By snoadmin
As October begins, it is almost time for trick-or-treating, pumpkin carving and costumes. However, let’s not forget the historical graveyards that surround us every day. These sites can bring a little bit of Halloween to any day of the year, but also contribute some history and architectural beauty that commonly gets overlooked.
Gravestones at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery depict the lives of former soldiers, the famous, the wealthy and even the religious. Some tombstones are engraved in different languages while some have pictures and others have symbols.
The cemetery boasts that it holds more Hollywood celebrities than any other. The prosperous have chosen to commemorate themselves in lavish tombstones, benches and memorial markers. Family, friends and fans have memorialized personalities, like punk rock legend Johnny Ramone, with a cenotaph.
The truly wealthy have grave sites that hold their bodies underground but have stairs above ground that lead up to their tombstones. The plots are covered in granite, marble or whatever they have chosen to represent themselves.
Hollywood Forever Cemetery opened in 1899 alongside early Hollywood. According to the cemetery’s website, it is currently on the National Register of Historic Sites and holds some of the state’s oldest mausoleums.
The cemetery consists of more than 50 acres of land and sits adjacent to Paramount Studios that shared the lot with the original Hollywood Cemetery in the early 1900s. The lawn seems almost overcrowded, as it holds upright and flat tombstones, private family mausoleums, a pond, memorial markers and statues.
The cemetery also plays movies at dusk, usually on Saturdays and Sundays throughout the summer, for the public. Guests are welcomed to bring food and show up early because people will line up around the block hours before the showing begins.
The movies play through a projector and cast on a wall within the cemetery gates. The screenings usually begin around sunset, but gates usually open hours before. Tickets are free, although they ask for a $10 donation at the gate. Visitors are welcomed to make themselves comfortable on the lawn while DJs entertain.
The cemetery frequently plays classics like “To Catch a Thief (1955)” and “Rebel Without a Cause (1955),” but also shows more modern films like “Dazed and Confused (1993)” and “Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982).”
Movie stars, singers, authors, cinematographers, directors, comedians, musicians and more from early Hollywood have been laid to rest here. For anyone interested in touring the cemetery, the flower shop has a map of where the stars are buried and the employees are always friendly and eager to help wanderers locate a grave. The cemetery also gives guided walking tours and holds cultural events through each month.
Hollywood Forever Cemetery is a little chunk of peaceful history in fast-paced Los Angeles. It’s the perfect history lesson for Los Angeles residents and tourists.
This cemetery is also an ideal place for horror movie fanatics to get their thrills and chills on Saturday nights and for an explorer to go star hunting amidst the crypts.
The cemetery is beautiful and inviting. It’s also the ideal place for an adventurer to discover secrets from Hollywood’s past.
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