Tag Archives: Grave Hunting

Gangsters In Granite Vol. XIII Roger Touhy

04 Friday Feb 2011

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Keeping with the values & traditions of Joshua Perry’s Graveside Stroll. May I present to you  my loyal viewers, fans, admirers, etc. The latest installment to the very popular Gangsters In Granite Chicago Style graveside video documentary series.

In this segment of Gangsters In Granite Chicago Style Vol. XIII. We visit the graveside in Mt. Carmel of Roger Touhy who was a ruthless if not infamous Irish mafioso on Chicago’s suburban northwest side stretching all the way to Des Plains, Illinois.

I really hope you enjoy the latest installment of the Gangsters In Granite Chicago Style video series.  There is plenty more to come. While your viewing my latest video creation, don’t forget to comment, rate, and favorite this video, and the others. If your more inclined to do so feel free to send yours truly a friend request on You Tube or subscribe to my channel GraveHunterGuy. Thanks for watching, see ya soon.

Book Review: Forever L.A. A Field Guide To Los Angeles Area Cemeteries & Their Residents

15 Wednesday Sep 2010

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Recently I got a copy of the book “Forever L.A. A Field Guide To Los Angeles Area Cemeteries & Their Residents” by Douglas Keister. The publisher is Gibbs-Smith and retails for $19.99 at your local, or favorite online bookstore and has 156 pages.

The Low Down:

This was the first book I’ve read by the critically acclaimed author and photographer Douglas Keister.  Not being too familiar with Doug’s work besides what I’ve read about him online. I was seriously looking forward to what he had to offer in this book.

In the first half of the book Doug takes the readers on a tour of 12 of the main cemeteries in Los Angeles.  A sampling of those cemeteries include but is not limited to Forest Lawn Glendale,  & Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills,  Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Inglewood Memorial Park, & Westwood Village Memorial Park.

The second half of the book covers architecture found in the cemetery, symbols, secret societies/clubs which have their symbols adorned on grave markers, etc.

While not everyone who was famous in Hollywood is mentioned  most of the key figures are. Were talking you got The Three Stooges, Rudolf Valentino, George Burns & Gracie Allen, and the list goes on.

The nicely detailed colorful photos were one of my favorite things about the book. Add that for pretty much everyone listed in this book GPS coordinates are included.  One of the neat things I thought was nice about this book is that it was small enough to fit in your back pocket, but big enough where the typeset wouldn’t hurt the eyes.

One feature I thought was really classy was the fact that in the back of the book. There is a fold out map which lists the major roads with a caricature which represents the cemeteries in the greater Los Angeles area. Another thing I thought was helpful in the back of the book there was a complete listing of practically all the cemeteries in and around Los Angeles with GPS coördinates, and contact/website info included.

Bottom Line:

This book must be at the top of your list of grave hunting books to buy. Its got everything a grave hunting book should have, and more. Plus it comes HIGHLY recommended by me.

Movie Stars & Mafiosos Part Dux

09 Wednesday Jun 2010

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In honor of the visit to one of my favorite cities in the US of A, a city I consider a second home. I’ve decided to publish the list of gravesites I’m going to attempt to track down while I’m visiting Chicago next week.

The list is laid out starting with cemetery name, then the respective personages buried in that cemetery underneath. For the time being I’m going to leave out the gravesite locations of the personages. Keep in mind many of the people on the list have gravesite photos already on the internet and in some cases locations to go with the photograph. Lets get started shall we.

