Sixty-one stars from the Hollywood Walk of Fame removed for a new construction project

Sixty-one stars from the Hollywood Walk of Fame -- including those of Charlton Heston, Cary Grant, Clark Gable and Frank Sinatra -- have been removed and stored while a $500-million hotel-shopping-housing project is built on Vine Street near Hollywood Boulevard.

Photo: Sixty-one stars from the Hollywood Walk of Fame removed for a new construction project

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Eight of the terrazzo star squares crumbled as they were removed from the walkway.

"We saved the brass. They'll be rebuilt," said Tim Maxwell, project manager for Webcor Builders, which is involved in the construction project, nwitimes.com reports.

Activists countered the stars should have been accommodated during the project.

Johnny Grant, Hollywood 's honorary mayor and a leader of the non-profit group that operates the Walk of Fame, said he will ask Los Angeles officials to devise a way to display the stored stars.

"They should be on display somewhere near the building at Hollywood and Vine," Grant said, upi.com informs.

According to insidebayarea.com, the Walk of Fame was established in 1960 as a way of reviving the rundown Hollywood district, and now boasts 2,342 terrazzo and brass stars. Walk of Fame recipients have ranged from the iconic (Judy Garland) to the obscure (silent film star Art Acord) to the canine (Lassie) and the celluloid (Mickey Mouse). In the 1980s, a rule was instituted that stars must show up for unveilings, and the ceremonies became the media-fests we're familiar with today.

Honorees must be nominated; in addition to boasting an artistic legacy of at least five years, they must have contributed to the community with some good works. The nominees, their sponsors or their fans also must agree to foot the $25,000 cost of installing a star.