Hollywood Forever

entryway sign

Hollywood Forever Cemetery (est. 1899; first burial in 1901)
(formerly Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery)
6000 Santa Monica Blvd.
Hollywood, California 90038
http://www.hollywoodforever.com/

Related Links:
• Historic Cemeteries of Los Angeles: Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery, USC library archives
• Seeing-Stars.com: Hollywood Forever. This site has detailed maps of the grounds.
• Weird California: Hollywood Forever Cemetery. This site has the ghost stories.

"Flowers & Gifts" shop
where you buy the map.

posted September 30, 2009

Hollywood Forever was formerly Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery, a cemetery that had fallen into disrepair, until it was purchased by Forever Enterprises in 1998, refurbished, and renamed Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Paramount Studios occupies the area behind the cemetery, and that land was once a part of the original 100-acre cemetery.

At the flower shop, there is a map available for five dollars that shows the layout of the cemetery with numbered circles indicating where notable personalities are buried. The numbers are paired with names on the back of the map. For 20 dollars, you not only get the map but a book with photos and blurbs.

The florist made it a point to carefully explain where Rudolph Valentino is buried, which led me to think that either many people missed it like me or he was the reason many people visit the cemetery because of the story about the "Lady in Black" who regularly visited his grave, or both.

Anna Maria de Carrascosa (1910-1973)
in area around the Clark Mausoleum.
Who is the original "Lady in Black"?

The "Lady in Black" would leave a single red rose (or a bouquet) at Valentino's grave on the anniversary of his death. No one knew what her relationship to Valentino was. A number of copycat ladies sprang up to confuse the matter further. However, most people believe the original "Lady in Black" was Ditra Flame (1912-1984), a woman remembering Valentino's kindness and encouragement to her when she was a sick girl in the hospital: "You're not going to die at all. You are going to outlive me by many years. But one thing for sure — if I die before you do, you please come and stay by me because I don't want to be alone either. You come and talk to me." (source: San Francisco Chronicle, Aug. 24, 1977) That woman died in 1984 and is buried at San Jacinto Valley Cemetery in nearby Riverside County, but the tradition has continued with successive symbolic mourners.

The Cathedral Mausoleum where Rudolph Valentino lies buried closes at 4:00 p.m. When I looked at my watch, it was 3:55. But there were other accessible graves to visit until the overall 5:00 closing time (on weekdays) for the cemetery. MORAL: Visit the florist shop first and get a map. [NOTE: I eventually made a visit the following month to see Valentino.]

What surprised me initially about the cemetery was that it wasn't flat. I had earlier in the afternoon visited another cemetery, just because it was there, as they say. And that cemetery had left me disappointed because the landscape was incredibly flat with nothing photo worthy. But Hollywood Forever Cemetery has monuments, a lot of them. So this is where they bury rich people, I remember thinking, somewhat awestruck.

Rudolph Valentino (1895-1926)
(aka Rodolfo Guglielmi Valentino)

view from the Griffith Obelisk

The other surprising thing was how many birds and animals I saw there. The cemetery is a sanctuary, especially for the birds, with green lawns and large bodies of water (at the Clark and Fairbanks memorials), a welcome break from the asphalt and concrete jungle that Los Angeles is.

Photos copyright © Sept. 2009 Kat Avila (plus Nov. 2009 for Valentino) Time: Mid-afternoon / Camera: Canon SD780 IS
Notes: Community events at the cemetery, such as concerts, summertime movie screenings, and the annual Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebration, will affect the availability of parking.