Evergreen Cemetery

Michael “de Pike” Heitler d. April 30th 1931 Capone gang member and pimp

Wunders Cemetery

Herbert Henry Rice (Actor) d. July 1938

Acacia Park Cemetery

Johannes Anderson (WWI Medal of Honor) d. April 15th 1950

Ralph Stewart Donner (singer, musician) d. Apr. 6, 1984

Audre Joan Knecht (Actress) d. Dec. 1, 1989

Memorial Park Cemetery & Crematorium Skokie

Egbert Van Alstyne (Film composer and lyricist)d. 1951

Eddie Ballantine (musician) d. Nov. 14, 1995

Karyn “Cookie” Kupcinet (actress) d. Nov. 28, 1963

Byrne Piven (actor, director, teacher) d. Feb. 18, 2002

Robert Reed (Actor) d. May 12, 1992

Mt. Olivet Cemetery

Walter & Tommy O’Donnell d. June 9th 1925 Southside O’Donnell gang member brother of “Spike” brother

George Meegan d. September 17th 1923 Southside O’Donnell gang member

Charles Kelly d. October 4th 1925 first “Tommy-Gun” fatality

Henry “Hoop-a-Daisy” Connors d. September 2nd 1929 Chicago Gangster

Maurice “Morrie” Keane d. December 1st 1923 beer runner for the Spike O’Donnell gang

Oakwood Cemetery

Jake Guzik d. February 21st 1956

Charles Simons (Civil War Medal of Honor) d. June 18th 1914

Rosemont Park Cemetery

Edward Vogel d. June 12th 1977 known as the “King of the Slots” ran coin operating racket for Capone gang.

Burton C. Kaiser (Actor) d. May 16, 2004

Holy Sepulcher Cemetery

Michael Quinlan (gangster) d. 1934

Richard Cain (gangster) d. December 20th 1973

Helen Morgan (actress) d. October 8th 1941

St. Adalbert

Joseph Bergl d. September 26th 1950

St. Mary’s Cemetery

John Edward “Spike” O’Donnell d. August 20th 1962 Southside O’Donnell’s leader

James “Daffy” Quigley d. October 12th 1931 member of Spike O’Donnell Gang

George Bucher d. September 17th 1923 Southside O’Donnell gang member

Rosehill Cemetery

Dr. Reinhart Schwimmer d. February 14th 1929

Marie G. Armstrong aka Mimi Forsythe (actress)  d. August 17th 1952

Martha O’Driscoll (actress) d. November 3rd 1998

Milton Sills (silent screen actor) d. September 15th 1930 Plot: Section 111 Lot 38

Burr Tillstrom d. December 6th 1985

Forest Park Cemetery

John Snyder aka Adam Heyer d. February 14th 1929

Waldheim Cemetery

Albert Weinshank d. February 14th 1929

Irving Park Cemetery

Frank & Peter Gusenberg d. February 14th 1929

James Clark aka Albert Kallachek d. February 14th 1929

Edward “Teddy” Newberry d. January 7th 1933

St. Joseph cemetery

Steve “Big Steve” Wisniewski d. July 18th 1921

Chicago bootlegger murdered possibly by the Druggan-Lake mob

Lester Joseph Gillis d. November 27th 1934

John Phillips d. August 27th 1924 Northside Chicago gangster

Mt. Carmel Cemetery

Charles “Cherry Nose” Gioe d. August 18th 1954

Patrick “Paddy the Bear” Ryan d. June 17th 1920

Rocco Belcastro d. May 15th 1933

Angelo DeMora d. 1923 Jack McGurns step father

Vincent Gebardi d. 1936

Anthony DeMora d. March 3rd 1936 Jack McGurns step-brother

John May d February 14th 1929

Joseph “Diamond Joe” Esposito d. March 21st 1928

Giuseppe Maggio d. December 8th 1922 Chicago Black Hand gangster nicknamed “King of the Black Hand”

Joseph Granata d. July 18th 1925 Chicago gangster

Thomas Somnerio d June 1st 1930 Capone gang member

Angelo Spano aka Jack Costa d. September 14th 1930 murdered in Fernwood Apartments 4056 Sheridan Road. Joe Aiello’s bodyguard.

Pasquale “Patsy” Tardi d. January 1st 1931 notorious “42” gang leader.

