Editing Hollywood Forever Cemetery (section)

==History==
[[File:Hollywood Forever Cemetery Masonic Lodge interior.jpg|thumb|A [[Masonic lodge]] on the site is often used as a music venue]]
The only cemetery actually in Hollywood,<ref name="NYT1998/11/15">{{cite news| work=[[The New York Times]]| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/15/magazine/getting-in.html| title=Getting In| first=Amy M.| last= Spindler| date= November 15, 1998| access-date=September 26, 2011}}</ref> Hollywood Forever was founded in 1899 on {{convert|100|acre|ha}} and named "Hollywood Cemetery" by F. W. Samuelson and (first name unknown) Lombard. In 1897, the two men were the owners of a {{convert|60|acre|ha}} tract of land near Hollywood in [[Los Angeles County]]. In that year, they—along with Mrs. M. W. Gardner of [[Santa Monica, California|Santa Monica]], Joseph D. Rodford, Gilbert Smith, and Thomas R. Wallace—formed a corporation known as the "Hollywood Cemetery Association.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.lamag.com/culture/la_archetype/Story.aspx?id=1514671| title=Cemetery Historian| first=Lauren| last=Foliart| date=September 1, 2011| work=[[Los Angeles Magazine]]| access-date=September 26, 2011| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007122512/http://www.lamag.com/culture/la_archetype/Story.aspx?ID=1514671| archive-date=October 7, 2011}}<br /></ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6AcLAAAAYAAJ&q=lombard+samuelson++%22hollywood+cemetery%22&pg=PA3|title=The Pacific Reporter|date=28 May 2017|publisher=West Publishing Company|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Incorporated| quote=The Hollywood Cemetery Association filed articles of incorporation yesterday. |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=August 15, 1899 }}</ref> The cemetery sold large tracts to [[Paramount Pictures]], which, with [[RKO Pictures]], bought {{convert|40|acre|ha}} by 1920. Part of the remaining land was set aside for the Beth Olam Cemetery, within the grounds of Hollywood Forever, a dedicated [[Jewish cemetery|Jewish burial ground]] for members of the local Jewish community.{{citation needed|date = April 2025}}

Jules Roth (1900–1998) was a convicted [[Felony|felon]] and millionaire. In 1939, he bought a 51% stake in the cemetery, which is the interment site of his parents. He used the money from the cemetery's operations to pay for his personal luxuries.  At that time, the cemetery was known as Hollywood Memorial Park. In the 1980s, the cemetery began to show signs of neglect and disrepair.{{citation needed|date = April 2025}}

Actress [[Hattie McDaniel]], best known for her role as Mammy in the epic movie [[Gone with the Wind (film)|''Gone with the Wind'']] (for which she became the first African American to win an [[Academy Award]]) had expressed a desire to be interred at Hollywood Memorial Park. At the time of McDaniel's death in 1952, Hollywood Memorial, like other cemeteries, was [[Racial segregation|segregated]].<ref>{{cite web| title=Actress Hattie McDaniel Gets Final Wish| url=http://archives.nbclearn.com/portal/site/k-12/flatview?cuecard=4706| work=[[Today (U.S. TV program)|Today]]| publisher=nbclearn.com| date=October 27, 1999| first=Colleen| last=Dominguez}}</ref>  Despite McDaniel's expressed wish, Roth would not allow the actress to be interred in the cemetery. Hollywood Forever would be desegregated seven years later. In 1999 (the 47th anniversary of McDaniel's death), the cemetery's current owner dedicated a [[cenotaph]] in her honor at a prime location south of Sylvan Lake.<ref>{{cite book| last=Price Davis| first=Anita| title=The Margaret Mitchell Encyclopedia| year=2013| publisher=McFarland| isbn=978-0786468553| page=147}}</ref>

In July, 1974, the [[crematorium|crematory]] was shut down following the cremation of singer [[Cass Elliot]]. According to cemetery grounds supervisor Daniel Ugarte, the crematory was in such disrepair that bricks began falling in around Elliot's remains. The crematory remained closed for twenty-eight years until it was repaired and re-opened in 2002.<ref>{{cite web| last=LeDuff| first=Charlie| title=Comeback for Resting Place of Movie Stars| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/01/us/comeback-for-resting-place-of-movie-stars.html| work=Los Angeles Times| date=December 1, 2002}}</ref> The first incineration to be conducted at the cemetery since the incident, before the official reopening, was of [[George Harrison]] on November 29, 2001.<ref>[https://www.beatlesbible.com/2001/11/29/george-harrison-dies/ 29 November 2001: George Harrison dies | The Beatles Bible]</ref>

By the 1980s, the California Cemetery Board began receiving regular complaints from the families of people interred there. Family members complained that the grounds were not kept up and were disturbed to hear stories about vandalism on the cemetery grounds. The heirs of well-known makeup artist [[Max Factor Sr.|Max Factor]] (who was interred in the Beth Olam Mausoleum in 1938) moved his and other family members remains to [[Hillside Memorial Park]] in [[Culver City, California|Culver City]] after the mausoleum sustained water damage that discolored the walls.{{citation needed|date = April 2025}}

