This valley is filled with celebrities, both gorgeous and aloof. The December death of one famous resident, who was a little bit of both, has provoked an unusually unrelenting outpouring of admiration.

The icon is the city’s famous mountain lion, P-22, a stealthy native son-turned-antihero, whom many Angelenos felt they knew and certainly loved, though almost no one got close to.

Years ago, the tawny, muscled puma, somehow traversed 10 lanes of hellish California freeway to take up residence in Griffith Park, an urban oasis in the Hollywood Hills and above the trendy Los Feliz neighborhood. To glimpse the ghostly cat became a thrilling celebrity sighting. Paparazzi and journalists stalked him for photos, including a glamour shot in National Geographic of P-22 strutting majestically past the Hollywood sign. Wildlife conservationist supporters dubbed him “the Brad Pitt of the cougar world.”

P-22 inspired T-shirts, murals, neighborhood shrines and a “Jeopardy” question. A local beer and cocktail is named for him, the L.A. City Council declared an official P-22 Day, and a special-issue P-22 library card is soon to be out. Petitions now call for a P-22 statue and for the lion to get a star on Hollywood Boulevard, while U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, who is from the L.A. area, has proposed a P-22 stamp and called him “a celebrity neighbor, the occasional troublemaker and a beloved mascot for our city.”