Editing Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery (section)

===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>