Cranes along Vine St. in Hollywood | Photo by Zach Behrens/LAist Today, Councilman Eric Garcetti delivered the annual State of Hollwood address at an event organized by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. He dedicated the address to Johnny Grant, who passed away earlier this month, and spoke about what makes a great neighborhood, at-risk youth tragedies and all that has been great and to be great for Hollywood. Here are excerpts from the address......

Hollywood's honorary mayor, Johnny Grant, passed away Wednesday night. LAist Featured Photos photographer, Jonathan Alcorn, visits his Hollywood Walk of Fame Star:Flowers on the star of Honorary Mayor Johnny Grant beneath the Kodak Theatre during a memorial held by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. Honorary Mayor Johnny Grant has died of natural causes at his home in Los Angeles on Jan 9,,2008. He was found by police in his room at the Roosevelt Hotel......

Johnny Grant was found dead tonight, around 7 p.m., on a bed at the Roosevelt Hotel where he lived on the 14th floor in a suite.Grant, 84, has been one of Hollywood's most enthusiastic supporters for more than 50 years. Grant got his start in entertainment by hosting a daily radio show in New York City for servicemen and women during World War II, and later co-hosted the first national telethon ever produced to help......

Quick, yet deadly: this weekend's Malibu Fire is 90% contained. We thought NBC had a policy of not giving car chases attention, a respectable position to take. Those days must be over. Anyway, it's always interesting when a car chase gets off freeway at the exit by your house like the one this morning on the 101. That would make number eight on our list for witnessed car chases. More cost effective and more......

We knew something was wrong. In November we asked "Does the Hollywood Christmas Parade Try to Suck?", and little did we know it wasn't spasticly waving, it was drowning. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce yesterday said they lost $100k on the parade last year and would probably lose $200k this year. Which is a lot for something that sucks as much as it does, so they're ending the parade forever. But just because something......

Before everyone gets their panties in a bunch, let's make one thing perfectly clear, LAist LOVES Hollywood. We love the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce's bizarre choices for stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. We love the seediness of Hollywood Blvd. Hell we even love the the monstrosity that is the world's most fucked up strip mall known as Hollywood & Highland. We love these things because they represent the half-shitty, half-shiny semi-glamorous paradox......

The white smoke slowly rose from atop the Angelyne billboard which meant the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce had decided who would get stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2007. The lucky winners included KROQ pioneer Rodney on the Roq who was the first d.j. to play such bands as the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, the Cure, Van Halen, Duran Duran, Oasis, the Smiths, Blondie, the Go-Gos, Depeche Mode, the Strokes, the White......

This morning on the Howard Stern Show the king of all media read a statement written by a former Clear Channel radio personality who is now on a mission to get Stern a star on Hollywood Blvd. In the statement, "Mad Radio Show" host Wayne Perry concludes that the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce charges $15,000 to nominate someone for a star, but he suggests they raise about twice that to persuade the decision-making. Howard......

With all the death and destruction currently overrunning society and overwhelming those striving for peace and goodwill, it's nice to know that the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce is doing their part to bring Los Angeles a rainbow on such a rainy day. That rainbow, just happens to be yet another PR-inspired star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Today (in fact, right around this minute) America's Sweetheart Sandra Bullock (yes, she's the current holder......

We here at LAist never thought we'd see the day. What day is that, you ask? The day when a group of impressive signatories, including novelists (Peter Lefcourt, Eric Garcia, Rovert Eversz, Claire Tristram), journalists (Ray Rivenburg, Annie Nocenti), L.A. City Councilmen (1 of them, being Eric Garcetti), filmmakers, television producers and award winning playwrights would band together to accomplish something that everyone has been waiting to see happen for decades... Rename the intersection......

You may or may not recall back in August when LAist brought the skewed politics of the Hollywood Walk of Fame to your attention. Back then, it seemed as if the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce was (gasp!) just giving out stars on the Walk of Fame to stars who had (double-gasp!) studio pictures coming out soon, studio publicists willing to pony up the $10,000 to secure said spot on the Walk of Fame, and......

Yesterday, LAist reported about Patty Duke getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. After being out of the limelight for so long, some have wondered exactly how and why such valuable sidewalk assets are presented to stars of days gone by. And being a servant to the people of Los Angeles, LAist did our part to get to the bottom of the star-awarding process. The process of getting your own star on......