Forest Lawn, Glendale. Photos: Michael Imlay
This week it was announced that pop-singer Michael Jackson will be laid to rest at Forest Lawn, Glendale, on what would have been his 51st birthday, Aug. 29.
Dateline>City of Angels can’t think of a more appropriate choice of cemetery, given how for nearly a century Forest Lawn has served as a virtual Neverland for the dead.
How else could you describe it? Divided into themed burial sections sporting such whimsical names as Slumberland, Vale of Memory, Babyland and Whispering Pines, the cemetery features a number of tourist attractions, including imposing recreations of da Vinci’s Last Supper and Michelangelo’s David. Plus, like any other self-respecting SoCal amusement park, Forest Lawn enhances its ambiance with outdoor speakers that pipe background tunes ranging from soothing concertos to American folk classics into its mausoleum courts and gardens.
You might say that, for the dearly departed, this gateway to the Great Beyond is the “second happiest place on earth” — a tagline that would certainly make the graveyard’s founder proud.
A Piece of Heaven on Earth
Gate detail.
The imaginative necropolis was the 1917 brainchild of Hubert L. Eaton, a Baptist layman and mining engineer from Missouri whose goal, according to the Los Angeles A-Z almanac, was “to make death seem peaceful, beautiful and uplifting…”
“…Taking over a small and failing cemetery, Eaton revolutionized the industry through artful landscaping, the commissioning of elaborate artworks, re-creations of famous churches, and the elimination of tombstones and cemetery plots.”
Well, not completely. The original cemetery’s upright stones and monuments can still be found just southeast of the main gates.
In any event, Eaton advocated flat, ground-level markers for their ability to create sweeping, scenic hillsides with unobstructed vistas. (Of course, irreverent cynics noted that his golf-style groundskeeping also significantly cut the maintenance costs associated with mowing around headstones.)
The Funeral Biz Meets Show Biz
Ever the apostle of efficiency and convenience, Eaton also pioneered the one-stop-shopping concept for burials by bundling funeral planning and mortuary services with his graveyard. And while his many innovations have since become standard American death rites, they weren’t always free of controversy.
Photo: Amazon.com
In 1948 author Evelyn Waugh ripped into Forest Lawn’s commercial culture with his satirical novel The Loved One, a classic indictment of the “Hollywoodization” of the funeral industry. (The book inspired a 1965 film by the same name.)
Waugh’s mockery wasn’t entirely off-base. Whether it was the memorial park’s make-believe atmosphere or its audacious novelty, from the very outset Forest Lawn beckoned celebrities like moths to a flame.
Today, as the Los Angeles Daily News points out, the King of Pop can rest serenely amid an impressive A-List of L.A.’s most stellar and wacky elite, including Walt Disney (who, contrary to urban legend is not cryogenically preserved in a Magic Kingdom vault) and Pentecostalist Aimee Semple McPherson (allegedly buried with a live phone line so she could dial up followers upon her resurrection).
In fact, Forest Lawn arguably boasts more celebs per acre than any other sector of Angeleno real estate.
But if you decide to look up Jacko or any of his illustrious friends, keep it on the QT. The Forest Lawn staff not only frowns on stargazing, but gets especially testy if they catch you wandering about with cameras or any of the various maps and guidebooks to famous graves currently in circulation.