You can drive in…	…or walk in. The florist is to your right.	Building where the flower shop is housed.	Looking toward the entrance gate.	This building houses the administrative offices and the Masonic Lodge.
The 50-ft.-tall Hollywood sign on Mt. Lee can be seen from the cemetery through smog.	Griffith Observatory on Mt. Hollywood is to the right of the Hollywood sign.	For tree squirrels, it's just another park, but this one is imitating the praying angel in the bottom left corner.	"Cupid and Psyche" in the Garden of Eternal Love (based on the legendary tale)	Mel Blanc (1908-1989) "That's All Folks" Man of 1000 Voices cartoon voiceover talent
Cathedral Mausoleum
	"HOLLYWOOD MEMORIAL PARK CATHEDRAL MAUSOLEUM"	entrance	The Twelve Apostles greet visitors to the mausoleum.	Looking back toward the entrance.
Rudolph Valentino is buried in the opposite corridor.	Rudolph Valentino (1895-1926) 3rd one up, next to window	window next to Rudolph Valentino's crypt	crypt room window	corridor

Clark Mausoleum & Nearby Areas The memorial is for William Andrews Clark, Jr. (1877-1934), founder of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
		great egret	Canada geese	pond turtle
Looks like a guardian Chinese lion or Korean dog, part of a curbside pair that marks the pathway to the mausoleum from the street.	Hattie McDaniel (1895-1952) She was the first African- American to win an Oscar, but when she died her request to be buried here was turned down. Years later, in 1999, a cenotaph was erected to honor her wish in spirit.	Johnny Ramone (1948-2004) (aka John William Cummings) A die-hard Republican and punk rocker, he was cremated and his cenotaph stands at the opposite end of the lawn from the grave of band member Dee Dee Ramone (1951-2002).	Jayne Mansfield (1933-1967) (aka Vera Jayne Palmer) The actress's birth year is incorrect on the cenotaph; it's a classic feminine privilege to shave a few years off. *A cenotaph means the remains are elsewhere.	Griffith Obelisk in adjacent Griffith Lawn Griffith Jenkins Griffith (1850-1919) philanthropist

Behymer and Cat I was intently peering into one memorial trying to get a better look at a stained glass window when out of the cemetery quiet there was a loud "MEOWR!" My heart just about leapt into my throat. A black cat peeked around the corner, then sat in front of the tomb like it had guard duty. When I later looked up the name "Behymer," which was on the memorial, it turns out there was a Lynden Ellsworth Behymer (1862-1947) who came to Los Angeles from Ohio and was a powerful and influential figure in the support and promotion of the city's musical and dramatic arts in the early 1900s, including co-founding and managing the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra, which preceded William Clark Jr.'s Los Angeles Philharmonic. How do I know I have the right "Behymer"? To his friends he was known as "Bee," the image of which I had been curiously peering at.

Fairbanks Memorial for swashbuckling actors Douglas Fairbanks (1883-1939) and his son Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. (1909-2000)
I didn't know Behymer's cat was following me, but there it was. Here it's being weird, probably staring at a bird.	Yep, that's the same cat beneath the bench. It might be a regular since I've seen other posted cat sightings. (BTW, I'm allergic to cats.)	mute swan	mute swan	Canada geese are swimming and feeding near the memorial.

Crystal Palace The statuary looked Buddhist, but not a brand I was familiar with. It took some online research to uncover that this area was the burial ground for Thai Buddhists. When you visit, listen for the gentle welcoming sound of the bell wind chime.
from across the way

Abbey of the Psalms
The ghost of actor Clifton Webb (1899-1966) is said to haunt the area.		"Love - Beauty - Joy" in a crypt room	stained glass cross and flower holder	heart-shaped pair of peacocks
Beth Olam (House of Eternity) Cemetery (est. circa 1927) "Beth Olam" or "Bet Olam" is a Jewish euphemism for a cemetery. While within the parameters of Hollywood Forever, Beth Olam is a separate cemetery with its own address (900 N. Gower St.) and entrance on Gower, where the Holocaust Memorial and Anne Frank (1929-1945) cenotaph are located (sights that I missed).
Hall of Solomon	Hall of Solomon	Hall of Solomon		mural
Funerary Art and Symbols
Russian Orthodox cross	Square and Compass(es) Freemasonry symbol	occupation	stone angel	stone mourner
stone flowers	10th Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) October 24, 2009 www.ladayofthedead.com	10th Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) October 24, 2009	"Of all the wonders that I yet have heard, It seems to me most strange that men should fear; Seeing that death, a necessary end; Will come when it will come." —William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Act II, Scene 2