Hollywood Forever
6000 Santa Monica Blvd.
The entrance to Hollywood Forever, originally called Hollywood Memorial when it was founded in 1899.
6000 Santa Monica Blvd.
The entrance to Hollywood Forever, originally called Hollywood Memorial when it was founded in 1899.
Known today as the stage for jammed movie nights (and where Breaking Bad held a series-finale screening that raised $1.8 million for charity), this power cemetery is the final resting place for more stars than any other graveyard. It also is one of the few that offers tours ($15, cemeterytour.com), which are led by Karie Bible, who has given ones to January Jones and Andrew Garfield. Celebrity psychic Thomas John senses a lot of paranormal activity: “I think it’s because this place has lots of events, so the spirits are less at peace and want to participate.”
Around Halloween, the most popular grave to visit is Maila Nurmi’s, aka ’50s star Vampira; the most visited is Valentino’s resting place. A crypt in a mausoleum starts at $6,300.
RESIDENTS: Cecil B. DeMille, Johnny Ramone, Jayne Mansfield
BEST EPITAPH: “That’s all folks” — Mel Blanc
6001 W. Centinela Ave.
The white monument and cascading water steps at the Al Jolson memorial at Hillside; opposite is a bronze statue of Jolson and a separate mausoleum.
In 2011, Hillside published a 120-page guide, Distinguished Residents, profiling the who’s who of its necropolis, and this year introduced the first green burial site in L.A., Gan Eden.
RESIDENTS: Lew Wasserman, Julia Phillips, manager Bernie Brillstein, Shelley Winters, slain publicist Ronni Chasen, agent Phil Gersh
BEST EPITAPH: “Loved by all who knew her and millions who who never did.” — Dinah Shore
1218 Glendon Ave.
Billy Wilder’s headstone at Westwood Memorial.
6300 Forest Lawn Drive
The monument to George Washington at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills.
Bette Davis’ tomb at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills; the acreage also is adorned with replicas of the Liberty Bell and Boston’s Old North Church for a traditional Americana theme.
RESIDENTS: Liberace, Brittany Murphy, John Ritter
BEST EPITAPH: “If anyone at my funeral has a long face, I’ll never speak to them again.” — Stan Laurel
1712 S. Glendale Ave.
The Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Glendale, opened in 1906; some graves are private, like Humphrey Bogart’s, and others are roped off from the public, like Clark Gable’s.
“Without a doubt, Forest Lawn will be my final resting spot,” says actress Ginifer King, star of the Nickelodeon series Haunted Hathaways. “The romanticism, the architecture and art collection. … I’m in.” It also has been the site of celebrity weddings, including that of Ronald Reagan to Jane Wyman in 1940 in an on-site chapel. The Great Mausoleum includes a publicly accessible Court of Honor that recognizes some of the famous buried there.
RESIDENTS: Clark Gable, Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Jackson, Walt Disney
BEST EPITAPH: “Together Again” — George Burns with wife Gracie Allen
5950 Forest Lawn Drive
Established in 1953, Mount Sinai Memorial Park became a cemetery exclusively for the Jewish community in 1959 (it does bury non-Jewish relatives of Jewish people so as to not split up families). The cemetery includes a “Memorial to the Six Million,” remembering the victims of the Holocaust, and a 150-foot-long mosaic depicting the history of Jews in America.
GM Leonard Lawrence says Mount Sinai does not like to publicize who’s buried there. “If the family or studio wants to do this, they can, but we don’t. We honor the privacy for these people who never had privacy in their life because of stardom.”
RESIDENTS: Lionsgate exec Steven Rothenberg, publicist Eddie Michaels, “Mama” Cass Elliott, Totie Fields
BEST EPITAPH: “The last great ride” — Brandon Tartikoff