Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Entrance of Hollywood Forever
Hollywood Forever Cemetery is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area
Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Hollywood Forever Cemetery is located in California
Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Hollywood Forever Cemetery is located in the United States
Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Location6000 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood
Coordinates34°5′19″N 118°19′8″W / 34.08861°N 118.31889°W / 34.08861; -118.31889
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 Cemetery, is one of the oldest cemeteries in Los Angeles. 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 on 40 acres which were once part of the cemetery, but held no interments.

Those in the graves, crypts, niches, and sarcophagi at the cemetery include culturally significant people as well as celebrities, including iconic actors, directors, writers, etc. from the entertainment industry. People who played vital roles in shaping Los Angeles are interred throughout the property. The cemetery is active and regularly hosts community events, including music and summer movie screenings. In 2011, the cemetery acted as co-production company for the American silent movie Silent Life based on the story of the Hollywood idol Rudolph Valentino, who is famously entombed there in what was originally a borrowed crypt.[2][3]

The cemetery contained a Confederate Monument, maintained by the Long Beach chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy until Tuesday, August 15, 2017.[4][5]

History

The cemetery, the only one actually in Hollywood,[6] was founded in 1899 on 100 acres (0.40 km2) and called "Hollywood Cemetery" by F. W. Samuelson and one (first name needed) Lombard were in 1897 the owners of a 60-acre tract of land near Hollywood in Los Angeles county. In that year, they, with Mrs. M. W. Gardner of Santa Monica, Joseph D. Rodford, Gilbert Smith, and Thomas R. Wallace, formed a corporation known as the “Hollywood Cemetery Association.[7][8][9] The cemetery sold off large tracts to Paramount Studios, which, with RKO Studios, bought 40 acres (160,000 m2) by 1920. Part of the remaining land was set aside for the Beth Olam Cemetery, a dedicated Jewish burial ground for members of the local Jewish community.

In 1939, Jules Roth, a convicted felon and millionaire, bought a 51% stake in the cemetery, the interment site of his parents. He used the money from the cemetery's operations to pay for personal luxuries and the cemetery, by then known as Hollywood Memorial Park, started to show signs of neglect and disrepair starting in the 1990s.

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, for which she became the first African American to win an Academy Award, to be buried at Hollywood Memorial Park. At the time of her death, Hollywood Memorial, like other cemeteries, was segregated (the cemetery was desegregated in 1959).[10] 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.[11]

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). [12]

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 to Hillside Memorial Park in Culver City 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 while the studio's parking structure was undergoing construction.[13]

In the late 1980s, to settle tax bills and maintain his lavish lifestyle, Jules Roth sold two lawns totaling three acres, facing the Santa Monica Boulevard front of the property. It was reported that it was paid for in cash. Those lawns are now strip malls which house, among other businesses, an auto parts store and a laundromat.[14]

After the 1994 Northridge earthquake, Roth couldn't afford 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.[15]

In 1997, Roth became ill after he fell in his Hollywood Hills home. He had been embroiled in a scandal regarding another cemetery he owned, Lincoln Memorial Park, 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, which were listed in his previous will, were written out. Roth died on January 4, 1998, and he was interred next to his wife Virginia, his father, and his mother in the Cathedral Mausoleum. [14] The state of California had revoked the cemetery's license to sell its remaining interment spaces.[16]

After Roth's death, it was discovered that the cemetery's endowment care fund, meant to care for the cemetery in perpetuity, was missing about $9 million, according to the current owner.[6]. This owner also claimed that he discovered Mr. Roth's bust in an antique shop, however it was part of Mr. Roth's personal artifacts that were sold at auction.

