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Hollywood Forever Cemetery

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Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Entrance of Hollywood Forever
Hollywood Forever Cemetery is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area
Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Location6000 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood, California
Area62 acres (25 ha)
Architectmultiple
Architectural styleExotic Revival, Classical Revival, et al.
NRHP reference No.99000550 [1]
Added to NRHPMay 14, 1999

Hollywood Forever Cemetery, originally named Hollywood Memorial Cemetery, is one of the oldest cemeteries in Los Angeles, California. It is located at 6000 Santa Monica Boulevard in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles. Paramount Studios is located at the south end of the same block.

Those in the graves, crypts, niches and sarcophagi at the cemetery include culturally significant people as well as celebrities, including legendary actors, directors, writers, etc. from the entertainment industry. People who played vital roles in shaping Los Angeles are throughout the property. The cemetery is active and regularly hosts community events, including music and summer movie screenings. In 2011, the cemetery became a co-producer of the American silent movie Silent Life based on the story of the Hollywood idol Rudolph Valentino, who is famously entombed there in a borrowed crypt.[citation needed]

History

The cemetery, the first in Hollywood,[2] was founded in 1899 on 100 acres (0.40 km2) and called "Hollywood Memorial Cemetery" by developer Isaac Lankershim and his business partner / son-in-law, Isaac Van Nuys.[3] The cemetery sold off large tracts to Paramount Studios, which, with RKO Studios, bought 40 acres (160,000 m2) by 1920. Part of the land was set aside for the Beth Olam Cemetery, a dedicated Jewish burial ground, where people from Hollywood's Jewish community are buried.

In 1939, Jules Roth, a convicted felon and millionaire, bought a 51% stake in the cemetery. He used the money from the cemetery's operations to pay for personal luxuries while allowing the cemetery and crematory to fall into disrepair.

In 1952, despite her expressed wish, Roth would not allow the actress Hattie McDaniel, best known for her role of Mammy in the movie Gone With The Wind to be buried at Hollywood Memorial. At the time of her death, Hollywood Memorial, like other cemeteries, was segregated (the cemetery was desegregated in 1959).[4] On the 47th anniversary of McDaniel's death, the cemetery's current owner dedicated a cenotaph in her honor at a prime location south of Sylvan Lake.[5]

The crematory was shut down in July 1974 after the cremation of singer Cass Elliot. According to the cemetery grounds supervisor Daniel Ugarte, the crematory was in such disrepair that bricks began falling in around Elliot's body (the crematory was later repaired and reopened in 2002).[6]

By the 1980s, the California Cemetery Board began receiving regular complaints from the families of people interred there. Family members complained that the grounds were not kept up and were disturbed to hear stories about vandalism on the cemetery grounds. The heirs of well-known makeup artist Max Factor (who was interred in the Beth Olam Mausoleum in 1938) moved his and other Factor family remains after the mausoleum sustained water damage that discolored the walls.

In 1986, a Los Angeles woman and 1,000 other plot owners filed a class action lawsuit against the cemetery for invasion of privacy after they discovered that Roth allowed employees of Paramount Pictures to park in the cemetery's parking lot while the studio's parking structure was undergoing construction.[7]

To settle tax bills and furnish his lavish lifestyle, owner Roth sold two lawns, totaling 3 acres, which ran east-west along the Santa Monica Boulevard front of the property in the late 1980s. These lawns are now strip malls which house, among other businesses, an auto parts store and a laundromat.[8]

After the 1994 Northridge earthquake, Roth failed to repair the roofs and other damage the earthquake caused to crypts. By that time, Hollywood Memorial was no longer making money and only generated revenue by charging families $500 for disinterments.[9]

In 1997, Roth was sick after he fell in his Hollywood Hills home. He had been embroiled in a scandal regarding another cemetery he owned, Lincoln Memorial Park Cemetery, in Carson, California. Several months before his death, Roth was bedridden and disoriented and during this time his will was changed to provide for his business associates and maid, who were the only witnesses to his signature; his relatives were written out. Roth died on January 4, 1998, and was interred next to his wife Virginia, his father, and his mother in the Cathedral Mausoleum.[8] The state of California had revoked the cemetery's license to sell its remaining interment spaces.[10]

