Oh, the 90s. The dot com bubble was inflating, the Soviet Union had just fallen, and the world had just learned what we here at Back to the Past already knew: collectibles absolutely rule. This era saw the rise of the memorabilia theme restaurant, middle-class-fancy level eateries decorated with genuine, one-of-a-kind items. The king of them all was Planet Hollywood!
The Planet Hollywood Concept
The first Planet Hollywood restaurant opened in New York City’s Times Square in 1991. One of its big draws was that some of the biggest movie stars in America were part owners. Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis were publicly touted for their stake in the place. In reality, they represented a tiny minority of ownership and were mostly there for prestige, but it worked! The restaurant proved an instant hit, leading to five more locations within two years. The chain would rack up further endorsements from Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Tom Arnold, Wesley Snipes, Danny Glover, John Hughes, Ringo Starr, and more.
Bruce Willis sings the blues at the opening of Planet Hollywood Seattle, rocking his Fifth Element haircut.
But it wasn’t celebrity stockholders alone that gave the restaurant its theme! No, these restaurants were packed to the gills with genuine memorabilia. Screen-used props and costumes, shooting scripts from the personal archives of actors and directors, and other one-of-a-kind pieces of movie memorabilia filled display cases around each location. This made each one almost as much a museum as it was a restaurant. Sure beat the pants out of going to yet another Applebees on vacation!
One item at every location was the chain’s riff on the famous forecourt of Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood. The cement signatures and hand prints just inside the gates has made Grauman’s a tourist destination for decades. Planet Hollywood’s Wall of Fame was a riff on that concept, with personalized cement tiles mounted outside. Wonder how your hands measure up to The Terminator’s? The Wall of Fame was your chance to find out!
Planet Hollywood Seattle
Bruce Willis’ signature & prints from the Planet Hollywood Seattle Walk of Fame!
Planet Hollywood expanded into Seattle, WA in 1996. Like all Planet Hollywood restaurants, it had its own Wall of Fame. Mid-90s megastars like George Clooney, Sean Connery, Whoopi Goldberg, Demi Moore, Bruce Willis, Danny Glover, Kevin Costner, and more had their handprints and signatures on display at the restaurant. Protestors even damaged the wall during the 1999 “Battle of Seattle” protests! They had not been repaired when the restaurant closed circa 2002.
However, the folks demolishing Planet Hollywood Seattle thought it would be a shame to destroy these pop culture treasures…so they didn’t! They pried them off the walls intact and saved them from the wrecking ball. Twenty years later, we at Back to the Past Collectibles are proud to be bringing them to market! The genuine cement hand casts from the Planet Hollywood Seattle’s Wall of Fame are coming soon to both our eBay store and online gallery. They join the selection of limited-edition prints, one-of-a-kind animation art, vintage toys, and other rare collectibles we already have available.
And if you’ve got a collection you’re looking to sell, we’d love to help you! We specialize in making sure the right items wind up in front of the right audiences, all with no extra work on your part. Drop us a line today to start the process, or follow us on social media to keep track of what collections we’re working with this week.
