Editing Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery (section)

==History==
=== Founding ===
Valhalla was founded in 1923 by Los Angeles financiers John R. Osborne and C. C. Fitzpatrick. The [[Spanish Mission Revival]] entrance structure was designed by architect Kenneth McDonald Jr. For the decorative stone castings, McDonald hired Italian-born sculptor Federico A. Giorgi, who had created {{convert|30|ft|adj=mid|m|-tall}} statues of elephants and lions for the 1916 epic film ''[[Intolerance (film)|Intolerance]]'', and helped to craft the exterior of downtown's [[Million Dollar Theater]]. The gateway to the new cemetery cost $140,000.

The rotunda was dedicated March 1, 1925, with a concert by English contralto Maude Elliott. Picnickers spread blankets on the surrounding grassy expanse between three reflecting pools and flat cemetery markers, which were a new concept at the time. It became a tourist attraction and was used for concerts that were broadcast over radio station KELW by station owner Earl L. White. Just five months after the dedication, Osborne and Fitzpatrick were convicted of fraud. They had repeatedly sold the same burial plots—as many as 16 times—and netted a profit of $3–4 million, according to the ''Los Angeles Times''. They were fined $12,000 each and sentenced to 10 years in prison, but served less than three years.<ref name=bloom>{{cite news| title=Valhalla Cemetery Records History of Famous, Forgotten| url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-09-02-me-23029-story.html| last=Bloom| first=Stephen G.| newspaper=Los Angeles Times| access-date=January 2, 2021}}</ref>

===State control===
[[Image:Valhalla Memorial Park Fountain.JPG|thumb|220px|left|Fountain at Valhalla Memorial Park]]
The cemetery was taken over by the state of California. It is unclear how long the state owned the {{convert|63|acre|m2|adj=on}} cemetery, but Pierce Brothers bought it in 1950 and, within two years, closed the rotunda to vehicle traffic and moved the entry to the cemetery from Valhalla Drive in Burbank to Victory and Cahuenga boulevards in North Hollywood. There, they opened a two-story office building and mortuary.

On December 17, 1953—the 50th anniversary of Orville and Wilbur Wright's 12-second powered hop at Kitty Hawk—the rotunda was rededicated as the Portal of the Folded Wings, through the efforts of aviation fan and cemetery employee James Gillette.<ref>{{cite web |first=Giacinta Bradley |last=Koontz |title=History of Portal of the Folded Wings |url=http://www.portalofthefoldedwings.net/PAGES/history.html |access-date=January 13, 2013 |website=Portal of the Folded Wings}}</ref> During the ceremony, the cremated remains of [[Walter R. Brookins]], the first aviator to take a plane to an altitude of a mile and the Wright brothers' first civilian student, were interred.

When sculptor Giorgi died in 1963, he was buried outside the structure, near his masterpiece. Gillette was also buried outside, near the shrine he helped found.
[[File:Fountain, GW Memorial, Valhalla Cemetery.jpg|thumb|Fountain, GW Memorial, Valhalla Cemetery]]

The memorial was featured in ''Visiting... with [[Huell Howser]]'' Episode 426.<ref>{{cite web |title=Library/Memorial – Visiting (426) – Huell Howser Archives at Chapman University |url=https://blogs.chapman.edu/huell-howser-archives/2016/12/07/librarymemorial-visiting-426/}}</ref>

===Sale of property===
[[Image:Amelia Earhart Plaque at Portal of the Folded Wings.jpg|right|175px|thumb|Amelia Earhart Memorial at Portal of the Folded Wings]]
In 1958, Pierce Brothers sold its family-owned chain of Southern California mortuaries and cemeteries to Texas financier [[Joe Allbritton]], who sold {{cvt|20|acre|m2}} of Valhalla for development.<ref name=bloom/> In 1991, the cemeteries and mortuaries were acquired by Service Corp. International of Houston, but the Pierce Brothers sign remains at Valhalla.