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Lights, Camera...The Chinese Theatre Reopens Its Famed Forecourt
Circa 1937, film star Deanna Durbin makes a footprint in wet cement outside what was then known as Grauman's Chinese Theatre.
(General Photographic Agency/Getty Images
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Hulton Archive)
One of the most famous tourist destinations in Los Angeles officially reopened to the public Thursday. The forecourt of the TCL Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard had been closed for more than a year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Now, visitors can once again search for their favorite stars' autographs, handprints and footprints immortalized in cement outside the historic theater.
A portion of the TCL Chinese Theatre's forecourt.
(VALERIE MACON
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AFP via Getty Images)
Levi Tinker, the theater's operations manager and historian, presided over the ribbon cutting ceremony.
"The hand and footprints here in the forecourt of the stars began 95 years ago," he said, "when silent film star Norma Talmadge accidentally walked into wet cement right here in this very spot, and since that time we've now honored 333 actors, directors and producers in our forecourt."
In a typical year, the TCL Chinese Theatre gets about 20,000 visitors a day. The theater itself reopened to the public back in March, albeit with capacity restrictions. Those limits were lifted June 15.
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