After Roth's death, it was discovered that the cemetery's endowment care fund, meant to take care of the cemetery in perpetuity, was missing about $9 million, according to the current owner.[2]

Those owners, Tyler and Brent Cassity, purchased the now 62-acre (250,000 m2) property which was on the verge of closure in a bankruptcy proceeding, in 1998 for $375,000. They renamed the cemetery "Hollywood Forever" and set out to give it a complete renaissance, restoring, refurbishing and adding to it,[11] investing millions in revitalizing the grounds and also offering documentaries about the deceased that are to be played in perpetuity on kiosks and are posted on the Web,[12] as well as organizing tours to draw visitors.[8]

The cemetery has, since 2002, screened films at a gathering called Cinespia on weekends during the summer and on holidays. The screenings are held on the Douglas Fairbanks Lawn and the films are projected onto the white marble west wall of the Cathedral Mausoleum.[13] Music events take place in the cemetery as well. On June 14 and 15, 2011, The Flaming Lips played at the cemetery in a two-night gig billed "Everyone You Know Someday Will Die," a lyric from their 2002 single "Do You Realize??"[14]

Hollywood Forever Cemetery abuts Paramount Studios on its south end.

The 1983 horror film One Dark Night starring Meg Tilly and Adam West used the two mausoleums at Hollywood Forever Cemetery for the interior and exterior shots of the mausoleum in the film.[15]

The award winning film An Ordinary Couple was inspired by the building of a Hollywood Forever monument in the Garden of Legends and stars Bernardo Puccio and Orin Kennedy.

A documentary about the cemetery called The Young and the Dead, was made in 2000.[16]

The cemetery is briefly shown in the short Stopover in Hollywood.[17] The television series 90210 featured the cemetery in the episode "Hollywood Forever".

In one scene of the novel Expiration Date by Tim Powers, the main characters are evading the antagonists of the novel by hiding in Hollywood Forever Cemetery. At one point the main hero, Pete Sullivan, remarks at the tomb of Bugsy Siegel that his late Hollywood producer father was friends with Siegel and many of the other celebrities interred at Hollywood Forever. To illustrate, Sullivan knocks the first few beats of "Shave-and-a-Haircut" on the marble slab of Siegel's crypt, and, a moment later, receives the response "Two-Bits" knocked from inside the crypt.

In Episode 'Blues from Laurel Canyon' in Season 2 of Showtime's Californication character Lou Ashby's grave is depicted at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

A scene from the 2010 movie Valentine's Day took place in the cemetery. The movie shown in the cemetery was Hot Spell (1958).

A song entitled "Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings" appears on the Father John Misty album, Fear Fun.

In 2012, Los Angeles heavy metal band L.A. Guns released an album entitled Hollywood Forever (album), which also contains a title track. A music video for one of the albums tracks, "Requiem" featured excerpts filmed on location at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

Notable burials

Use the following alphabetical links to find someone:

A

Headstone of costume designer Adrian

B

Mel Blanc's tombstone

C

D

Tombs of the DeMille family

E

F

Tomb of Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and Jr.

G

H

Grave of John Huston

J

K

L

Peter Lorre's crypt

M

Hattie McDaniel cenotaph

N

  • Dudley Nichols (1895–1960), screenwriter (aged 64)
  • Maila Nurmi (1922–2008), actress and television host known as Vampira (aged 85)

