The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a landmark.  As of April 10, 2024 there were 2,778 five-pointed terrazzo-and-brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California.  The stars are monuments to achievement in the entertainment industry, bearing the names of a mix of actors, actresses, directors, producers, musicians, theatrical/musical groups, fictional characters and others. 

The Hollywood Walk of Fame is undoubtedly the most famous sidewalk in the world and one of the most popular tourist attractions in Los Angeles.  Some sources claim the Hollywood Walk of Fame was inspired by the Hollywood Hotel which stood for 50 years and where they had painted celebrities' names on the dining room ceiling above the tables. This idea may have served as an early inspiration. By another account, the stars were "inspired by Harry Sugarman's (another Chamber member and president) Tropics Restaurant drinks menu which featured celebrity photos framed in gold stars".  The attraction was idealized in the late 1950s by business leaders in Hollywood.  The original plan would include a caricature of the honoree inside a blue star on a brown background.  However, caricatures proved too  expensive and difficult to execute in brass with the technology available at the time.  The brown and blue motif was vetoed by Charles E. Toberman, the legendary real estate developer known as "Mr. Hollywood" because the colors clashed with a new building he was building on Hollywood Boulevard.

By March of 1956, the final design had been approved.  Between the spring of 1956 and the fall of 1957, 1,558 honorees were selected by committees representing the four major branches of the entertainment industry at that time:  motion pictures, television, audio recording and radio.  The committees met at the Brown Derby restaurant including such prominent names as Cecil B. DeMille, Samuel Goldwyn, Hal Roach and Walt Disney.  

One of the first celebrities to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was the Academy Award winner, Joanne Woodward, famous for The Three Faces of Eve at a groundbreaking ceremony on February 9, 1960.  After the official ceremony, the contruction continued for 16 months with over 1,500 stars were added.  The most famous sidewalk in the world became a landmark in 1978.  The Hollywood Walk of Fame is administered by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce who hold the trademark rights and is maintained by the self-financing Hollywood Historic Trust.  It is a popluar tourist attraction receiving an estimated 10 million annual visitors in 2010.  The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce credits E.M. Stuart, its volunteer president in 1953 with the original idea for creating a Walk of Fame.  Stuart reportedly proposed the Walk as a means to "maintain the glory of a community whose name means glamour and excitement".  

Each year an average of 200 nominations are submitted to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce Walk of Fame selection committee.  Anyone, including fans, can nominate anyone active in the field of entertainment as long as the nominee or their management approves the nomination. Nominees must have a minimum of five years experience in the category for which they are nominated and a history of "charitable contributions".  Posthumous nomnees must have been deceased at least five years.  At a meeting each June, the committee selects approximately 20-24 celebrities to receive stars on the Walk of Fame.  One posthumous award is given each year, as well.  The nominations of those not selected are carried over to the following year for reconsideration.  Those not selected two years in a row are dropped and must be renominated to receive further consideration.  Living recipients must agree to personally attend a presentation ceremony within two years of selection.  

All living honorees have been required since 1968 to personally attend their star's unveiling and approximately 40 have declined the honor due to this condition.  The only recipient, to date, who failed to appear after agreeing to do so was Barbra Streisand in 1976.  Her star was unveiled anyway near the intersection of Hollywood and Highland.  Streisand did attend when her husband, James Brolin, unveiled his star in 1998 two blocks to the east.

Gene Autry is the only person to be awarded stars in the five fields required on the Walk of Fame: film, television, radio, live performance and music.  During this lifetime, Autry emerged as both a top money-making entertainer and a powerful businessman. 

The only star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame whose star can't be stepped on is Muhammad Ali.  Its placement on a wall of the Dolby Theatre makes it the only star mounted on a vertical surface.  This is due to the fact Ali requested his name not be walked upon as he shared his name with the Islamic prophet Muhammad.  

Stars such as Julia Roberts, Denzel Washington, Bruce Springsteen, Leonardo DiCapiro, Madonna, Prince, George Clooney and Clint Eastwood have reportedly turned down the idea of having a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  The largest group of individuals represented by a single star is the estimated 122 adults and 12 children collectively known as the Munchkins, from the landmark 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. 

Such names as Liberace, Houdini, Pink, Roseanne, Shakira, Usher have only one name on their star.  For a list of stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame the link is https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stars_on_the_Hollywood_Walk_of_Fame

On February 8, 1960 Lucille Ball was given two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 6436 Hollywood Boulevard for contributions to motion pictures and a 6100 Hollywood Boulevard for her contribution to the arts and sciences of television.