I have been attending UCLA for four years and somehow this was my first trip to the Hollywood Walk of Fame. A friend was visiting from out of town, and of course this is one of the biggest tourist attractions in all of LA. While I thought the experience was a bit underwhelming in general, there are certainly more than a few interesting aspects of the area worth talking about.
Hollywood is supposed to be glamorous, but it is really not, at least not this part of Hollywood. The streets are fairly worn down, the buildings are old and unsightly, and the air is not fresh. It actually makes a lot of sense. It's a tourist attraction for many reasons - the wax museum, the Chinese Grauman Theatre, and Ripley's Believe It or Not to name a few - but the experience does not have to cost any money if you come for the main attraction: the stars. For this reason it's fair to say that the majority of the people roaming this particular area of the city are minorities from lower income households. Street performers dressed as Michael Jackson, Barney, or Beyonce are all over the place trying to make some easy cash. Stores are mostly cheap drug and liquor stores and restaurants are mostly fast food. It's not necessarily a high standard of living.
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