although
the museum charges admission to go inside and view their wax figures, this
outdoor Starprint Gallery is free.
Among the many celebrities whose footprint's you'll
find here are: Dudley Moore ("Arthur"),
Dorothy Lamour (who wore a sarong
in all those Hope & Crosby "road pictures"), horror master
Vincent Price, actress June Allyson,
andAnnette'sown Frankie Avalon;
there's TV's Bob Newhart, Ed Asner
("Lou Grant" on the "Mary Tyler Moore Show"),
Mike Farrell (of "M*A*S*H"),
James Doohan & DeForest Kelly
("Dr. McCoy" and "Scotty " of "Star Trek"),
pianist/showman Liberace, Jack Klugman
("The Odd Couple), Dennis Weaver
("McCloud"), Adam West
& Burt Ward (TV's original
"Batman" & "Robin"), singers Johnny Mathis,
Ray Charles, and Mac Davis,
plus Phyllis Diller, Elvira,
LeVar Burton, Eva
Gabor, and mime Marcel Marceau.
Many of the stars wrote comments in the wet cement:
Carol Burnett wrote "My feet
are as big as my mouth!"). The late Herve
Villechaize (who played "Tattoo" on "Fantasy
Island") drew a small caricature of himself in the wet cement.
Gene Autry wrote "Angels,"
for his California baseball team; actor Peter Fonda
scribbled "Easy Rider" (the name of his 1969 movie).
Persis Khambatta (the bald actress
from the first "Star Trek" movie) went barefoot!
For some reason, Movieland seems to have stopped
adding new names to the Starprint Gallery in 1984, even though there is
plenty of room left on the sidewalk, and even though they have installed
many new wax figures since 1984, including Michael
Jackson, Tom Selleck,
Brad Pitt, and the entire cast of TV's
"Green Acres."
(Also see the separate page about Movieland
Wax Museum.)
Getting
there: Movieland Wax Museum is located
in the Orange County city of Buena Park, just a few blocks from Knott's
Berry Farm (about 25 miles southeast of Hollywood). / From Knott's,
simply take Beach Boulevard north (less than half a mile) to Movieland;
the museum will be on your left (west) side. / From Disneyland,
take the Santa Ana (5) Freeway north (about six miles) to the Beach Boulevard
exit, which actually lets you out on Manchester Boulevard. Turn right on
Manchester, then turn right again on Beach Boulevard. Go south on Beach
(a little over a mile) to Movieland, which will be on your right (west)
side, 
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for something in particular? Search the Seeing-Stars website!
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