Qualla: Hollywood Forever Cemetery

Hollywood Forever Cemetery: Introduction

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Gary Minnaert (Minnaert)), Public domain. Bricks fell into Cass Elliot's remains. The year was 1974, and the crematory at Hollywood Memorial Park had deteriorated so badly that its walls collapsed during the cremation of the Mamas and the Papas singer. The facility would remain closed for twenty-eight years. That story captures something essential about this 1899 cemetery: it has always walked the line between grandeur and decay, between respectful memorial and spectacular neglect. Today, rechristened Hollywood Forever, the grounds host summer movie screenings, rock concerts, and the Day of the Dead. The dead celebrities interred here, from Rudolph Valentino to Johnny Ramone, share their eternal rest with living crowds who come to celebrate rather than mourn.

Image: Gary Minnaert (Minnaert)) | Public domain

Hollywood Forever Cemetery: Paramount's Backyard

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit MikeJiroch, CC BY-SA 3.0. When F.W. Samuelson and a partner named Lombard founded Hollywood Cemetery in 1899, the movie industry did not yet exist. But by 1920, Paramount Pictures and RKO had purchased large portions of the original grounds, shrinking the cemetery to make room for soundstages. Today Param...

Image: MikeJiroch | CC BY-SA 3.0

Hollywood Forever Cemetery: The Roth Years

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Peter Fitzgerald, OpenStreetMap; The Los Angeles Times' Mapping L.A. project created the individual neighborhood boundaries, but not the groupings seen here, CC BY-SA 2.0. Jules Roth was a convicted felon and millionaire who bought a controlling stake in the cemetery in 1939. His parents were buried there. Over the following decades, Roth treated the operation as a personal piggy bank, siphoning funds that should have maintained the grounds. By the...

Image: Peter Fitzgerald, OpenStreetMap; The Los Angeles Times' Mapping L.A. project created the individual neighborhood boundaries, but not the groupings seen here | CC BY-SA 2.0

Hollywood Forever Cemetery: The Actress Who Could Not Enter

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jonathunder, Public domain. Hattie McDaniel became the first African American to win an Academy Award for her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind. She expressed a wish to be interred at Hollywood Memorial Park, but when she died in 1952, the cemetery remained segregated. Owner Jules Roth refused her. The gr...

Image: Jonathunder | Public domain

Hollywood Forever Cemetery: Resurrection Under New Management

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Justin Higuchi, CC BY 4.0. When Tyler and Brent Cassity purchased the cemetery after Roth's death in 1998, they discovered the endowment care fund was missing nine million dollars. They invested heavily in restoration anyway, reopening the long-shuttered crematory in 2002. George Harrison was cremated ther...

Image: Justin Higuchi | CC BY 4.0