I decided to visit the Hollywood Forever Cemetery before the big annual Day of the Dead celebration –and, yes, the dead and their lives are celebrated (not necessarily mourned) on November 1st, All Saints Day. Some old movie actors from the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s are interred there and on the Hollywood Forever website you can see a map of where some are buried. Among the more recent stars who have found a final resting place at this cemetery is Johnny Ramone. And the statue of him is very cool.
Just across the drive is a long reflecting pool that ends at the Fairbanks Memorial. According to the cemetery site map, both Douglas Fairbanks and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. are buried there.
And just a few steps away from the Johnny Ramone memorial is an impressive tomb with the name Swayze on it. I thought it was for Patrick Swayze but when I checked it out, I learned that his ashes had been scattered on his ranch in New Mexico.
But overall, people from the entertainment industry are a small number among all those buried at this cemetery. As I wandered around I was struck by the large number of Armenian names on the grave markers and on some fairly impressive graves. Other graves were marked with simple wood crosses and still others planted with rose bushes.
Then I realized that Little Armenia, at least the ‘old’ Little Armenia was just blocks away. (A bit of trivia: the ‘new’ Little Armenia in Southern California is the city of Glendale. I’ve been told there are more Armenians in Glendale than in the country of Armenia, but its not true.)
And then there is the mystery of this vacant tomb with an extraordinary stained glass canopy. I wonder why the family would have the coffins removed from such an amazing and very expensive memorial. There is no name on it. But perhaps it was erected before the people passed away and the family wanted to bury them elsewhere?
Further wandering brought me to a tall grave marker for one of America’s ‘Rocketmen’, the scientists who developed the rockets that went into space back in the 1950s. His name was Carl Bigsby.
Anyway, back to the Dia de los Muertos which is traditionally held on on November 1st at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. It begins at noon and runs until midnight and there is entertainment. Check the website about visiting it.
