Tag Archives: Grave Hunting

The Great L.A. Gravecation of 2011 Revisited – Westwood Memorial Park

04 Sunday Dec 2011

Posted by in Gravecations - Stories From The Road

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Well its been a few days since I’ve done a post titled “The Great L.A. Gravecation of 2011 Revisited”. So lets push on with today’s featured cemetery and that is none other than Westwood Memorial Park cemetery, which is in the Westwood Village section of Los Angeles. The tranquil confines of this cemetery is an easy one to miss, due in part because of the secluded location with the tall office, and apartment buildings which surround the park like cemetery. If you didn’t know it was there, you’d more than likely pass by it. None the less Westwood Memorial Park cemetery is at 1218 Glendon Ave, a few blocks off Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood.

Founded in 1904, the cemetery was a larger in the form of acreage than it is today. At the time the particular area was in a rural section of Los Angeles no doubt with rolling valleys of farmland, and ranches. Over time the land of what used to be the older parts of the cemetery were sold off and eventually turned into what you see today being various office and apartment buildings. The first real celebrity to be buried within the confines of the nicely manicured lawns of Westwood was that of blonde bombshell Marilyn Monroe. When Monroe passed away, when her husband Joe DiMaggio wanted her in a secluded cemetery, and he choose Westwood. Part of the reason being that her godmother, and grandmother were buried there.

Joining me at Westwood for my private tour was my very good friend Steve Goldstein. We pretty much started out in the main lawn area, then worked our ways through the wall crypts, private lawn estates, and other sections. Keep in mind this cemetery might not be on par with say Hollywood Forever, or the Forest Lawn cemetery conglomerate. BUT you probably wont find such a high concentration of A- list celebrities buried within three acres of a secluded cemetery in other cemeteries around the country. If your interested I invite you to check out the Westwood Memorial Park Wikipedia page, or Find A Grave. So lets roll on with the photo slideshow. I’ll add more photos to this slideshow as time goes on. ENJOY.

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Changes Coming To The Gravecast Podcast And Blog!

21 Monday Nov 2011

Posted by in General Articles

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Hey I wanted to bring you all up to speed on some things. Well for starters as mentioned a few blog posts back, I’m going to start including info on paranormal ghost hunting. As I feel ghost hunting, and grave hunting intersect in various ways. So to help diversify things on Gravecast, I feel it would be essential to include ghost hunting topics on the blog. To help kick things off with the ghost hunting aspect. I listed a few books on the required reading list related to ghost hunting which I’ve recently purchased, and currently reading.

Now that I’ve got the ghost hunting venture out-of-the-way. Another thing I’m planning on doing relates to The Gravecast podcast. I’ve noticed when ever I’d post new episodes of the podcast, there would be a spike in the number of people browsing the blog, and listening in to who I’d be interviewing from the world of grave hunting.

To help boost the viewers even more, I’m working on having one of my very good friends from LA, co-host the Gravecast show with me. I feel this will add a different point of view to what the interviewees’ have to say in their informative & insightful responses to the questions my self, and my co-host ask, plus it would make things a little more interesting.

The future co-host I’m talking about is noted author, & cemetery historian, Steve Goldstein who wrote the book “LA’s Graveside Companion: Where The V.I.P’s R.I.P.” is also the proprietor of the website Beneath Los Angeles. Steve’s got a ton of experience in grave hunting, not only that he’s a helluva nice guy, very personable as well, who I was delighted to of met when I visited Los Angeles last Spring. Needless to say I think he will be the perfect co-host of the show.

The Gravecast Show Ep07: Interview With Mark Masek

18 Friday Nov 2011

Posted by in The Gravecast Podcast

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In episode 07 of The Gravecast Show, I got a chance last month to interview my good friend, noted celebrity grave hunter and author Mark Masek. Who wrote the book “Hollywood Remains To Be Seen: A Guide To The Movie Stars Final Homes” Mark is also the proprietor of the website cemeteryguide.com

Calling All Gravers/Ghost Hunters

17 Monday Oct 2011

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Do YOU aspire to be interviewed on a podcast about grave hunting & ghost hunting? Do you feel you bring something unique to the hobby of grave hunting, or ghost hunting? Do you have a published literary work, related to grave hunting, cemeteries, ghost hunting, or things of a macabre nature. Maybe you own a website related to any of the following: celebrity death, grave hunting, cemeteries, ghost hunting, things of a macabre nature?

If you answered YES to any of the above questions, I’d love to hear from you. At the moment I’ve got two podcast interviews lined up in the coming months. So I’m working on scheduling some more interviews. If you are interested in coming on the Gravecast show, please feel free to email me at cigarjosh890@yahoo.com if you do email me please write something about grave hunting or Gravecast in the subject box. I do hope to hear from you soon to possibly set something up.

Book Review: Fade To Black: Graveside Memories of Hollywood Greats 1927-1950 by Michael Barry

16 Sunday Oct 2011

Posted by in Book Spotlight

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Fade To Black: Graveside Memories of Hollywood Greats 1927-1950 By Michael Thomas Barry

Schiffer Publishing Ltd; First Ed February 2011 ISBN: 978-0764337093 pages: 160; softcopy; price: $24.99

Every now and then I like to read books related to grave hunting. If I like the graving book I’m reading, I usually give a decent review for the readers of the Gravecast blog. As in the case for my next review.

In March 2011 a month after “Fade To Black: Graveside Memories of Hollywood Greats 1927-1950” by Michael Thomas Barry was published. I put in an order for the book from the website Amazon.  So here is my review.

To give you a brief rundown on what “Fade To Black: Graveside Memories of Hollywood Greats 1927-1950” entails. It chronicles the winners of the Academy Awards covering the years 1927 through 1950.  Each person who won during the years covered under the categories of Best Actor/Actress, Best Supporting Actor/Actress, & Best Director, are chronicled with concise biographical narratives. The names of runner-up’s are also given but there is no biographical narration for that person, unless they won the award under their category for a different year.

One of the things I think really stand out in “Fade To Black” is the full spectrum, of full-page portrait photos of the celebrities highlighted in the book, not to mention the abundance of graveside photos, and photos from the award ceremonies.

Another thing I thought was a nice touch is the inclusion of Appendix A-C which cover a biographical narrative on Louis B. Mayer (Appendix A), a full listing of The Original Thirty-Six Members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences w/graveside locations (Appendix B), and finally Cemetery Addresses (Appendix C) which has a listing of all the cemeteries mentioned in the book where the award winners are buried.

There isn’t a thing I did not like about “Fade To Black”, the photos, and biographical narratives, are great. So I highly recommend this book.

On a side note “Fade To Black: Graveside Memories of Hollywood Greats 1927-1950” is Michael Thomas Barry’s second literary work. His first book “Final Resting Places: Orange County’s Dead & Famous” is another book I highly recommend and was published in 2010. The writing style, is hugely improved in Michael’s second book, compared to his first book.