Hollywood Goddess Gazebo

Hollywood, California

Spectacles abound in Hollywood -- just try driving by Graumann's Chinese Theater during a movie premiere. One permanent fixture for the tourists at any hour is a sculptured quartet of statues in a gazebo marking the west end of Hollywood's Walk of Fame.

Gaudy (even by Hollywood standards) silver statues of four screen legend actresses support a stumpy Eiffel Tower-like gazebo with their heads. The tower grillwork is labeled with stacked "HOLLYWOOD" lettering on each side.

The four silver stars, shapely stainless steel figures filling gowns fit for an Academy Awards ceremony, are: Dolores Del Rio, Dorothy Dandridge, Mae West, and Anna May Wong. Their blank eyes and bodies-as-pillars perhaps are a tribute to classical Greek sculpture, such as the porch roof-supporting Erechtheion statues at the Acropolis.

But more likely it's a tribute to award statuettes.

Some LA residents consider this particular piece of public art "hideous;" for instance, the guy who pointed it out to us -- Scott Michaels of Dearly Departed Tours. Scott knows and loves his kitschy Hollywood landmarks, but this one makes his eye twitch violently.

Marilyn Monroe, before she was stolen in June 2019.

June 21, 2019: Although the sculpture is named "The Four Ladies of Hollywood," there is actually a fifth female goddess -- at least, until June 17, 2019, when she was stolen. A small (bronze?) sculpture capping the Hollywood derrick/tower depicted Marilyn Monroe in her whoops-subway grate glory from The Seven Year Itch.

We didn't notice Miss Monroe when we visited, admittedly hosed by the Hollywood Boulevard corner chaos. In our photos, every angle makes that thing on top look like a floral blob or a winged insect. And now she's missing, spirited away in a backpack in a brazen early morning heist by as many as four thieves armed with a hacksaw, but apparently no gloves to hide fingerprints from investigators, according to early reports.