Actor Paul Louis Harrell leaves his apartment building wearing a $5,000 Iron Man costume in Hollywood on June 4, 2017.

While the Hollywood we see in movies is a place of glamour and beautiful celebrities, the cast of superheroes filling Hollywood Boulevard is frequently anything but. Many are people struggling to make a dollar as they pursue their dream of stardom.

"I'm successful because I have the best costume on the block and it's the most expensive one on the block," said Harrell. Longtime street performers like Harrell have concerns. They say business used to be more lucrative until the boulevard became overpopulated with costumed characters. Some look grungy, while others turn off tourists with aggressive demands for money.