So being that I’ve been busy as all hell, checking out the dead celebrity hot spots in and around LA the past 5 days I haven’t been really up to doing much blogging because I’ve been extremely tired, with painfully sore feet. But keeping with the tradition of these week-long extravaganza gravecations I go on once a year. Here is the second installment covering Days 4 & 5 of my inaugural LA Gravecation. I figure throughout the trip I’ll post a new blog entry every few days, covering the previous few days I didn’t write anything.
So lets rock on and get started. Day 4 began with me arriving at Westwood Memorial Park cemetery around 9:30am. Joining me at Westwood was my good friend Steve Goldstein. Before Steve arrived, I was strolling around the main part of the cemetery where out of nowhere I heard someone call my name so I turn around, and it was one of my Facebook friends and fellow Hollywood-Underground members Rosemary Duff. I didn’t know who she was until she introduced her self. I asked her how she recognized me, she mentioned something about my designer glasses, and my trademark floppy hat I wear when I grave hunt.
Moving along the cemetery is in the Westwood section of Los Angeles. The grounds cover about two acres of land and surrounded by tall office, and apartment buildings. There is a single road in the cemetery which circles the grounds in an oval like formation. Inside the oval you will probably find the largest cluster of dead celebrities, resting in eternal peace anywhere in the world. The outer part of the oval include private garden estates, and two separate mausoleum buildings with outdoor wall crypts. During the trek I observed maybe two private family mausoleums that of the Armand Hammer family, and the other I do not recall the name at the moment.
There are roughly 239 famous people buried or interred within the tranquil confines of Westwood. To name a few who are full-time residents in the cemetery include, but is not limited to Jim Backus who was the voice of Mr. Magoo, and the character Thurston Howell III, on the TV show Gilligan’s Island. Other such notables include Marilyn Monroe who is no doubt the most famous interment in the cemetery. Others include the comedic duo Walter Matthau, and Jack Lemmon, not to mention even though unmarked, Frank Zappa, & Roy Orbison rest undisturbed. On a given day you might stumble upon the elaborately designed marker of Don Knott’s who had a host of character roles over the years on television, most notably Deputy Barney Fife on The Andy Griffith Show. The list of A Lister’s buried at Westwood goes on and on. If your more inclined to do so you can visit the Westwood Memorial Park page on Find A Grave.
Moving along the next cemetery Steve and I visited was Hollywood Forever cemetery. Joining us at Hollywood Forever was Jayne, &
Mark, who tagged along the previous day at Holy Cross. Three other people who should get the utmost honorable mention who joined us were Scott who is the curator & owner of the celebrity death website Find a Death.com, and owns the sought out and morbidly popular Dearly Departed Tours in Hollywood. Scott’s significant other Troy tagged along, as did Hollywood-Underground member Karen Fogerty. I gotta tell you it was a total honor to finally meet Scott, Troy, & Karen.
As with Westwood Memorial Park, Hollywood Forever has a ridiculously insane amount of celebs AND gangsters buried within its confines (I’ll get to a few of them in a moment). The cast of celebs past and present at Hollywood Forever would be good for a book. Speaking of which if you go to Hollywood Forever, be sure to swing by the gift shop to buy the official cemetery tour book, and get a map of the cemetery as well. The book is $20 bucks, and the map is $5 bucks. Here’s another good tip, when you pass by the guard booth, just give the overzealous rent a pig a friendly wave, because photos according to them are not allowed. But when your walking around the cemetery, keep your camera in your pocket or discreetly hidden in your hand at your side.
The cast of characters buried in Hollywood Forever would give you a good 3 hours or more, walking around the cemetery. The names etched on the monuments, crypts, and other forms of marble & granite symbolism, are names that have to do with the old and new eras of Hollywood. To name a few Cecil B. DeMille is there, along with Tyrone Power. From the world of silent films comes Rudolf Valentino, Barbara LaMarr, William Desmond Taylor, etc. Some of the newer full-time residents include Dee Dee & Johnny Ramone of the punk band The Ramones, Estelle Getty from the TV show The Golden Girls, and so many others. So that concludes day four. If your interested you might want to check out the Hollywood Forever page on Find a Grave.
After we were finished at Hollywood Forever. I joined Jayne, & Mark, Scott, Troy, and Karen, at The El Coyote Mexican Cafe, for a much-needed bs session, followed by feasting on taco’s, guacamole, and salsa. El Coyote’s has been a LA fixture for over 80 years. It’s steeped in history, as I’m sure many a celeb has chowed down on the delicious fare the restaurant has to offer. Here’s a juicy piece of Hollywood gossip related to El Coyote’s. Sharon Tate who you might have remembered was one of the Manson Family murder victims, ate her last meal at El Coyote’s
Today being the fifth day I’ve been in the Los Angeles area. I originally planned to just lay low to rest my feet, maybe smoke some cigars, and kick back. But true to the grave hunter code, I couldn’t let the day pass and not hit some cemeteries. So I went to Hollywood Forever yet again. Yesterday while I was there the official Hollywood Forever tour guide Karie Bible, invited me to tag along on the tour she was giving today.
So I arrived at the cemetery a few hours early, I purchased the book & map I mentioned above. The tour Karie, was giving today was the Hidden Hollywood Tour. The tour included obscure stars who have been lost or forgotten over time. It was a really informative tour, and to boot since the Jewish section was closed yesterday, Karie took the guests who were on the tour to the Jewish section of Hollywood Forever. We saw gangsters Bugsy Siegle, Moe Sedway’s respective crypts inside the mausoleum. So that’s pretty much how the past two days went. If your interested Karie has a website about the tours she gives you can find the website here.
Please stay tuned in the coming days for more updates. Tomorrow I’ll be visiting Forest Lawn cemetery in Glendale, and hopefully the Forest Lawn location in the Hollywood Hills section of LA.
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