In 1986, a Los Angeles woman and 1,000 other plot owners filed a class action lawsuit against the cemetery for invasion of privacy after they discovered that Roth allowed employees of [[Paramount Pictures]] to park in the cemetery while the studio's parking structure was undergoing construction.<ref name=russell>{{cite web| last=Russell| first=Ron| title=Splendor Fades at Final Resting Place of Famous, Almost Famous| url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-07-03-me-8717-story.html| work=Los Angeles Times| date=1988-07-03}}</ref>

In the late 1980s, Jules Roth sold two lawns totaling {{convert|3|acre|m2}} that were facing the [[Santa Monica Boulevard]] front of the property. It was reported that the property was paid for with cash. Those lawns are now strip malls that house, among other businesses, an auto parts store and a laundromat.<ref name="Tablet">{{cite web| url=http://www.tabletmag.com/arts-and-culture/78893/burial-plots/| work=[[Tablet Magazine]]| title=Burial Plots| first=Jacob| last=Silverman| date=September 22, 2011| access-date=September 26, 2011}}</ref>

After the [[1994 Northridge earthquake]], Roth could not afford to repair the roofs and other damage the earthquake caused to crypts. By that time, Hollywood Memorial was no longer making money and only generated revenue by charging families $500 for disinterments.<ref>{{cite web| last=Schiffman| first=Betsy| title=Grave Business| url=https://www.forbes.com/2002/11/01/cx_bs_1101homea.html| work=[[Forbes]]| date=November 11, 2002}}</ref>

In 1997, Roth became ill after he fell in his [[Hollywood Hills]] home. He had been embroiled in a scandal regarding another cemetery he owned, Lincoln Memorial Park, in [[Carson, California]] in which hundreds of families came forward with a class-action suit over poor record keeping and missing bodies.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Krikorian |first=Greg |last2=Slater |first2=Eric |date=1995-08-17 |title=Inspectors Find Remains Are Missing From Troubled Cemetery : Investigation: Officials examine records at Lincoln Memorial Park in Carson as worried families gather. |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-08-17-me-36142-story.html#:~:text=The%20state%E2%80%99s%20top,seemed%20in%20disarray. |access-date=2024-08-18 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> Several months before his death, Roth was bedridden and disoriented, and during this time, his will was changed to provide for his business associates and maid, who were the only witnesses to his signature. His relatives, who were listed in his previous will, were written out. Roth died on January 4, 1998, and he was interred next to his wife, Virginia, his father, and his mother in the Cathedral Mausoleum.<ref name="Tablet"/> The state of California had revoked the cemetery's license to sell its remaining interment spaces.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/11/us/los-angeles-journal-cemetery-to-the-stars-wins-a-court-reprieve.html| work=The New York Times| title=Los Angeles Journal; Cemetery to the Stars Wins a Court Reprieve| first=Todd S.| last=Purdum| date=December 11, 1997| access-date=September 26, 2011}}</ref>

After Roth's death, the cemetery's subsequent owners Brent and Tyler Cassity, aka Tyo, LLC, discovered that the endowment care fund—meant to care for the cemetery in perpetuity—was missing about $9&nbsp;million.<ref name="NYT1998/11/15"/>  Tyler Cassity also claimed that he discovered Roth's bust in an antique shop, and that the bust was part of Roth's personal artifacts that were sold at auction.{{citation needed|date = April 2025}}

Those owners, Tyo, LLC, purchased the now {{convert|62|acre|ha|adj=on}} property that was on the verge of closure in a [[bankruptcy]] proceeding, in 1998 for $375,000. They renamed the cemetery "Hollywood Forever" and set out to give it a complete restoration,<ref name=nyt>{{cite news |first= Rebecca |last=Cathcart |title=Where Hollywood's Stars Are Interred, but Live Forever on Screen |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/07/movies/07ceme.html?_r=1&ref=movies&oref=slogin|work=The New York Times| date=June 7, 2008| access-date=June 7, 2008}}</ref> investing millions in revitalizing the grounds and also offering documentaries about the deceased that are to be played in perpetuity on kiosks and are posted on the Web,<ref>{{cite news| work=The New York Times| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/01/us/comeback-for-resting-place-of-movie-stars.html| title=Comeback for Resting Place of Movie Stars| first=Charlie| last=LeDuff| date= December 1, 2002| access-date=September 26, 2011}}</ref> as well as organizing tours to draw visitors.<ref name="Tablet"/>

