John Lennon's Hollywood Walk of Fame Star Defaced

by Tim Appelo

Two days before what would have been his 73rd birthday, unknown vandals scribble on the late Beatle's star outside the Capitol Records tower.

When Gillian Lomax, who spent six years on radio KLOS's Breakfast with the Beatles, led her A Magical History Tour group to John Lennon's star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame next to Capitol Records on Vine Street on Oct. 5, she discovered that vandals had besmirched it with graffiti and scribbles, including a spotted toadstool, a smiley-face, "I love you," and "Blackbird... Rain was here."

"Morons did it," Lomax tells THR. "Rather tacky. There was a group of them, judging from the different colored pens. I tried to rub it out, but to no avail."

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But Lomax alerted Steve Marinucci of Examiner,com, who alerted Ana Martinez of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and by morning Oct. 7, workers were on their hands and knees, erasing all signs of the damage before noon.

"We don't mess around," says Martinez. "I think Capitol is looking into seeing if there's any video [of the crime.] They're registered state landmarks. Those are my babies! We've had people destroy stars, cracking or prying out parts of the stars, and they do go to jail and they have to pay back for the repairs. We just had one recently damaged --Arsenio Hall's, and a couple near him."

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Lennon's star will shine clean when Breakfast with the Beatles host Chris Carter andJerry Rubin meet there to lead the celebration of what would have been Lennon's 73rd birthday at 6 p.m. on Oct. 9.

Twitter: @timappelo