One of my very rare topics not involving Bonanza Fanfics…
Ever since I started watching ‘Bonanza,’ I became interested in old Hollywood. Perhaps it’s from my lack of interest in today’s entertainment, or perhaps because we know too much about the stars of today. Even with today’s stars, there are very few well-known ones who I’m intrigued by.
Or maybe living just 45 minutes away from Hollywood could do it too, especially if you only lived here since 2005.
As most would know, tourists would do as much as possible while visiting theiri destinations… see old places, visit historical landmarks, etc. For some, that includes visiting the cemeteries where yesterday’s stars are now laid to rest.
There are so many different views and opinions on cemetery visits, especially when it involves the famous. Most would find it creepy and strange, but there are plenty who don’t think that. I think visiting them is a great way to pay tribute to those long gone, and to pay your last respects. Of course, it’s so long that you respect those there to visit their deceased family members.
Until today, I’ve done this twice before. In September, my boyfriend and I went to Pierce Brothers Westwood near UCLA. If I was to recommend the first place to visit to someone if they wanted to visit famous people, Westwood is the best place to stop first. It’s a very small place with many famous people to visit… Dean Martin, James Coburn, Peggy Lee, Jane Greer, Jack Lemmon, Caroll O’Connor, Walter Matthau, Eva Gabor, Natalie Wood, and many more… including it’s most famous resident, Marilyn Monroe. It had been a short trip for my boyfriend and I, and we were probably there for twenty-minutes. Three months after the trip, I learned that Bettie Page was laid to rest here too.
In November, we went to Hollywood Forever Cemetery. This place had a lot of history and had even almost went bankrupt at one point before it was sold to a new owner and restored. It’s supposed to be the ‘ultimate’ cemetery visit of all of Los Angeles. In the fall, they hold a Day of the Dead festival here. In the summer, they play movies and you actually sit on the lawn after dark. The landscape was indeed beautiful, and the Douglas Fairbanks memorial was nice. I also felt peaceful while visiting Rudolph Valentino in the mausoleum. I also visited Joan Hackett, Darren McGavin, Mel Blanc, Estelle Getty, Fay Wray, and more. While visiting Don Adams’ grave, I ended up meeting this nice gentleman who personally knew him (I didn’t ask for the relation). I had seen him sitting by Don’s grave, so I didn’t approach right away. Just when I decided to come back later, he saw me and said hello. I didn’t stay long of course, just left my rose and briefly reflected. I bid the man farewell as I left.
Even after today, my boyfriend considers it his favorite visit.
Today, we went to not one, but two cemeteries, both places were a five minute drive from each other in Culver City, California. I had wanted to visit Hillside Memorial for some time because both Michael Landon and Lorne Greene were there. But first, we went to the nearby Holy Cross Cemetery…
We got there around 3pm after nearly getting lost trying to find the place. I was already aware that there were going to be a lot of hills there… but wow… there were A LOT. Plus the place was huge, so it was the first time that we had to go in and out of the car quite a few times.
Our first stop was the Grotto area where most of the celebrities were. In the first section, we visited Bing Crosby and Bela Lugosi, both who were on the same row and just about five to six markers from each other.
(Afterwards, my boyfriend spotted a grave of a woman named Rena who was born in 1906. He loves the name Rena and we once had an argument over how old the name was and he kept saying it’s been a while for quite a while, and I thought it was recent. That grave pretty much proved that the name existed at least since 1906. *shrug* ).
After that, we visited with Jack Haley, best known as The Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz. We then moved on to the nearby St. Anne section, where we visited Sharon Tate and Charles Boyer. In Section F, I almost didn’t find Jackie Coogan (aka ‘The Kid’ and Uncle Fester) and Audrey Meadows (The Honeymooners), but I was very happy that I did. We then moved on the mausoleum to visit with Ray Bolger (The Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz), and John Candy (Fred MacMurray’s resting place is two below from John).
The last two visits I knew was going to be a little more difficult… I really wanted to visit Ray Teal (aka Roy Coffee), who I knew was in Section H. I went what I found out afterwards was the wrong section. We had decided to head off before I saw the actual Section H. I was disappointed in not being able to pay my respects to Ray, but I told myself that I would come back one day to do so.
Last night, I learned that Ricardo Montalban was interred here as well, in a new section not on the current map. I found the section, but my boyfriend and I saw many people there visiting graves of their families. Out of respect for them, my boyfriend and I decided not to stop.
From there, we headed over to Hillside.
When you first enter, you see the administration building on the right. Once you pass that, you get the clear view of the mausoleum and the Al Jolson monument. In the pictures and even off the freeway, it didn’t look that large… but don’t let the pictures fool you. It’s huge to the point where my boyfriend and I said, ‘wow’ in unison.
