Continuing on with “The Great L.A. Gravecation of 2011 Revisited” collection of posts. Today’s discussion is the Cypress, location of the Forest Lawn Memorial Park conglomeration of cemeteries. Nestled, a stones throw away between the I-605 Freeway to the west, & the I-91 Freeway to the north-east. The Cypress location of Forest Lawn Memorial Park was founded in 1958, and opened for burial in 1961 and is at 4471 Lincoln Avenue Cypress, CA 90630.
The History:
Before the hollowed ground came to be known what it is today. The area where Forest Lawn – Cypress is situated, was comprised mainly of acre upon acre of citrus ranchos, dairy farms, small family homesteads, and orchards. After WWII ended, and many soldiers came home from the brutal fighting in Europe. The residential housing boom erupted, replacing many of the ranchos, farms, & orchards, with sprawling tree-lined, residential communities, growing mom & pop shops, and other businesses. One of the businesses that call the area home which will no doubt entice your gambling endeavors, is the Los Alamitos Thoroughbred Race Course which has weekly Thoroughbred racing, for your enjoyment.
Behind the beautiful gated tranquil confines of Forest Lawn Memorial Park – Cypress. You will stroll along 146 acres, of lush sharply manicured lawns, charming tree-lined roads, along with an abundance of various statuary exhibits, depicting historic and religious symbolism, not to mention the lovely mausoleum building, and other structures. The sections you will find in this true godly acre, are a reflection of names representing “Compassion” “Everlasting Hope” “Constant Love” “Sheltering Trees” “Fond Remembrance” among many others.
For those of you who consider yourself patrons of the arts you will be delighted to find out that some of the statuary, and artistically designed mosaics, you will no doubt stroll past, include: an almost exact replica of Michelangelo’s “David” which soars an imposing 16 feet into the clear blue sky. Other priceless, breathtakingly featured works of art include the impressive marble sculpture “Christ in the Garden” which was designed by noted Italian sculptor Donatello Gabbrielli.
The prominent buildings, you will find at Forest Lawn Memorial Park – Cypress include structures representing the modern-day look and feel of the American-colonial designed building. The main building which you will find as you enter the cemetery off Lincoln Avenue, is an adaptation replica of George Washington’s Virginia home Mount Vernon. This particular building houses the cemetery administrative offices, mortuary, crematory, visitation rooms, along with the reception area, and chapel.
Another building which is worth a leisurely stroll, is The Ascension Mausoleum. As you walk into The Ascension Mausoleum building, you will come across the soaring thirty-foot-tall reproduction of John LaFarge’s beautiful painting The Ascension. This complex mosaic is composed of over a million pieces of Venetian glass tile, in over 3,000 beautiful vibrant hues. Continuing through the tour of buildings in this majestic godly acre. Your going to want to visit the charming Church of Our Fathers. This particular church is an archetype of The Old St. John’s Church in Richmond, Virginia. The original Old St. John’s Church, is where colonial patriot, and fighter Patrick Henry uttered the never forgotten fiery “Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death” speech.
The Tour:
Now that I’ve got the history, & background of this particular branch of Forest Lawn Memorial Park, out-of-the-way. Lets talk about who’s buried there. But before we get started I have to kindly warn & inform you that much like the Glendale, and Hollywood Hills locations, of Forest Lawn Memorial Park the office personnel will NOT disclose the locations of the famous personalities who call this tranquil Memorial Park home. So the best advice I can give you in finding out who’s buried there will have to be online resources such as the highly popular website Find A Grave, or the Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Cypress page on the Seeing-Stars website.
Joining me on the days hunt was my good friend and Orange County based grave hunter Terry Myers. After arriving at Forest Lawn Memorial Park – Cypress. I met up with Terry near the section where the highly popular 1950s era singer/songwriter, & rockabilly guitarist Eddie Cochran rests in eternal harmony. To give you an overview on Eddie Cochran’s life I invite you to visit his biography on the Wikipedia website. Cochran tragically lost his life in a horrendous car accident, traveling the English countryside, while he was on a European tour with his band. Buried next to him is Sharon Sheeley who survived the car accident, but passed away in 2002, a few days after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage. Sheeley was Cochran’s fiancé at the time of his untimely death.
After snapping several photos of Eddie’s final resting place, the next graveside we checked out was that of Ken Maynard, who was a western actor in the silent, & early talkie era of Hollywood. While living at The Motion Picture Home in Woodland Hills, CA Maynard succumbed to complications of stomach cancer.
After leaving Ken Maynard’s graveside, Terry & I strolled over to the other side of the Churchyard section, where child actor My-ca Dinh Le rests. During the making of The Twilight Zone film, My-ca Dinh Le was tragically killed, along with fellow actors Vic Morrow, & Renée Chen, when the helicopter which was hovering above them lost control after two special effects explosives detonated, and thus damaged the helicopter. The helicopter meanwhile plunged into the makeshift lagoon below, and decapitated Le, and Morrow, while crushing Chen. Killing the three actors instantly.