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,[17] 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,[18] as well as organizing tours to draw visitors.[14]

In 2010, Brent Cassity and his father, along with several others, were indicted for running a Ponzi-like scheme stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from pre-need funeral contracts.[19] Authorities later found that the money the brothers invested in the cemetery came from the proceeds of the scheme.[20][21]

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.[22] 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??".[23]

On August 17th 2013, electronic/industrial icon Gary Numan recorded a live album at the cemetery during his Splinter World Tour. It was released on February 19th 2016.[24]

Cultural references

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.[25]

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.[26]

The cemetery is briefly shown in the short Stopover in Hollywood.[27] The television series 90210 featured the cemetery in the episode "Hollywood Forever".[28]

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 Lew 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 Father John Misty's debut album, Fear Fun.

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

Hollywood Forever Cemetery was featured on CNBC’s American Greed episode “Six Feet Plunder”: it detailed how the cemetery was purchased and owned by brothers Tyler and Brent Cassity, with some of the funds coming from National Prearranged Services, Inc., a ponzi scheme run by the Cassity family.

The cemetery was featured in the 2014 horror comedy Burying the Ex.

The 2015 movie Woman in Gold had a funeral scene near the Watchorn obelisk.

Talking Dead hosted a live 90-minute season premiere on the grounds, immediately following the Season 7 premiere of The Walking Dead.[29] The grounds were also used to air the series finale of Breaking Bad.

Notable burials

Use the following alphabetical links to find someone:

A

Headstone of costume designer Adrian

B

Mel Blanc's tombstone

C

Tomb Of Charles S. Chaplin jr.

D

Tombs of the DeMille family
Tomb of Joe Dassin

E

F

Tomb of Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and Jr.
Headstone for director Victor Fleming

G

Janet Gaynor headstone

H

Grave of John Huston

J

K

L

Peter Lorre's crypt

M

Hattie McDaniel cenotaph

N

O

P

Burial site of Tyrone Power

R

Crypt of Mickey Rooney

S

Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel's crypt
Grave of actor Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer

T

U

V

Rudolph Valentino's crypt

W

Y

Z

Johnny Ramone's grave tombstone at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

"Forever Tributes"

The cemetery's website contains Forever Tributes of each star which consist of a video with introduction titles saying, "A Hollywood Forever Tribute, in honor of...(name)". The body of the video contains photos and film clips of the honoree, interviews with friends or relatives, music and narration. The conclusion again shows the honoree's name birth and death year. The videos are available through an interactive map of the property on the cemetery website.