The roads almost threw me too at first because most of them was one-way only. Once I figured it out, we payed our first visit to Moe Howard (one third of The Three Stooges. Larry and Curly are resting in other cemeteries). I smiled at the little bunny ornament that rested on the vase. My boyfriend had asked me about the tradition of leaving rocks since it was a Jewish tradition… I of all people should know and I plumb forgot… but I know it’s been a tradition for thousands of years.
Afterwards, after a little searching (and getting a little nervous over a worker on a go-cart looking at us funny… he could’ve thought of anything at that point…), we found Vic Morrow. His birthday was the day before so there were plenty of flowers (and a cigarette saying Happy Birthday) already there. I wished him a Happy Birthday too and placed a carnation with the others. It’s the only grave where my boyfriend and I actually kneeled down to admire the decorations and we even talked about him for a bit (how I first saw him in Bonanza and that he was on ‘Combat!’ when he asked me about the rock that said Sgt. Saunders).
We then got back in the car where that one-way street… lead us right out back on the main roads, lol. Luckily we managed to go back through the main gates. After going around a bit more, we eventually stopped near the mausoleum. Across from the building, there was another crypt section containing beautifully painted murals. One of them had a Rabbi with his hands up and blessing a newlywed couple. If you look at his hands, you’ll see that it’s making the same split-fingered gesture as most Star Trek fans would know as the ‘Live Long and Prosper’ greeting. Leonard Nimoy remembered this gesture and preceived the idea of using it as a salute.
Just behind that mural, three rows up, was Mr. Television himself, Milton Berle. In addition to rocks, people also leave coins at graves as well, which is what I did here for ‘Uncle Miltie’ (there was no place to put a flower). Except I couldn’t reach the top of his epitaph. Times like these make me glad that I have a tall boyfriend, so I let him place the coin up.
Afterwards, we made our way towards the front of the mausoleum, where I paid my respects to Suzanne Pleshette before heading over to get a closer look at the Al Jolson memorial. Indeed it was huge up close. The watefall was also beautiful (despite a few seagulls playing around in the water) as well as the painting looking down at Al’s resting spot. The statue of Al was smaller than I thought, but that’s okay because it was still impressive.
We then headed inside the mausoleum (passing by Mark Goodson… one half of a team who bought us ‘The Price Is Right,’ and ‘Match Game’). We stopped by Aaron Spelling’s spot, which was brief since there was a mourner nearby.
The inside of the building surprised me. Some of the hallways was like walking into someone’s house since they contained very nice couches with lamps on small stands. The ceiling lamps were shaped like Star of Davids. And the only thing that caught my surprise, since I don’t know of any other mausoleum that has it, was that part of it was carpeted.
We then went over to Jack Benny’s grave briefly before heading outside again. We had two graves to go, which I had saved for last.
It took me a moment to find Lorne and Nancy’s graves, but I soon found them. I left each of them a flower. It looked as thought no one had visited in a while because there was a little debris on Lorne’s stone. I took a moment to clean it a little before straightening up to reflect.
I must say that within a year since I was introduced to Bonanza, in a way, it’s change some the ways I see life. Especially in times like these, I began to appreciate the little things in life… the food on the table, the nature around us, the good things that we receive, all that stuff. They were once things I didn’t think about in which now I am grateful for. Bonanza also reminded me of life lessons long-forgotten and to this day, I still thank them for those reminders.
Before leaving that spot, I whispered a thank you to Lorne.
I found myself walking slowly to Michael’s final resting place, which is in a private room that you can see through a glass door. The area outside was a bit dusty due to the construction of a new section being build just behind the mausoleum, but I didn’t mind.
The bar on the door turned out to be placed a lot closer to the glass than I imagined, so I only had to simply place the flowers on top. Who knows how long I stood there… probably four minutes tops, but it felt longer. My eyes were mostly admiring the shrine on the right. The paint pony figure was still there, along with many drawings and pictures, a glass statue with his name and perhaps a poem (it was small for me to read), a few flower arrangements (one of them saying ‘Happy Birthday’ 
), and a teddy bear. On the ground was a large frame of his picture in black and white. His face was smiling and those eyes twinkled.
Upon seeing that picture, my heart seemed to tug a little, and I felt the tears in my eyes, though I didn’t shed them. I knew that he touched the lives of so many through his shows, including my own. He was one of the rare ones and I highly doubt that there will be another like him.
My boyfriend must’ve saw those tears in my eyes because he wrapped an arm around me, which he never had done in front of any other graves except my grandfather’s. I was reminded of the love that I have now.
When it was time to go, I actually left a kiss on one of the flowers… I didn’t even think about doing that, I just did it, but it was my way of thanking him. The tears finally went away, un-shed, when we got back in the car just as the sun began to set behind the freeway.
I had almost forgotten about that freeway. Hillside was a quiet spot even with it’s close proimity to the freeway.
It’s been fours hours since I left Hillside, but even now, I think my visit will linger in the back of my mind for a long time coming.