After paying our respects to Le. Terry, and I strolled over to The Ascension Mausoleum. Over in The Ascension Mausoleum, you will find what used to be the resting place of the highly popular Karen Carpenter, that is until her brother and fellow Carpenter’s band mate Richard, had Karen, and their loving parents moved to Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks Memorial Park, in Westlake Village, CA. Karen, and her parents now rest for all eternity in a beautiful private mausoleum at the new location. Keeping with the tradition of this blog, and my self-respect, I snapped several photos of Karen’s old sarcophagus style crypt.
After leaving The Ascension Mausoleum. Terry, and I, strolled over to the Garden of Protection area of Forest Lawn Memorial Park – Cypress. In this section you will more than likely find the largest contingent of celebrities buried in the cemetery. Keep in mind while I can’t recollect who we found first in the Garden of Protection. I’m just gonna go over who we found in general.
First on the list in this area is Sandy Pesavento, better known to her fans as Sandy West. She was one of the co-founders of the 1970s female rock group “The Runaways” which included female rockers and prominent musicians in their own right: Joan Jett, Cherie Currie, Lita Ford and Jackie Fox. In 2006 at the age of 47 Sandy tragically lost her battle with lung cancer.
Continuing on, the next person on the list for the Garden of Protection area, is Harold “Bouncy” Wertz. Harold portrayed the character “Bouncy” in three “Our Gang” comedic films. Those films included Choo-Choo!, The Pooch, & Hook and Ladder. In November of 1999 he tragically lost his life from complications after suffering a stroke.
Continuing through the Garden of Protection area, the next graveside featured in this section is that of actor Glenn Quinn. Born in Ireland, Glenn had a multitude of acting roles, most notably as the character Mark Healy in the television sitcom Rosanne, and as the character Allen Doyle in the television series Angel. Quinn had other acting roles if your interested in checking out the versatile roles he portrayed, I invite you to visit his page on the IMDb website. In 2002 while visiting a friend in the North Hollywood section of Los Angeles. Quinn, was found deceased on the couch of his friend’s home. The autopsy reports disclosed the cause of death to be from an accidental heroin overdose.
Moving through the Garden of Protection area of Forest Lawn Memorial Park – Cypress, the next celebrity on the list is professional wrestler turned actor Abe “King Kong” Kashey. Born in Syria, he made his American wrestling début in 1932. By the late 1930s early 1940s while still wrestling, the acting bug enticed him, and he appeared in seven motion pictures starting with “Beyond the Blue Horizon” (1942), followed by “King of the Mounties” (1942). Other motion pictures he had outstanding roles in include “Nasty Nuisance” (1943), “The Crime Doctor’s Courage” (1945), “Tarzan and the Leopard Woman” (1946), “The Thing From Another World” (1951), and “Don’t Go Near the Water” (1957). In 1965 Kashey tragically lost his life after suffering from congestive heart failure.
The final celebrity who’s buried in the Garden of Protection area of Forest Lawn Memorial Park – Cypress, is that of noted actor/director Philip John Ford. Ford got his start in motion pictures as an actor during the silent era of the 1920s. As the silent era was coming to a close, as the adaptation of sound in motion pictures was becoming the name of the game. Ford decided to try his hand at directing motion pictures. Ford has an impressively long list of motion pictures he was involved with as director. If your interested in checking out his film credits to get a first hand look at his credited work, I invite you to check out his page on the IMDb website. Ford passed away in 1976 at the ripe old age of 75.
Moving on, the next graveside you should visit is that of actor George L. Grandee who is buried in the Sheltering Trees area of Forest Lawn Memorial Park – Cypress. Starting in many films of the silent era, Grandee had character roles in over fourteen films. His last role which was uncredited, he portrayed a dance director in the 1937 film Swing It, Professor. In 1985, Grandee passed away from unknown causes.
Continuing through the tranquil confines of this true centerpiece in stone, the next stop on the Forest Lawn Memorial Park – Cypress tour is the graveside of musician Danny Flores. Flores is buried in the area known as Everlasting Hope. Flores was the singer, and songwriter of the smash hit “Tequila” which was an American Billboard Number One Hit in 1958 with the band The Champs. At the time “Tequila” busted the charts, Flores was credited for the hit under the pseudo name Chuck Rio, because when the song came out Flores was under contract with another record label. Known as “The Godfather of Latin Rock” because of his killer voice, Flores passed away in 2006 from complications of Pneumonia.
Rounding out the highly productive day at Forest Lawn Memorial Park – Cypress, the last graveside my sidekick Terry, and I checked out was that of Angel Florez. Florez was one of the original twelve members of Disney’s “New Mickey Mouse Club.” His only film/TV credits included appearances on The New Mickey Mouse Club, and The Mouseketeers at Walt Disney World. After Florez left the show, he didn’t have much success in the media industry, and for the most part faded into obscurity. Sadly in 1995 he passed away after contracting the HIV/AIDS virus. Despite the circumstances of his untimely death, Florez was one of my favorite finds of the Forest Lawn Memorial Park – Cypress trek.
While there isn’t an insane amount of celebs buried at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park – Cypress, CA location of the Forest Lawn conglomeration of cemeteries. There is a fairly decent list of famous people buried there. If your interested in checking out a sampling of many of the photos I snapped during the trek, I personally invite you to check out the photo slide show you will find below. And lastly I’d like to personally thank my good friend Jayne Osborne for sending me some literature on the Forest Lawn Memorial Park cemeteries, which I’ve used in the history portion of this article.
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