Celebrities In Los Angeles Cemeteries

In accord with the fascination that surrounds Hollywood celebrities and the increasing popularity of celebrity grave-hunting, this book serves as a guide to the final resting places of the many celebrities who are buried in Los Angeles County, California. It is arranged by cemetery, and provides the following information for each person: age at time of death; date and place of birth; date and place of death; cause of death; obituary headline of the deceased; inscription on grave marker; location of grave; and a film that the celebrity appeared in. Includes appendices, web site information, bibliography, and index.

Monuments and memorials commemorating the dead and past events around the world have recently gained importance, not least because we are living in an era in which many are driven to record and archive the events of their lives. Cemeteries, in particular, are increasingly viewed as places associated with popular culture and cultural memory, with many now being considered as heritage tourism sites. Culture, Celebrity, and the Cemetery analyses the famous Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles, USA, examining how the cemetery presents itself as an attraction, whilst also safeguarding and promoting cultural heritage. Focusing on an analysis of the articulation and performance of commemoration, Levitt examines how the cemetery leverages its rich resources to draw visitors and the diverse ways in which visitors interact with the cemetery, considering the influence of celebrity culture, fandoms, and cinema culture. Combining ethnographic research with cultural analysis, the book situates Hollywood Forever in the context of cemetery development in the United States and argues that touristic visits to cemeteries more generally have become similar to visits to more traditional memorials. Providing more than just a critical analysis of this fascinating cemetery as a landscape of famous death, Levitt coherently weaves the theme of cultural memory and meaning-making throughout every chapter. Offering the first book-length study of the cultural impact of Hollywood Forever in particular, and the cemetery as public heritage space in general, Culture, Celebrity, and the Cemetery will be of interest to scholars and students of heritage studies and tourism around the world.

Hollywood Remains to Be Seen is a fascinating, gossipy guide to the fourteen most significant Hollywood-area cemeteries and the final resting places of the movie stars who are buried in them. Arranged as easy-to-follow tours of the properties, the fourteen chapters -- one for each cemetery -- include histories of the cemeteries, directions for finding them, and a detailed listing of exactly where more than three hundred stars are buried. Strange as it may seem, cemeteries are becoming one of the most popular destinations for tourists to Hollywood and for film fans who want to pay their respects to the rich and famous and passed-on. Every year, millions of people from all over the world visit the graves of the legendary film stars buried in Hollywood, and the interest in these places grows from year to year. Hollywood Remains to Be Seen highlights the legend and lore of celebrity graves, from Rudolph Valentino's mysterious Lady in Black to the regular delivery of one red rose to Marilyn Monroe's grave, to the strange journeys made by the body of John Barrymore immediately after his death in 1942 -- and again thirty-eight years later. Also included are information and images of Hollywood's most lavish and majestic graves, from the huge mausoleum of Douglas Fairbanks Sr., complete with Roman pillars and a giant reflecting pool; to Liberace's flamboyant tomb, with a musical score set on white marble; to the spectacular domed monument of Al Jolson, featuring a life-sized statue of the entertainer atop a 120-foot cascading waterfall. Heavily illustrated with nearly one hundred photographs, Hollywood Remains to Be Seen includes photographs of the celebrities as well as photographs ofthe cemeteries, mausoleums, and graves, maps of the burial grounds and gravesites, and a final section fitly titled Exit Lines made up of celebrities' last words.

There's more to Los Angeles than lights, camera, action; discover the city yourself with six guided walking/driving tours of LA's historic neighborhoods, illustrated with color photographs and period maps. From the city's early days marked by missionaries, robber barons, orange groves, and oil wells to the invention of the movie camera, Chronicles of Old Los Angeles explains how the Wild West became the Left Coast, and how Alta California became the 31st state. Learn how ethnic waves built Los Angeles—from Native Americans to Spaniards, Latinos, Chinese, Japanese, and all the characters that crowded into California during the Gold Rush—and learn about the gangsters, surfers, architects, and Hollywood pioneers who brought fame to the City of the Angels.

