A trip to Los Angeles, California is all about star power. Tourists wander the streets hoping to catch a glimpse of their favorite film, television, and music stars. On the "must see" list are attractions like a tour of Universal Studios and a look at the Hollywood sign. But there's one more attraction you shouldn't leave out when you're going up to the city to see your bankruptcy attorneys in Southern California: Grauman's Chinese Theater. We'll tell you a bit more about it in this article so you'll know why you simply must stop in.

Grauman's Chinese Theater was commissioned in the 1920s by Sid Grauman, who had experienced success with his previous venture - an Egyptian theater - and asked his commercial mortgage broker to help him make lightning strike twice by finding him a new property. It was found at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard and the architectural firm Meyer and Holler was commissioned to construct the new theater - this time with a Chinese design. His financing partners were two famous actors at the time: Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks.

Artifacts for the interior and exterior of the theater were imported from China or crafted specifically for the theater by Chinese craftsman. The result of these custom banding solutions was a stately 90ft tall theater with a pointed bronze roof where giant carved dragons adorned the pillars. Two enormous Heaven Dogs imported from China guarded the doors. Inside there were temple bells, pagodas, and statues amongst rich fabrics and ornate embellishments. Many of these pieces are present to this day. You can see them if you're lucky enough to take in a movie there.

Though the decor is stunning, it is not what attracts so many visitors to the theater. Rather, it is the concrete forecourt outside which bears the handprints, footprints, and signatures set into concrete of famous actors from the present day back to the "Golden Era" of Hollywood in the 1920s. This is what brings vacationing dentists in Mississauga, Ontario in with their digital cameras. There are several differing stories as to how the practice got started, but it is generally agreed that someone stepped in the wet cement by accident.

Grauman's Chinese theater opened on May 18, 1927 with a showing of Cecil B. deMille's film King of Kings. Since that time the theater has been the site of elaborate awards shows and parties as well as film premieres. If you were to bring your Sutton members program tour group to the theater, you would see concrete evidence (so to speak) that celebrities such as Clark Gable, Judy Garland, Humphry Bogart, John Wayne, Marilyn Monroe, Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep, and the kids from Harry Potter had graced the venue with their presence.