Legendary Old Hollywood Stars, Film Moguls, and Pioneers Spotlighted on October 13, 2024, 41st ADSLA Hollywood Forever Cemetery Walking Tour
On Sunday, October 13, the Art Deco Society of Los Angeles, a nonprofit educational organization committed to preserving and celebrating Art Deco art, architecture, culture, and design, “digs up the dirt” on Hollywood’s history---and several of its scandals---through a walking tour of the 125-year-old Hollywood Forever Cemetery at 6000 Santa Monica Boulevard. Come visit the gravesites of early Hollywood stars, movie moguls, and pioneers, hearing their fascinating tales from historians and living history performances.
Toto's cenotaph, one of the tour's highlights, commemorates the life of the beloved canine immortalized in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.
Featured on the tour are those who mapped Hollywood---including Col. Griffith J. Griffith and Hollywood founder Harvey Wilcox---and those who put Hollywood on the map: heartthrob Rudolph Valentino, matinee idol Douglas Fairbanks Jr., actress and William Randolph Hearst mistress Marion Davies, filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille, first African-American Oscar winner Hattie McDaniel (Gone With the Wind), screen siren Barbara La Marr, slain director William Desmond Taylor, glamour ghoul Vampira, and around twenty other legendary Los Angelenos. Tourgoers will also see some exquisite Art Deco monuments.
(Left to right) Sherri Snyder as silent screen vamp Barbara La Marr; William Lidderdale discusses the Los Angeles Times Memorial and Los Angeles Times publishers Harrison Gray Otis and Harry Chandler; and Dylan Regalado as debonair actor Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
Guided walking tours will depart (rain or shine) from the parking lot behind the Cathedral Mausoleum (in the southeast corner of the cemetery) every 20 minutes, from 9:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. Cost of the approximately 2 1/2- to 3-hour tour is $30 ($35 cash at the door, unless sold out) for general admission and $20 ($25 cash at the door, unless sold out) for ADSLA members. Comfortable walking shoes (tourgoers will be walking on uneven, grassy terrain), water, and sunscreen are recommended. Parking and check-in are at the parking lot behind the Cathedral Mausoleum.
For additional information and to purchase tickets, visit:
https://artdecola.org/events-calendar/hollywoodforeverwalkingtour-2024
Karie Bible (on right) discusses silent film god Rudolph Valentino (on left) as Valentino's mysterious Lady in Black in the cemetery's majestic Cathedral Mausoleum.
The Art Deco Society of Los Angeles is a 501(c)(3) educational organization dedicated to the preservation of the art, architecture, design, and culture of the 1920s through 1949. Funds go toward the preservation of Art Deco architecture in the Los Angeles area. Visit https://artdecola.org/ for information on ADSLA's vintage cocktail gatherings, annual Avalon Ball on Catalina Island, Art Deco Architecture Walking Tours of Miracle Mile and Hollywood, fashion shows, educational events, and historic preservation advocacy in Los Angeles and surrounding communities.