Editing Calvary Cemetery (Los Angeles)

{{Short description|Cemetery located in California, U.S.}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}}
{{Infobox cemetery
|name = Calvary Cemetery
|image = Calvary Cemetery Chapel.jpg
|imagesize =
|caption =
|established = 1896
|country = United States
|location = 4201 Whittier Boulevard,<br />[[East Los Angeles, California|East Los Angeles]], [[California]], U.S.
|coordinates = {{coord|34|01|42|N|118|10|36|W|type:landmark|display=inline,title}}
|type = [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]]
|owner = [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles]]
|size = 137 acres
|graves=  <!-- how many gravesites-->
|website = <!-- official website -->
| findagraveid= 7870
}}
'''Calvary Cemetery''' is a [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] cemetery that the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles|Archdiocese of Los Angeles]] operates in the community of [[East Los Angeles, California]]. It is also called "New Calvary Cemetery" because it succeeded the original Calvary Cemetery (on north Broadway), over which [[Cathedral High School (Los Angeles)|Cathedral High School]] was built. Cemetery gates are open for visitation 365 days a year, opening daily at 8:00 AM, with closing times varying by season. For current seasonal gate hours and office availability, visitors are encouraged to visit the official website for the most up-to-date information.

==History==

===Old Calvary===

When [[Los Angeles]] was originally surveyed and mapped under the leadership of Gen. [[Edward Ord]] in 1849, its graveyard was at the upper end of Eternity Street.  At the lower end of Eternity was the first church in Los Angeles, the [[La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles|Placita]].  In between lay a part of town flanked by adobe houses, citrus trees, and [[Coast Live Oak]]s suitable for traditional funeral processions escorting believers to eternity.   The land allotted to the cemetery lay between a creek a half block north of College Street and the toma (intake of the [[Zanja Madre]]) beyond the northern edge of town.  That cemetery was named ''Calvary.''

All the important magnates of the country around Los Angeles were buried at Calvary, such as Gen. [[Andrés Pico]], the hero of the [[Battle of San Pascual]], and Don [[Abel Stearns]], a man of many ranchos.  The ravine sloping down from the west took its name; it was called "Cemetery Ravine" (now ''[[Chavez Ravine]],'' home of Dodger Stadium).  Later, a Protestant cemetery for Los Angeles was laid out atop Fort Hill, where [[Grand Arts High School]] and the [[Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels]] are now.<ref>During the recent expansion of Grand Arts, bodies were uncovered and buried elsewhere.</ref>

As Los Angeles swelled with settlers, so also did old Calvary Cemetery grow in size and importance, and a chapel was built.  Large in scale for the desert [[Southwestern United States|Southwest]] of Southern California, that chapel was dedicated to the memory of a patron, Andrew Briswalter, who died in 1885.  When conditions led to the founding of a new, even bigger  cemetery on the other side of the Los Angeles River in 1896—in East Los Angeles—the property of the historic cemetery was put to other uses.  At the time, many Italians began moving into the north side of Los Angeles, where they founded a new church on north Spring Street.  So many Italians moved in, that the upper part of town became known as "Little Italy."  As it grew, a new, more permanent church building was sought, so parishioners bought the chapel of old Calvary Cemetery.  The first child was baptized there in September 1904.  The chapel was formally established as a church when Fr. A. Bucci dedicated the chapel of the old cemetery as St. Peter's Church on July 4, 1915.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://stpeteritalianchurchla.org/en/about-us/24-about/32-the-early-years |title=History of St. Peter's Italian Catholic Church in Los Angeles, the Early Years. |access-date=2016-01-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160219002350/http://www.stpeteritalianchurchla.org/en/about-us/24-about/32-the-early-years |archive-date=2016-02-19 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Old Calvary's historic chapel survives today in the parish and buildings of St. Peter's Italian Catholic Church, 1039 N Broadway.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://stpeteritalianchurchla.org/en/# |title=St. Peter's Italian Catholic Church |access-date=2016-01-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151230090856/http://stpeteritalianchurchla.org/en# |archive-date=2015-12-30 |url-status=dead }}</ref>  Historic old Calvary Cemetery was built over and much of it is now occupied by [[Cathedral High School (Los Angeles)|Cathedral High School]].

===Current plots===

The current site across the river and uphill, measuring 137 acres, was dedicated in 1896. All Souls [[Chapel]] was built on the grounds in 1902, and was dedicated on [[All Souls' Day]] of that same year. Bishop [[George Thomas Montgomery]] offered a [[Solemn Pontifical Mass]] on a temporary altar at the site, and afterwards presided at the setting in place of the cornerstone. It was designed as a replica of the [[parish church]] of St. Giles in the rural town of [[Stoke Poges]], [[Buckinghamshire]], in England. That church is believed to have been the setting of the famed 18th-century poem ''[[Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard]]''. The chapel became one of the most visited places of worship in [[Southern California]] after its opening.<ref name=CC>{{cite web|url=http://www.la-archdiocese.org/org/cemeteries/directory/Pages/Calvary-LA.aspx|work=Archdiocese of Los Angeles|title=Calvary Cemetery|access-date=11 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140803033745/http://www.la-archdiocese.org/org/cemeteries/directory/Pages/Calvary-LA.aspx#|archive-date=2014-08-03|url-status=dead}}</ref> All Souls Chapel is now used primarily for burial services.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cal-catholic.com/wordpress/2012/11/08/churches-worth-driving-to-27/|work=California Catholic Daily|date=November 8, 2012|title=Churches Worth Driving To: All Souls Chapel, Calvary Cemetery, Los Angeles|access-date=3 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222162217/http://cal-catholic.com/wordpress/2012/11/08/churches-worth-driving-to-27/|archive-date=22 February 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The Main [[Mausoleum]], with a new chapel, was built in 1929. It was designed by architect [[Ross Montgomery (architect)|Ross Montgomery]].<ref name="onlinearchive">[http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c86m37ff/ Online Archive of California: Ross Montgomery]</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=MXRvA_Hwgq8C&dq=%22ross+montgomery%22+architect&pg=PA61 John Chase, ''Glitter Stucco and Dumpster Diving'', Verso, 2004, p. 61]</ref> Two additional mausoleums, Our Lady's Garden and [[Gethsemane]], have since been built. The cemetery has its own [[chaplain]] and daily [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]] is offered in the chapel of the Main Mausoleum.<ref name=CC />