Vito Bascone d. February 24th 1926 Genna gang member

Alphonse Fiori d. March 14th 1927 Genna gang member

Carmen Ferro d. November 29th 1927 wire wholesaler and alleged bootlegger

John Rito d. March 16th 1930 Northside bootlegger

Calvary Cemetery

William “Gunner” McPadden d. December 31st 1928 Danny Stanton gang

Graceland Cemetery

Granville Bates (Actor) d. Jul. 8, 1940

Bob Fitzsimmons (Boxer) d. Oct. 22, 1917

Harold Ernest Goettler (WWI Medal of Honor) d. Oct. 6, 1918

Jack Johnson (Boxer) d. Jun. 10, 1946

Bohemian National Cemetery

Eddie Tancl d. November 23rd 1924 popular saloon owner

Frank “Lefty” Koncil d. March 11th 1927

St. Casimir Cemetery

Leo Klimas d November 23rd 1924

All Saints Catholic Cemetery

John Joseph Kelly d. November 20th 1957 WWI Double Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient

So as you can see going by the list I just showed you I’m going to have one hell of a smashing good time. I have my doubts that I’ll find all those gravesites during this trip. But then again I’ve been known to go to more than two cemeteries in one day. If I don’t find all these guys during the visit next week. I’m planning on going back in September or October.

Review: Permanently New Yorkers by Patricia Brooks

25 Sunday Oct 2009

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permanentlynewyorkersbookcover

This past Summer I purchased the book “Permanently New Yorkers: Final Digs of The Notable & Notorious” by Patricia Brooks from the Amazon website.

To begin the book has 309 pages including the appendix, and index. The retail price for the book is $14.95. However if you buy the book from Amazon.com you will only have to pay $8.92 which covers the one hell of a bargain price of $4.93 which Amazon is offering the book at plus shipping. Shipping costs may vary depending on how soon you want the book in your hands.

The format of the book is pretty much the same to the authors other two grave hunting related books (Laid To Rest In California, and Where The Bodies Are). The thing that is comparable to the other titles by the same author is that she includes these widget boxes spread throughout the book entitled “Lunch Break”, “House Call”, etc. When you see these boxes in the book they mention local restaurants to check out, or places to visit significant to the personages on the particular page.

One of the interesting things about this book being that it’s geared towards cemeteries in the state of New York. Is that it features a whole spectrum of notables who had something or the other to do with literature, music in the form of musicians from the Jazz age, and other eras. While at the same time covering celebrities who were involved with the movie industry, military figures, wealthy people from the state, along with gangsters.

The thing which I enjoyed about the book was that it included somewhat detailed biographical info on various people I didn’t know about, along with the black & white photos of the grave sites.

The only thing I didn’t like about the book was that on the gangsters mentioned. There wasn’t much in the form of detailed biographical info about them. Just a few blurbs here and there at the beginning of each part when listing the brief overview of who was buried in the cemetery. I also got kinda bored reading about the Jazz age musicians. But if that’s your taste in music more power to you.

Overall its a great book with lots of photos, great information, with intricately placed wording on the biographies. If you’ve never been to New York like my self and wish to learn more about the people buried there. Or if your interested in reading about people from the world of literature, or Jazz themed music, or notables who had something to do with New York I highly recommend this book.

A Walk Through Detroit’s Woodlawn Cemetery Part III

05 Tuesday May 2009

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Here is the final installment of my Woodlawn Cemetery video I shot in Detroit. Woodlawn as mentioned is located over on Woodward Avenue, a few blocks south of 8 Mile Rd. Anyway in this conclusion video I take you to visit the grave sites of a few business magnates J.L. Hudson, and the guy who started the Eureka vacuum company, we also visit the grave site of Edgar Guest who worked for the Detroit Free Press newspaper and was a poet. And finally we visit the grave site of the Frazier brothers one of the brothers was involved in real estate and the other brother was a local prosecutor back in the day. Anyway without further adeau here is the video.