References

  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. ^ Kozlov, Vladislav (2016-11-17). "Silent Life". Retrieved 2016-03-20.
  3. ^ "Rudolph Valentino (1895 - 1926)". Find A Grave. Retrieved 2016-03-20.
  4. ^ Harvey, Steve (May 29, 2010). "Southern California does indeed have a Civil War history". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 11, 2017. So will Hollywood Forever Cemetery, where the Long Beach chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy maintains a Confederate monument.
  5. ^ Tchekmedyian, Alene, Irfan Khan and Veronica Rocha (August 16, 2017). "Hollywood Forever Cemetery removes Confederate monument after calls from activists and threats of vandalism". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 21, 2017.((cite web)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ a b Spindler, Amy M. (November 15, 1998). "Getting In". The New York Times. Retrieved September 26, 2011.
  7. ^ Foliart, Lauren (September 1, 2011). "Cemetery Historian". Los Angeles Magazine. Archived from the original on October 7, 2011. Retrieved September 26, 2011. ((cite web)): Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ "The Pacific Reporter". West Publishing Company. 28 May 2017 – via Google Books.
  9. ^ "Incorporated". Los Angeles Times. August 15, 1899. The Hollywood Cemetery Association filed articles of incorporation yesterday. ((cite news)): |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  10. ^ Dominguez, Colleen (October 27, 1999). "Actress Hattie McDaniel Gets Final Wish". Today. nbclearn.com.
  11. ^ Price Davis, Anita (2013). The Margaret Mitchell Encyclopedia. McFarland. p. 147. ISBN 978-0786468553.
  12. ^ LeDuff, Charlie (December 1, 2002). "Comeback for Resting Place of Movie Stars". Los Angeles Times.
  13. ^ Russell, Ron. "Splendor Fades at Final Resting Place of Famous, Almost Famous". Los Angeles Times.
  14. ^ a b c Silverman, Jacob (September 22, 2011). "Burial Plots". Tablet Magazine. Retrieved September 26, 2011.
  15. ^ Schiffman, Betsy (November 11, 2002). "Grave Business". Forbes.
  16. ^ Purdum, Todd S. (December 11, 1997). "Los Angeles Journal; Cemetery to the Stars Wins a Court Reprieve". The New York Times. Retrieved September 26, 2011.
  17. ^ a b c d Cathcart, Rebecca (June 7, 2008). "Where Hollywood's Stars Are Interred, but Live Forever on Screen". The 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.
  18. ^ LeDuff, Charlie (December 1, 2002). "Comeback for Resting Place of Movie Stars". The New York Times. Retrieved September 26, 2011.
  19. ^ O'Neil, Tim (November 24, 2010). "Prepaid funeral figures indicted". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
  20. ^ Williams, Lance (October 10, 2013). "Cassity family funeral businesses create $600 million fraud scheme". Center for Investigative Reporting. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
  21. ^ Lieber, Dave (March 26, 2015). "Watchdog: Massive Ponzi scheme hit Texas hard". Dallas Morning News. Retrieved 13 August 2016.
  22. ^ Alzayat, Dima (August 12, 2011). "Cinespia celebrates age 10 by staying up all night". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 26, 2011.
  23. ^ Martens, Todd (May 3, 2011). "Flaming Lips' Hollywood Forever Cemetery gigs go on sale Friday". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 26, 2011.
  24. ^ "Here in the Black – Live at Hollywood Forever Cemetery". 19 February 2016.
  25. ^ "One Dark Night - Film Trivia". IMDB.
  26. ^ Salamon, Julie (May 18, 2002). "Television Review; So You Missed the Funeral? Come See the Video Tribute". The New York Times. Retrieved September 26, 2011.
  27. ^ Stopover in Hollywood, Documentary at IMDb
  28. ^ "90210: Episode 7 "Hollywood Forever" Recap". Retrieved 2017-07-26.
  29. ^ Vlada, Gelman (October 4, 2016). "TVLine Items: Fresh Off the Boat Ups Ray Wise, '70s Show Reunion and More". TVLine.
  30. ^ "Character Actor Richard Dunn Dies at 84". Today. Associated Press. June 24, 2010. Retrieved June 4, 2010.
  31. ^ "Walker Edmiston (1925 - 2007)". Find A Grave. April 13, 2010. Retrieved 2016-06-19.
  32. ^ Gomez, Patrick; Mizoguchi, Karen (January 26, 2017). "Judy Garland's Remains Moved From New York Burial Place to L.A.'s Hollywood Forever Cemetery". People.
  33. ^ "Skelton Knaggs (1911–1955) - Find A Grave Memorial". findagrave.com. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
  34. ^ "Edward G. Robinson, Jr (1933 - 1974) - Find A Grave Memorial". www.findagrave.com. Retrieved 2016-02-12.
  35. ^ "Rudolf Schildkraut (1862 - 1930) - Find A Grave Memorial". www.findagrave.com. Retrieved 2016-02-08.
  36. ^ Barnes, Mike (July 2, 2016). "James Victor, Cassavetes Protege and 'Zorro' Actor, Dies at 76". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2016-07-10.
  37. ^ "Oleg Vidov, Russian Actor in 'Red Heat' and 'Wild Orchid,' Dies at 73".
  38. ^ "Franz Waxman (1906 - 1967) - Find A Grave Memorial". www.findagrave.com. Retrieved 2016-02-17.
  39. ^ "Ern Westmore (1904 - 1967) - Find A Grave Memorial". www.findagrave.com. Retrieved 2016-02-15.
  40. ^ "Holly Woodlawn (1946 - 2015) - Find A Grave Memorial". www.findagrave.com. Retrieved 2016-03-19.

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