==Notable burials==
{{sort list|asc|2=
* [[Kathryn Adams (actress, born 1920)|Kathryn Adams]] (1893–1959), actress
* [[King Baggot]] (1879–1948), actor, screenwriter/director
* [[John Barrymore]] (1882–1942), stage, screen and radio actor
* [[Lionel Barrymore]] (1878–1954), actor
* [[Ethel Barrymore]] (1879–1959), actress
* [[Hi Bell]] (1897–1949), baseball player
* [[Eugenie Besserer]] (1868–1934), actress
* [[Martin F. Betkouski]] (1860–1942), Los Angeles City Council member
* [[Francelia Billington]] (1895–1934), actress
* [[Mykolas Birziska]] (1882–1962), educator, Vilnius University Rector, co-Author and Signer of Lithuania's Declaration of Independence
* [[Richard Boleslawski]] (1889–1937), director
* [[Mary Carr]] (1874–1973), actress
* [[Eddie Collins (actor)|Eddie Collins]] (1883–1940), actor
* [[Dolores Costello]] (1903–1979), actress
* [[Helene Costello]] (1906–1957), actress
* [[Lou Costello]] (1906–1959), actor and comedian
* [[Mae Costello]] (1882–1929), actress
* [[Maurice Costello]] (1877–1950), actor
* [[Ysabel del Valle]] (1837–1905), rancho owner
* [[Rosario DeSimone]] (1873–1946), [[Los Angeles crime family]] Boss
* [[Beatrice Dominguez]] (1896–1921), actress and dancer
* [[Edward L. Doheny]] (1856–1935), oil tycoon
* [[Jack Dragna]] (1891–1956), [[Los Angeles crime family]] Boss
* [[William W. Dixon]] (1838–1910), U.S. Representative (Democrat, Fifty-Second Congress). Later moved to [[Rock Creek Cemetery]], Washington, D.C.
* [[Irene Dunne]] (1898–1990), actress
* [[John B. Esnard]] (1846–1931), [[reconstruction era]] politician in Louisiana
* [[Stepin Fetchit]] (1902–1985), comedian<ref>{{cite news|title=Mass to Be Said Friday for Actor Stepin Fetchit|date=November 21, 1985|work=The Los Angeles Times|page=A30}}</ref>
* [[Bryan Foy]] (1896–1977), film producer and director
* [[Trixie Friganza]] (1870–1955), actress
* [[Henry Gage]] (1852–1924), governor of California
* [[Cedric Gibbons]] (1893–1960), prolific film art director and production designer
* [[Elaine Hammerstein]] (1897–1948), actress
* [[Ted Healy]] (1896–1937), actor/original leader of [[The Three Stooges]]
* [[John Hodiak]] (1914–1955), actor
* [[Sarah E. Kellogg]] (1870–1957), politician, postmaster, and a real estate agent 
* [[Mervin King]] (1914–2008), Los Angeles Police Department Captain
* [[Emilio Kosterlitzky]] (1853–1928), Russian-born linguist and soldier of fortune
* [[Leno La Bianca]] (1925–1969), murdered by the [[Charles Manson]] family
* [[Timothy Manning]] (1909–1989), Roman Catholic [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|cardinal]], third Archbishop of Los Angeles
* [[Etta McDaniel]] (1890–1946), actress and sister of performers [[Hattie McDaniel]] & [[Sam McDaniel]]
* [[Bull Montana]] (1887–1950), wrestler, boxer, actor
* [[Zachariah Montgomery]] (1825–1900), Assistant Attorney General in first Administration of President Grover Cleveland
* [[Matt Moore (actor)|Matt Moore]] (1888–1960), actor
* [[Owen Moore]] (1886–1939), actor
* [[Jelly Roll Morton|Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton]] (1885–1941), musician
* [[Jimmy Murphy (racing driver)|Jimmy Murphy]] (1894–1924), race car driver
* [[J. Carrol Naish]] (1896–1973), actor
* [[Pola Negri]] (1897–1987), actress
* [[Marguerite Nichols]] (1891–1941), actress
* [[Mabel Normand]] (1892–1930), actress and comedian
* [[Ramón Novarro]] (1899–1968), actor
* [[Pauline O'Neill (suffrage leader)|Pauline O'Neill]] (1865–1961), wife of [[Buckey O'Neill]] of [[Rough Riders|Rough Rider]] fame
* [[Mary Philbin]] (1902–1993), actress
* [[Ray Prim]] (1906–1995), baseball player
* [[Jack Reagan]] (1883–1941), father of [[Ronald Reagan]]
* [[Nelle Wilson Reagan]] (1883–1962), mother of Ronald Reagan
* [[Hugo Reid]] (1811–1852), prominent early L.A. County resident, originally interred in El Campo Santo cemetery
* [[Hal Roach, Jr.]] (1918–1972), film producer
* [[Harry F. Sinclair]] (1876–1956), oil industrialist
* [[Victor Varconi]] (1891–1976), Hungarian-born American actor
* [[Jose Yarba]] (1892–1957), aka Mexican Joe Rivers, boxer
}}

==See also==
* [[List of United States cemeteries]]

==References==
{{reflist}}
* {{GNIS|240048|Calvary Cemetery}}

==External links==
* [http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/CA/LA-buried.html#cms01040 Political Graveyard.com: List of politicians buried at Calvary Cemetery, (East) Los Angeles]

{{Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles|state=collapsed}}

[[Category:Cemeteries in Los Angeles]]
[[Category:Eastside Los Angeles]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic cemeteries in California]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles]]
[[Category:1896 establishments in California]]
[[Category:Cemeteries established in the 1890s]]