Madame Tussauds ready for Hollywood close-up

By Laura Isensee

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Clint Eastwood has holed up on Hollywood Boulevard waiting for John Wayne and busloads of visitors to join him, as Madame Tussauds prepares to open its latest wax museum in the tourist mecca this summer.

The $55 million complex, featuring more than 100 celebrity waxworks spread across three floors, is the biggest attraction to join the teeming thoroughfare in years.

It also represents the latest attempt to restore some glamour to the faded area, whose 10 million annual visitors make it one of the world's busiest tourist attractions.

While Hollywood conjures up images of beautiful movie stars and fabulous wealth, the neighborhood itself offers an awkward mix of must-see sites like the Walk of Fame and Grauman's Chinese Theatre juxtaposed with tawdry souvenir stores and costumed characters hustling tourists for money.

A decade ago, the area was much worse and gang-related crime was rampant. But since 2000, $700 million of public money has been poured into the area, which in turn has attracted $5.5 billion of private investment, according to Los Angeles city officials.

"To be very blunt, it was a rough area ... Hollywood has come back as a really viable and competitive tourist destination," said Jack Kyser, chief economist at the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation.

Key to the comeback has been the Hollywood & Highland shopping mall, which opened in 2001. It houses the Kodak Theatre where the Oscars are handed out.

Madame Tussauds will attempt to depict Hollywood's glamorous side when it opens on Aug. 1 on the site of a former parking lot adjacent to Grauman's, the movie theater famed for the imprints of stars' hands and feet on its concrete tiles.