On Thursday June 2nd I realized I had two days left to do some grave hunting before it was time to head home to Motown the following Saturday. So in typical fashion (as I usually do in situations such as this) I kicked things up a notch.

On Thursday, I decided to continue checking out what The OC (Orange County) cemeteries had to offer. So I cruised over to Pacific View Memorial Park which is in Corona Del Mar, California. Pacific View Memorial Park, is one of the most beautiful cemeteries I’ve ever visited in all my years in the hobby. At the top of the hill near the tranquil garden of cremains, you will find picturesque views of the Pacific Ocean. Unfortunately, I didn’t think about taking any photos of the scenic ocean views. I seriously wish I did.

While I was at Pacific View Memorial Park, I found a decent amount famous people. The most famous of them all and probably in ALL of Orange County is western actor John Wayne. He’s buried several feet down the hillside slope from his first wife, and daughter. Another gravesite I strolled by and photographed was Charles Quilter who was a United States Marine Corps Major General. He served in three wars (WWII, Korea, & Vietnam).

Also at Pacific View Memorial Park, from the world of silent films I found the gravesite of Marion Mack, who is buried under her married name Joey Marion Lewyn. At the time of her death she was married to film producer Lewis Lewyn who is buried next to her. Also from the world of silent films I found the gravesite of Edmund “Eddie” Burns who got his start in motion pictures as an extra in the epic D.W. Griffith film The Birth of a Nation. So that pretty much wraps up Pacific View Memorial Park. There were a few other gravesites I photographed and others I planned to check out. But I left the cemetery to get a soda, and found my self driving down the coast, where I once again ended up in LA.

After arriving in LA, I stopped by the LA County Coroner’s office. Much to my surprise the LA County Coroner’s office has a gift shop there are only two coroners offices that have a gift shop the other being the Las Vegas coroners office, and to top it off my good friend Jayne Osborne works in the Notifications Department at the LA County Coroner’s office. So I thought I’d swing by and bought some official LA County Coroner swag. I bought two t-shirts, and a tank top. One of those shirts was for my good friend and Detroit graving sidekick, Beth. After leaving the gift shop at the coroner’s office, I went down to Hollywood Boulevard, and stopped by the Hollywood Harley-Davidson store. At the Hollywood HD store, I bought two t-shirts. One for me, and another for my friend Art.

After doing a little souvenir shopping for friends back home. I cruised over to Hollywood Forever cemetery again. After giving the security guard, a friendly wave as I drove through the gate. I stopped in the Jewish section of the cemetery. I then pulled out my trusty & colorful Hollywood Forever cemetery map, (which by the way I paid $5 bucks for) to pin point the location of Paul Muni. He was one of the gravesites I had the utmost wish to visit while I was in LA. So after some brief searching, I found his final resting place. Paul Muni’s gravesite is marked by a tall tree as most of the famous people in the cemetery have trees above their respective markers.

I heard from one of my friends during a previous trek of Hollywood Forever that a group of volunteers planted the trees at various celebrity gravesites in the cemetery to mark their gravesite. Anyway Paul Muni was in a series of great topnotch films during his heyday. Those films include “The Story of Louis Pasteur” where he won an Academy Award for Best Actor. He also starred in “The Life of Emil Zola” (1937), “The Good Earth” (1937), the original “Scarface” (1932), “Angel on My Shoulder” (1946) and “I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang” (1932). I’ve only seen “I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang” and the original “Scarface” both great films which I highly recommend. The original Scarface also stars George Raft who I visited the previous day. After everything I did Thursday, I headed back to Anaheim, but not before stopping by the cigar shop I found nearby where I was staying to pick up some cigars.

Friday being the last official day of grave hunting in LA, before heading home.  So what did I do? I went to five cemeteries located around the Los Angeles area. Being that my friends who accompanied me the previous days during the gravecation had other things to do. I wanted to make this day the day I would go all out and wrap up the great LA gravecation in a stunning array of insane blaze & glory. So off I went. The first cemetery I checked out on Friday was Calvary cemetery. Calvary is one of the oldest catholic cemeteries in Los Angeles. At Calvary I found gangster Jack Dragna, the silent film sibling trio, John, Ethel, & Lionel Barrymore, who got their start in silent films. Ramon Novarro who was a silent era actor, and early talkie film personality, he was brutally murdered by two brothers. Other celebrities I found at Calvary included silent era starlet Pola Negri, & Mary Philbin, Ted Healy who was the creator of The Three Stooges. There were a few more gravesites I found at Calvary but the names I mentioned should give you a general idea on who I found. If your interested you should check out Find a Grave.com for a good list of who’s buried there.

After leaving Calvary I drove across the street to its Jewish counterpart, namely Home of Peace cemetery. Before I get started with Home of Peace feel free to check out the Home of Peace page on Find a Grave. So let’s get underway. At Home of Peace, I found the gravesite of Curly & Shemp Howard of The Three Stooges, I also found comedian Harry Einstein, Carl Laemmle Sr. & Jr. MGM executive Louis B. Mayer. The Warner Bros (Harry, Jack, & Samuel), along with motion picture director Charles Vidor. So that pretty much sums up Home of Peace. At Eden Memorial Park, I found the gravesites of one of the greatest slapstick comedians of ALL time, Groucho Marx, I also found the gravesite of controversial yet hilarious comedian Lenny Bruce.

Rounding off Friday, I strolled over to Hollywood Forever again. At Hollywood Forever I tried to find the gravesite with no such luck of Tamara Toumanova who was a Russian actress, and ballerina. After leaving Hollywood Forever, I cruised over to Westwood Memorial Park yet again, to try to find the gravesite of James Wong Howe, who was a well-known cinematographer in the silent, and early talkie eras of Hollywood. Being that he was one of the gravesites I really wanted to find I unfortunately had no such luck. So I called an end to the very productive week-long graving extravaganza, went to the cigar shop I mentioned above, and called it a day.

While there is still very much more I want to see in LA, and Orange County. I gotta say I had one of the best gravecations in a LONG time. I met with some friends who up until recently I only corresponded with online. I hope to visit Los Angeles again in the very near future, hopefully one more time before I eventually move there. The area has a ridiculously insane amount of celebrities buried there.