You’re Taking Us Where?

On some tours I surprise them with a stop they maybe weren’t expecting — a stop at a cemetery. But these are no ordinary cemeteries. Where can you see the graves of Marilyn Monroe, Dean Martin, Jack Lemmon, Natalie Wood, and more? Only in L.A., of course.

We have two great cemeteries to choose from. Well, actually three — Pierce Brothers, Hollywood Forever, and Forest Lawn. I don’t bring people to Forest Lawn because it is HUGE — although if they are dying to it is something we can do, as it is where Michael Jackson and Elizabeth Taylor are resting.

However the better experiences are found at the other two. Pierce Brothers is incredibly intimate. It’s tucked away amongst tall buildings holding accountants and lawyers in their different sorts of tombs. It’s nearly impossible to find if you don’t know where it is, but if you do you can see the graves of none other than Marilyn Monroe, Dean Martin, Jack Lemmon, Billy Wilder, Farrah Fawcett, Rodney Dangerfield…the list goes on.

Hollywood Forever is more known for its kitsch and houses some of the older Hollywood royalty. Here you’ll find Douglas Fairbanks, Cecille De Mille, Rudolph Valentino, Fay Wray, Bugsy Siegel, and lots more. The tombstones here are incredibly elaborate and ostentatious. You can even see the very cool gravesite of Johnny Ramone, with a statue of him playing guitar. Dee Dee is there, too.

So don’t be afraid of the dark side. There’s lots of history to be seen amongst these stones. And you’ll get a strange feeling being able to walk right up to the resting places of these huge legends. Just shows how death is the great equalizer.