Since 2002, the cemetery has screened films on weekends during the summer and on holidays at a gathering called [[Cinespia]]. The screenings are held on the Douglas Fairbanks Lawn near the Fairbanks crypt and the films are projected onto the white marble west wall of the Cathedral Mausoleum.<ref name="LAT10Years">{{cite news| work=Los Angeles Times| url=http://www.latimes.com/theguide/events-and-festivals/la-et-guidefeature-20110812,0,3441270.story| title=Cinespia celebrates age 10 by staying up all night| first=Dima| last= Alzayat| date=August 12, 2011| access-date=September 26, 2011}}</ref>  Music events take place in the cemetery as well. On June 14 and 15, 2011, [[The Flaming Lips]] played at the cemetery in a two-night gig billed "Everyone You Know Someday Will Die", a lyric from their 2002 single "[[Do You Realize??]]".<ref>{{cite news| url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2011/05/flaming-lips-hollywood-forever-cemetery-gigs-to-go-sale-this-friday.html| work=Los Angeles Times| title=Flaming Lips' Hollywood Forever Cemetery gigs go on sale Friday| date=May 3, 2011| first=Todd| last= Martens| access-date=September 26, 2011}}</ref>

The cemetery contained a [[Confederate Monument (Hollywood Forever Cemetery)|Confederate Monument]], erected in 1925 and maintained by the [[Long Beach, California|Long Beach]] chapter of the [[United Daughters of the Confederacy]] until August 15, 2017.<ref name="latimesharveysoutherncaliforniadoesindeed">{{cite news|last1=Harvey|first1=Steve|title=Southern California does indeed have a Civil War history|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-may-29-la-me-0530-then-20100529-story.html|access-date=July 11, 2017|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=May 29, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Hollywood Forever Cemetery removes Confederate monument after calls from activists and threats of vandalism|url=http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-hollywood-forever-monument-20170815-story.html|access-date=August 21, 2017|work=[[The Los Angeles Times]]|date=August 16, 2017|author=Tchekmedyian, Alene, Irfan Khan and Veronica Rocha }}</ref>

On August 17, 2013, electronic/industrial musician [[Gary Numan]] recorded a live album at the cemetery during his Splinter World Tour. It was released on February 19, 2016.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://open.spotify.com/album/2i9IOpLK1MTyJFnCI1qyf5?si=6GZXPHIR|title=Here in the Black – Live at Hollywood Forever Cemetery|website=[[Spotify]]|date=19 February 2016}}</ref>

Also in 2013, Brent Cassity and his father, James Douglas Cassity, admitted guilt in a $600 million Ponzi scheme involving their control of National Prearranged Services, Inc.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.riverfronttimes.com/newsblog/2013/07/05/st-louis-funeral-scam-father-son-plead-guilty-in-600-million-ponzi-scheme|title = St. Louis Funeral Scam: Father, Son Plead Guilty in $600 Million Ponzi Scheme}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://revealnews.org/article/cassity-family-funeral-businesses-create-600-million-fraud-scheme/|title = Cassity family funeral businesses create $600 million fraud scheme}}</ref> Brent Cassity was sentenced to 5 years in federal prison; James "Doug" Cassity was likewise sentenced to 9 years and 7 months.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://insurancenewsnet.com/oarticle/Funeral-scam-figures-get-prison-sentences-in-St-Louis-federal-court-a-420871|title=Funeral scam figures get prison sentences in St. Louis federal court|author=Robert Patrick|work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch|agency=McClatchy-Tribune Information Services|publisher=InsuranceNewsNet|date=November 15, 2013}}</ref> James Douglas Cassity died of natural causes in 2020, following his release by the Federal Bureau of Prisons in an effort to mitigate the spread of [[COVID-19]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kohler |first=Jeremy |title=Funeral scam figure found dead in his Central West End apartment after prison release |url=https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/funeral-scam-figure-found-dead-in-his-central-west-end-apartment-after-prison-release/article_cf537730-3cb6-5942-b3b6-c228fc5c2ae4.html |access-date=2022-12-07 |website=STLtoday.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>[https://www.news-leader.com/story/news/local/missouri/2020/06/02/j-douglas-cassity-sentenced-prison-funeral-scam-dies-st-louis/3124092001/ death]</ref>

Plans for the Gower Court Mausoleum, a 100-foot-tall mausoleum, began in 2014.  A "highrise for the dead,"  two of the mausoleum's five floors sold out prior to its January 2025 opening.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lubell |first=Sam |date=2024-12-19 |title=Hollywood Forever's new mausoleum is a high-rise for the dead: 'This is the future of cemeteries' |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2024-12-19/hollywood-forever-mausoleum-gower-court-cemetery-architect?sfmc_id=6529c8d73ed79c24f8873fa1&utm_id=37940815&skey_id=5c3dc5a7437b8a06f66613fb8d9cb17b877ad2bd5afa7bf31216a4ed98f53e1b&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ALERT-Email-List-Inside%20Hollywood%20Forever%20Cemetery's%20new%20high-rise%20mausoleum-20241221&utm_term=Alert%20-%20Sub%20and%20Nonsub%20minus%20News%20+%20Ent |access-date=2024-12-21 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref>