Angelyne for Honorary Hollywood Mayor?

(Flickr pic by Thomas Hawk.)

Who will replace the late Johnny Grant as Honorary Mayor of Hollywood? The unpaid gig basically consists of emceeing Hollywood Walk of Fame star ceremonies... and no, you don't get to take over Grant's penthouse suite at the Roosevelt.

According to the LAT's Bob Pool, billboard queen Angelyne has thrown her pink hat into the ring -- which, I suppose, would finally give her actual employment, except, again, the ceremonial position isn't paid.

Pool writes that the other two names being tossed around are "Laugh-In" announcer (and legendary radio DJ) Gary Owens, as well as "Let's Make a Deal" game show host Monty Hall.

Way to keep things hip, young and relevant, Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. The LAT writes:

Angelyne is already on the campaign trail. She's promoting her run on her website and has won the support of some members of the Hollywood Political Action Committee, a neighborhood activist group.

Angelyne became locally famous in the early 1980s when billboards featuring her in sexy poses popped up around the city. She became something of a Hollywood icon when images of the billboards appeared in what she describes as "hundreds" of films.

She was one of 135 candidates in the 2003 gubernatorial recall election (she finished 28th).

"I'd definitely promote Hollywood in a much brighter light. It needs more flash -- pink flash," said the buxom blond, who tools around town in a pink 2004 Corvette with the personalized license plate ANGLYNE.

"When people think of Hollywood, they think of Angelyne," she said. "For goodness' sake, I was born for the job. Ceremonial suits me fine. It's way better than a job."

Is it me, or have the Angelyne billboards pretty much disappeared?

Meanwhile, are there really no potential candidates out there to serve as Hollywood ambassador? Any ideas?

Johnny Grant's Final Interview

My friend and former colleague Denise Martin was especially shocked to hear that Johnny Grant passed away on Wednesday: She had just interviewed him on Tuesday night!

"I was talking to him, and he sounded fine," she tells me. "He was watching the New Hampshire primary results. I interrupted his New Hampshire viewing."

Denise is working on an Old Hollywood project for the Los Angeles Times Magazine, and was interviewing Grant about the old Mocambo nightclub.

"He was so cool and friendly," Denise says. "Told great stories. And the day after he dies! He sounded fine, too. All he did was take a minute in the middle to put in his hearing aid so he could hear me better."

Looks like Denise probably conducted the final interview with the Hollywood legend.

Meanwhile, what becomes of Grant's Roosevelt penthouse? And his honorary Hollywood mayor title? Is there an election? Can I throw my hat into the race?

RIP, Hollywood Honorary Mayor Johnny Grant

He presided over hundreds of Hollywood Walk of Fame star ceremonies, led the Hollywood Christmas Parade for many years and was the neighborhood's goodwill ambassador for decades. Johnny Grant, 84, died Wednesday. The L.A. Times writes:

In 1980, when he took over as Walk of Fame chairman, "you couldn't get anyone to come to Hollywood Boulevard," he told a reporter in 1997. "So I said, 'Why don't we really put on a big show when we have a Walk of Fame ceremony.' We had planes fly over, bands, etc."

His Hollywood's Welcome Home Desert Storm Parade in 1991 for troops who fought in the Persian Gulf War was a rolling, marching, flying extravaganza of military personnel and equipment that starred a Patriot missile. Grant reported attendance at 1 million, the same figure that he gave year after year for the Hollywood Christmas Parade. When a Times reporter applied a formula used by the U.S. Park Service to estimate crowds and informed Grant that no more than 500,000 people could fit along the Desert Storm parade route, he admitted his exaggeration.

"You know Hollywood," he said. "It's hype."

As Honorary Mayor of Hollywood for life (as bestowed on him by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce), Grant also had one of the sweetest living arrangements in all of L.A.: A penthouse lease for life in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Even after the hotel underwent a makeover earlier this decade, turning the once fading spot into a once-again vibrant and hip locale, Grant kept his digs.