Death sometimes arrives randomly to those seemingly insulated from risk by virtue of their wealth, celebrity and protective environments. Periodically the world halts in shock and reflection upon the abrupt and sudden headlines of a celebrated personality’s death. Their demise jolts and reinforces our understanding of the fragility and vulnerability of life. This edition chronicles the background stories and detailed locations of some of the most newsworthy, famous and even infamous unexpected sudden passings. The profiles feature self-induced suicides, drug overdoses, celebrity murders, unexplained deaths and even brazen homicides where the perpetrator has taken their own life. The West Coast historically remains a vortex for the unexpected. Understanding the circumstances beyond simple summary reporting often clarifies the motivations behind each unfortunately and often desperate act. The contents are divided into four sectional categories including: FAMOUS SUICIDES Actress Peg Entwistle’s leap from the Hollywood sign, Oil swindler C. C. Julian, Valhalla Cemetery savior John E. Osborne Sr., Actor Ross Alexander, Actresses Lupe Velez and Carol Landis, Superman actor George Reeves, Actresses Marilyn Monroe and Pier Angeli, Actors Pete Duel and Freddie Prinze, Punk Rocker Darby Crash, San Francisco assassin Dan White, Seattle judge Gary Little, Singer Del Shannon, Actor Herve Villechaize, Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain, Actor Hugh O’Connor, Model Margaux Hemingway, Heaven’s Gate cult mass poisoning, Actor Brian Keith, Punk Rocker Dee Dee Ramone, Film Director Tony Scott, Right-to-Die Advocate Brittany Maynard, Comedian Robin Williams, Rock keyboardist Keith Emerson and Actor Verne Troyer. SHOCKING ABRUPT CELEBRITY DEATHS President Warren Harding, Evangelist Sister Aimee Semple-McPherson, Actor James Dean’s fatal car collision, Soul singer Sam Cooke, Comedian Lenny Bruce, Senator Robert F. Kennedy’s assassination, Actor Roman Novarro, Rock singer Janis Joplin and actor John Belushi’s drug overdoses, Actress Dominique Dunne’s strangulation, Beach Boy Dennis Wilson’s drowning, Marvin Gaye’s domestic shooting, Actress Rebecca Schaeffer’s stalker killing, Rock Promoter Bill Graham’s helicopter crash, Actor River Phoenix’s drug overdose, Jockey Ron Hansen’s mysterious drowning, Actor Haing Ngor’s killing, Sublime’s Bradley Nowell’s drug overdose, Revenge shooting of Notorious B. I. G., Rock singer Layne Staley, Singers Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston’s drug overdose, Paul Walker’s street racing crash and Singer George Michael’s outing and premature death. INFAMOUS MURDER SUICIDES Brides of Christ cult, LAPD Captain Walter Auble, Ned Doheny and Hugh Plunkett, Teenage Orcutt California Freeway sniper, Newhall California Highway Patrol shootout, Jim Jones and the People’s Temple, Richard Trenton Chase the Vampire Killer, Playboy Playmate Dorothy Stratten, Lynwood Jim Drake, 101 California Building Massacre, Actor Phil Hartman, Seattle Bus Shooting on Infamous Aurora Bridge, Kyle Huff and the Capitol Hill shooting, John Williams the man of a thousand identities, Bruce Pardo’s Christmas Eve firestorm, Portland’s The Zone nightclub massacre, Jed Waits obsession killing, Publicist Ronni Chasen midnight slaying, Speedfreak mass killing and burial grounds, Seattle’s Café Racer coffee house killings, Survivalist Peter Keller’s family murder, Actor Johnny Lewis’ outburst, Marysville-Pilchuck cafeteria shooting and the vindictive Isla Vista shooting spree rampage of Elliot Roger REPUTED SUICIDE LOCATIONS Pasadena’s Colorado Street Bridge, Golden Gate Bridge, Cecil Hotel Los Angeles, Vista Point Bridge Portland, Aurora Bridge Seattle and the USS Hornet

Stunning photographs, fascinating text, and easy GPS directions for finding gracious architecture, fabulous artwork, and memorable gravesites of famous Los Angeles “residents.” Award-winning photographer/writer Douglas Keister has authored thirty-six critically acclaimed books on residential architecture as well as those on cemetery exploration. He lives in Chico, California. A simple guide for cemetery lovers.

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. By what miracle can an assortment of seemingly unrelated particles come together and correctly assemble to form a human being? Amazingly, once aggregated, these atoms, molecules, and compounds manage to interact reasonably coherently during our lives but seek to return to their dusty state when death occurs. Of the billions of our species who have existed on earth over the millennia, most have quietly and inexorably returned to ashes and dust when their term of life expired. This book tracks some of the misadventures of selected corpses, including burials that went awry to body snatching, exhumations, human-relic collection, and assorted desecrations. Over the years, it seems that a remarkable number of bodies have failed to enjoy the admonition to “Rest in Peace.” Whether these aberrations in the burial process have disturbed the afterlife of the departed, everyone is dying to discover the answer.

"Acts as a concise introduction to the study of both contemporary and historical stardom and celebrity. Collecting together in one source companion an easily accessible range of readings surrounding stardom and celebrity culture, this book is a worthwhile addition to any library." - Kerry Gough, Birmingham City University "Absolutely wonderful. The inclusion of seminal works and more recent works makes this a very valuable read." - Beschara Karam, University of South Africa "An engaging and often insightful book." - Media International Australia This book brings together some of the seminal interventions which have structured the development of stardom and celebrity studies, while crucially combining and situating these within the context of new essays which address the contemporary, cross-media and international landscape of today's fame culture. From Max Weber, Walter Benjamin and Roland Barthes to Catherine Lumby, Chris Rojek and Graeme Turner. At the core of the collection is a desire to map out a unique historical trajectory - both in terms of the development of fame, as well as the historical development of the field.