Touring the Cemetery of the Stars at Hollywood Forever
Are you dying to see celebrities in Los Angeles? The best place to find them isn’t on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills or at a Hollywood film studio. It’s on the Hollywood Forever Cemetery tour. (Hey, you never said they had to be alive!)
I know what you’re thinking. Isn’t walking around a cemetery kind of creepy? Not in Los Angeles. It’s basically a historical walking tour that happens to be at a full-service cemetery, funeral home and crematory. (Yes, there will most likely be funerals taking place during the tour.)
In this review (yeah, I don’t just review European sightseeing tours), I’m sharing everything you need to know about the Hollywood Forever Cemetery tour, and why it’s the perfect activity for anyone who loves Hollywood history.
About the Hollywood Forever Cemetery: The Cemetery of the Stars
While the Hollywood Forever Cemetery tour is like walking around a museum, I wanted to know more about the cemetery’s history. After doing a little research, I can see why the tour focuses more on its residents than the cemetery. Some of its history is dark.
The Hollywood Forever Cemetery is located on Santa Monica Boulevard and dates back to 1899. Known then as Hollywood Cemetery, it was the first cemetery built in Hollywood’s early days.
F. W. Samuelson, the cemetery’s founder, purchased a total of 100 acres of land from Mary Gower. One of Hollywood’s earliest residents and first school teacher, she owned 160 acres of farmland that stretched from present-day Sunset Boulevard to Melrose. The street to the west of Hollywood Forever Cemetery bears her last name. She’s also buried in the cemetery along with her husband, John Truman Gower. (If you want to say hello, you can find them in Section 7, Lot 86, Grave 2.)
The cemetery took a turn between 1939 to 1988 under Jules Roth, a convicted felon and career criminal. He let the newly named Hollywood Memorial Park fall into disrepair. As a result, it also became a grave-robbing hot spot. Things were so bad in 1974, the crematory had to shut down after Cass Elliot’s cremation. According to the grounds supervisor at the time, bricks fell in around the Mama and the Papa’s singer’s remains during the cremation process.
In 1984, Roth also sold off a stretch of land along Santa Monica Boulevard to pay off some debt. Today it’s home to a Little Caesar’s Pizza, AutoZone and a pet store, just to name a few. The 1994 Northridge earthquake also caused further damage to the already decaying land.
Thankfully, this story has a Hollywood ending. Tyler and Brent Cassity purchased the cemetery in 1998 for $375,000. They put millions of dollars into renovating and restoring the cemetery. They also gave it a new name: Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
To date the property has had over 90,000 burials on its 62-acre property. What makes Hollywood Forever Cemetery so unique is its “freedom to express” policy. While other cemeteries and lawn parks offer more traditional headstones, Hollywood Forever encourages creativity and expression. That’s why there are so many one-of-kind monuments and statues throughout the area.
The Hollywood Forever Cemetery is a celebrity in its own right. It’s served as the backdrop for concerts and cultural events, including the largest Dia de los Muertos celebration in the United States. And of course there’s the annual summer movie screenings with Cinespia.
Who’s Buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery?
Hollywood Forever Cemetery has the most celebrity graves in the world. (In case you’re wondering, Marilyn Monroe is not buried at Hollywood Forever. She’s interred at the Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park.)
And it’s not just the final resting place for famous actors and musicians. Directors, producers, costume designers, and cinematographers are also among the notable eternal residents. And you can see many of them on the Hollywood Forever Cemetery tour.
Fun fact: The first person buried at Hollywood Cemetery was Highland Mary Price in 1901. According to reports and anecdotes, Highland Avenue in Hollywood was named after her.
The Hollywood Forever Cemetery Tour: It’s Not as Creepy as it Sounds
I stumbled across the Hollywood Forever Cemetery tour while looking for unique Halloween activities Los Angeles. (You can read about another spooky tour I found here.) The tour is led by the cemetery’s historian, Karie Bible. A lover of history and film, she’s been giving tours since 2002.
The Hollywood Forever Cemetery Tour costs $35 — a really good value for a 2.5 hour tour in Los Angeles. Night tours are also available for $85, but they require an advanced booking.
I took this tour the day after the 25th annual Dia de los Muertos celebration in October 2024. The weather was perfect, the marigolds and calaveras still decorated the grounds, and it was peak spooky season. There were about 15 or so people in the group.
The Hollywood Forever Cemetery is a massive space, so wear your walking shoes! As you make your way through the cemetery, you’ll also learn about different cultures’ traditions and how they honor their dead.
Celebrity Graves featured on the Tour
The Hollywood Forever Cemetery tour features over 30 celebrity gravesites. What I appreciated the most was the wide range of celebrities she included. It wasn’t just the biggest names in Hollywood. There were trailblazers who aren’t really talked about unless you know the history of LA or the film industry.
Here are the celebrity graves you will see on the tour:
Griffith J. Griffith — Namesake of Griffith Park and Griffith Observatory
Maila Nurmi — Vampira actress
Mr Blackwell — Best known for his “Worst Dressed” lists
John Huston — Film director and actor
Harold Rosson — Cinematographer and husband to Jean Harlow
Mabel Fairbanks — African American figure skater and coach
Cecil B DeMille — Film director
Gilbert Adrian — American costume designer
Jayne Mansfield* — Actress and sex symbol
Burt Reynolds — Actor best known for “Gunsmoke” and “Smokey and the Bandit”
Paul Reubens — Actor best known for Pee Wee Herman
Virginia Rappe — Silent film actress who died following a party with Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle
Don Adams — “Get Smart” actor and the voice of Inspector Gadget
Holly Woodlawn — Trans actress and Holly in Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side”
Marion Davies — Actress and William Randolph Hearst’s longtime mistress
Tyrone Power — American actor
Rudolph Valentino — Silent film actor known as “The Latin Lover”
Anne Heche — Actress
Mickey Rooney — American actor and friend of Judy Garland
Toto* — The dog from “The Wizard of Oz”
Halyna Hutchins — Ukrainian cinematographer shot on the set of “Rust”
Hattie McDaniel* — “Gone with the Wind” actress and first African American to win an Academy Award
Chris Cornell — Lead singer of Soundgarden and Audioslave
Johnny Ramone* — Guitarist and founding member of The Ramones
Douglas Fairbanks Sr — Silent film star and “Kind of Hollywood”
Fay Wray — Actress from “King Kong”
Carl “Alfalfa” Switzer — Child actor from “Our Gang”
Mel Blanc — The “Man of a Thousand Voices,” including Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck
Estelle Getty — “Golden Girls” actress
Judy Garland — Iconic actress and singer
* = cenotaph
Of course, the grounds are massive. And there’s no way to cover all the celebrities buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in only 2.5 hours. However, I think this tour covers the celebrities most people want to see. (You can always come back or walk around afterwards.)
Why the Hollywood Forever Cemetery Tour is a Must for Locals and Tourists
Overall, I really enjoyed this tour. If you’re looking for an “only in LA” experience, the Hollywood Forever Cemetery tour should be at the top of your list. Whether you’re a tourist or LA local, a film lover or a history buff, this tour has something for everybody.
Even if you can’t do the tour, everyone should visit the Hollywood Forever Cemetery once. My cemetery feature? The peacocks that roam about the grounds. They’re a symbol for eternal life, which I think is pretty special.
The graveyard menagerie also includes cats (some are available for adoption), swans (pay attention, I almost tripped over a sleeping one), ducks (including the famous Ramones Ducks), turtles, and squirrels.
Whatever you do, don’t feed the squirrels. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Would you take a tour of the Hollywood Forever Cemetery? Let me know in the comments!