O

P

Burial site of Tyrone Power

R

  • Dee Dee Ramone (Douglas Glenn Colvin) (1952–2002), musician and member of The Ramones (aged 50)
  • Johnny Ramone (1948–2004), musician and member of The Ramones (his ashes were retained by his wife and, after her death, they will both be inurned in the Ramone statue) (aged 55)
  • Virginia Rappe (1891–1921), actress allegedly murdered by Fatty Arbuckle (aged 30)
  • Marie Rappold (1879–1957), singer (aged 80)
  • Tom Reddin (1916–2004), Los Angeles police chief (1964–1969) (aged 88)
  • Rodd Redwing (1904–1971), actor (aged 67)
  • George Regas (1890–1940), actor (aged 50)
  • Pedro Regas (1897–1974), actor (aged 77)
  • Nelson Riddle (1921–1985), musician/composer (aged 64)
  • Al Ritz (1901–1965), actor/comedian (aged 64)
  • Harry Ritz (1907–1985), actor/comedian (aged 78)
  • Jimmy Ritz (1904–1986), actor/comedian (aged 81)
  • Theodore Roberts (1861–1928), actor (aged 67)
  • Mickey Rooney (1920–2014), actor and entertainer (aged 93)
  • Harold Rosson (1895–1988), cinematographer (aged 93)

S

Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel's crypt

T

U

V

Rudolph Valentino's crypt

W

Y

Z

References

  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. ^ a b Spindler, Amy M. (November 15, 1998). "Getting In". New York Times. Retrieved September 26, 2011.
  3. ^ Foliart, Lauren (September 1, 2011). "Cemetery Historian". Los Angeles Magazine. Retrieved September 26, 2011.
    "Incorporated". Los Angeles Times. August 15, 1899. The Hollywood Cemetery Association filed articles of incorporation yesterday. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  4. ^ "Actress Hattie McDaniel Gets Final Wish". nbclearn.com. October 27, 1999.
  5. ^ Price Davis, Anita (2013). The Margaret Mitchell Encyclopedia. McFarland. p. 147. ISBN 0-786-49245-7.
  6. ^ LeDuff, Charlie (December 1, 2002). "Comeback for Resting Place of Movie Stars". latimes.com.
  7. ^ Russell, Ron. "Splendor Fades at Final Resting Place of Famous, Almost Famous". latimes.com.
  8. ^ a b c Silverman, Jacob (September 22, 2011). "Burial Plots". Tablet Magazine. Retrieved September 26, 2011.
  9. ^ Schiffman, Betsy (November 11, 2002). "Grave Business". forbes.com.
  10. ^ Purdum, Todd S. (December 11, 1997). "Los Angeles Journal; Cemetery to the Stars Wins a Court Reprieve". New York Times. Retrieved September 26, 2011.
  11. ^ a b c d Cathcart, Rebecca (June 7, 2008). "Where Hollywood's Stars Are Interred, but Live Forever on Screen". New York Times. Retrieved June 7, 2008. In 1998 Tyler Cassity, a friend of Mr. Boileau's from St. Louis, bought the 62-acre (250,000 m2) property for $375,000 and began making renovations. Mr. Cassity's family runs Forever Enterprises. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  12. ^ LeDuff, Charlie (December 1, 2002). "Comeback for Resting Place of Movie Stars". New York Times. Retrieved September 26, 2011.
  13. ^ Alzayat, Dima (August 12, 2011). "Cinespia celebrates age 10 by staying up all night". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 26, 2011.
  14. ^ Martens, Todd (May 3, 2011). "Flaming Lips' Hollywood Forever Cemetery gigs go on sale Friday". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 26, 2011.
  15. ^ "One Dark Night - Film Trivia". IMDB.
  16. ^ Salamon, Julie (May 18, 2002). "Television Review; So You Missed the Funeral? Come See the Video Tribute". New York Times. Retrieved September 26, 2011.
  17. ^ Stopover in Hollywood, Documentary at IMDb
  18. ^ "Character Actor Richard Dunn Dies at 84". Associated Press. msnbc.com. 2010-06-24. Retrieved June 4, 2010.
  19. ^ "Skelton Knaggs (1911–1955) - Find A Grave Memorial". findagrave.com. Retrieved May 26, 2014.

Further reading

  • Masek, Mark (2011). Hollywood Forever Cemetery: The Unauthorized Guide (Kindle ed.). ISBN 978-1452469980.
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