Monday, August 1, 2011

Hollywood Forever Cemetery

Hollywood Forever Cemetery is at 6000 Santa Monica Boulevard in the Hollywood.  It is unlike any other cemetery in the world.  Founded in 1899, the cemetery was an integral part of the growth of early Hollywood. Paramount Studios was built on the back half of the original Hollywood Cemetery, where the studio is still in operation today.  The cemetery is listed on the National Register of Historic Sites and boasts an admirable collection of old-fashioned standing headstones, monuments, and statues.  It is the cemetery of choice for most of the founders of Hollywood’s great studios, as well as writers, directors, and, performers, Hollywood Forever Cemetery is now listed on the National Register of Historic Sites. Visitors come from all over the world to pay respects Johnny Ramone, Cecil B. DeMille, Jayne Mansfield, Rudolph Valentino, Douglas Fairbanks, and hundreds more of Hollywood’s greatest stars.

The cemetery has two huge indoor mausoleums an countless outdoor graves.  A map is needed to locate any of the stars' burial sties which can be picked up upon entrance to the park from the flower shop.  On top of the headstones and towering monuments, there are also some unusual headstones including ones shaped like obelisks and rocket ships.  The cemetery is picturesque and has been used as a background locations for many Hollywood movies and shows including Hot Shots, L.A. Story, and The show Charmed.
Of course, torus are given regularly.  Motion picture historian Karie Bible leads a walking tour through the cemetery. Bible is the current "Lady In Black," carrying on the tradition of the mysterious woman who put a rose on Rudolph Valentino's grave every year.

We went to the cemetery for an event, The Cinespia Movie night, but had a chance to look around the cemetery before the movie started.  I don't regularly hang out in cemetery's and probably would not have done had it not been for the event, but I"m glad I did.  The headstones are indeed impressive.  One of the world’s most fascinating landmarks, Hollywood Forever Cemetery is the final resting place to more of Hollywood’s founders and stars than anywhere else on earth. This is a site worth seeing.

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