Hollywood Graves--Forest Lawn, (Hollywood Hills) & Westwood Cemeteries

"Tru"

"The Velvet Fog." (One of my favorite Seinfeld episodes ever. Kramer had Novocaine and bad shoes.)

Sandra Dee

Liberace's grave, with his signature incorporating a piano cartoon. Did you know his first name was Wladziu?

Statue of George Washington, facing (not seen in this pic) a reconstruction of Boston's Old North Church. Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills, California.

No, this post has little to do with wildlife, unless you count the squirrels and pigeons I saw hanging out in these Los Angeles landmarks. But at the request of two friends and blog readers, I am posting photos from the two cemeteries I visited when in LA in September.

It was very hot that day, when we had five hours to kill before meeting family for dinner in Malibu. Extremely hot--100+ degrees. Hot for LA. And the first cemetery we visited, Forest Lawn, Hollywood, had little shade. It's one thing to go somewhere in the hot sun, and at least know your destination, it's another to be in an unfamiliar city, worse still to be trying to find a grave you've never visited. I can attest that going to find a loved one's grave--one I've seen before--can be difficult. And here I was with a few crude maps from the web, trying to find graves of some famous people I'd admired. (I never did find Andy Gibb's grave, BTW.)

As many of my friends and colleagues know, I have always been intrigued by graveyards, cemeteries, crypts, mausoleums, etc. Having never been to a Hollywood cemetery, I was thrilled to find lots of people with cameras, wandering around like I was. One couple I met in Westwood had given up a trip to Disneyland to hit cemeteries instead. We all commiserated over our out-of-date maps, trying to figure out where Roy Orbison was buried, until another cemetery buff came up to us. "I couldn't help overhearing, " he said, "but you're right, here's buried under that tree. But the grave is unmarked."

Anyway, life is short, enjoy it while you can. A visit to any cemetery will remind you of this, but in addition to the philosophical implications of a grave visit, it was nice to be as close to some of these celebrities as I'll ever get to celebrity. None of the monuments were especially artistic, like those in Europe, or in Victorian US graveyards, but many had touching, sometimes enigmatic inscriptions. Enjoy. More photos to come, as soon as I get some work done around here.

(Laurel was the skinny one in Laurel & Hardy movies)

Bette Davis

Grave of Clyde Beatty, circus performer and "the greatest wild animal trainer ever."

"You are my wife! Good-bye city life! Green Acres. (Coincidentally, saw Eddie Albert's grave the same day.)

Will always remember Marty Feldman as "Igor" in "Young Frankenstein."