Chronicles of Old Los Angeles

by James Roman

  The Getty Center

  Panoramic view of Los Angeles from the Getty Center

  There was one last delicious twist. The Getty collection is almost exclusively European art. In the weeks prior to the public unveiling, curators and critics from everywhere were invited to view the Getty Center privately. Jaded Europeans descended, prepared to sneer at another intellectual Disneyland, but what they witnessed this time made them gush with superlatives. In a city famous for its three hundred days of constant sunshine, Meier’s clever architecture makes maximum use of natural light, with louvered skylights (and protective filters) in every gallery. Never had Europeans seen European art look so … fresh! From the most somber Pietá to Van Gogh’s vibrant Irises, the Getty’s dazzling display beneath the California sun made other museums look musty by comparison, as art critics quickly proclaimed.

  Today, the Getty Center is hailed for the masterpieces in its collection, along with the masterful design of its presentation. The Getty Conservation Institute is involved in almost every major archaeological dig in the world; the Foundation and the Research Institute underwrite projects everywhere; and through Getty’s Open Content program, thousands of images are available to art lovers and historians royalty-free. At the Getty Center, the notorious miser is finally exonerated through one simple truth: When amassing great wealth, be remembered for your generosity.

  IN THE MOVIES:

  The Getty Center can be seen in Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) and Thor (2011).

  Irises, Vincent van Gogh, 1889

  CHAPTER 24.

  LAST STOP HOLLYWOOD

  WHERE FAME RESTS IN PEACE

  1946—2012

  Lots of towns in America can point with pride to the birthplace of someone special.

  Los Angeles, however, holds another distinction. It’s the place where many of those special people point with pride when it’s time to expire. George Harrison of The Beatles fame will be remembered forever as a great British musician, but he picked Los Angeles for his final days. Harrison’s body was cremated at Hollywood Forever Cemetery; his international, interdenominational memorial was held at the Lake Shrine on Sunset Boulevard in 2001.

  Of course, most folks don’t have the luxury of planning their final hours; sometimes that’s the consequence of being a bad boy in LA. Consider these much-loved personalities who took their opportunities too far, then paid the ultimate price.

  Bugsy Siegel – In 1946, the Flamingo in Las Vegas was the most expensive hotel ever constructed. Financed with mob money, it was operating in the red due to Bugsy Siegel’s inexperience. The investors were not pleased. While Siegel read the Los Angeles Times near the undraped front window of his girlfriend’s living room at 810 Linden Drive in Beverly Hills, a gunman hiding behind a rose bush in the front yard fired nine shots through the window. The marksman hit Siegel twice in the heart and twice in the head. The impact was so great that it blew Siegel’s left eye out of its socket. Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, the gangster from New York, died in Beverly Hills on June 20, 1947 at age 41. He is buried at Hollywood Forever.

  From left: George Harrison, 1974; the Lake Shrine’s picturesque windmill and Meditation Garden, below the interfaith chapel where Harrison’s memorial was held in 2001

  Janis Joplin – The rocker came to Los Angeles in August 1970 to record with her group Full Tilt Boogie at Columbia Records. On October 4, 1970, her road manager John Cooke found Joplin dead in her motel room at 7047 Franklin Avenue, with needle marks on her arms, plus open bottles of tequila, vodka and wine. He believes Joplin accidentally overdosed on heroin that was more potent than usual, since other customers overdosed that week, too. Official cause of death: heroin overdose possibly combined with the effects of alcohol. Joplin’s song “Mercedes Benz,” recorded in one take just three days before her death, is her final performance and her most profitable recording, certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.

  John Belushi – While his wife stayed at home in New York, comedian John Belushi checked into Bungalow #3 at the Chateau Marmont hotel to finish writing a screenplay. Instead, dozens of celebrities showed up for one continuous, drug-fueled party, including drug dealer Cathy Smith.

  After partying all night, Smith administered one last speedball to Belushi, a combination of heroin and cocaine, on March 5, 1982. When she returned with groceries, Belushi was dead. Smith went to prison; Belushi got a star on the Walk of Fame, at 6355 Hollywood Boulevard.

  Marvin Gaye – The Grammy-award-winning singer was shot to death on April 1, 1984 by his father, the minister Marvin Gaye Sr., during an argument in their home, just a few blocks from the LA mayor’s mansion. Rev. Gaye pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter. His son Marvin Gaye is remembered today with a star on the Walk of Fame at 1500 Vine Street. Cremated at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills, his ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean.

  River Phoenix – The Oscar nominee was all set to party on the Sunset Strip at Johnny Depp’s throbbing rock club, The Viper Room. But the recreational drugs in his system triggered a drug-induced heart failure, causing Phoenix to collapse outside the club. He was pronounced dead at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Beverly Hills on October 31, 1993.

  Phil Hartman – The Emmy-winning comedian from SNL and The Simpsons was married to a drug addict. After taking cocaine at 3 a.m., Brynn Hartman shot Phil with a .38 caliber handgun as he slept. She confessed the killing to friends, who didn’t believe her, and then she shot herself. Phil and Brynn Hartman died on May 28, 1998.

  From left: Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel; Janis Joplin, 1970; John Belushi as Samurai Futaba, 1977

  Foreground: Johnny Ramone’s grave at Hollywood Forever Cemetery; background: the tomb of LA Philharmonic founder William A. Clark, Jr.

  Richard Pryor – The comedian famously set himself on fire when he fumbled with a lighter while freebasing cocaine, then tried to douse the flame with the alcohol he was drinking. But that didn’t kill him; multiple sclerosis did. Pryor died on December 10, 2005, after making more than 40 films, pioneering humor during the civil rights struggle and reaping countless awards. Richard Pryor is remembered with a star on the Walk of Fame at 6438 Hollywood Boulevard.

  Michael Jackson – Will we ever know the real story? The King of Pop suffered cardiac arrest in his bedroom at 100 North Carolwood Drive in the Holmby Hills section of LA while in rehearsals for a stage show to be titled This Is It. When he died on June 25, 2009, the LA Coroner’s office reported that Jackson had at least five medications in his system and weighed a skeletal 112 pounds. Michael Jackson is remembered with a star on the Walk of Fame at 6927 Hollywood Boulevard. He is buried at Forest Lawn Glendale.

  Whitney Houston – The powerhouse singer was in LA for the 54th Grammy Awards. She checked in to the Beverly Hilton Hotel, where her friend and producer Clive Davis planned a giant pre-Grammy bash. But on party night, February 11, 2012, Whitney was a no-show. She was found dead in her hotel room bathtub. Houston’s death was pronounced “accidental” when toxicology reports indicated a combination of cocaine and four other drugs that caused her heart to fail in the hot bath. The next night at the Grammy Awards stunned performers remembered Houston in their remarks. Jennifer Hudson performed in tribute while the audience sobbed.

  Want to hang with celebrities in Los Angeles? Visit them at these seven popular cemeteries.

  Graveyards are a booming business in Los Angeles, even rented out as sites for private parties and movie screenings. Los Angeles cemeteries employ real estate brokers to show plots to shoppers and discuss the neighbors, like Hugh Hefner, who paid $75,000 for the crypt next to Marilyn Monroe. More recently, the crypt above Marilyn was auctioned for $4.6 million.

  As one Beverly Hills socialite describes her cemetery visits, “It’s all the fun people. Everyone you haven’t seen for a while, that’s where they are!”

  Hollywood Forever (6000 Santa Monica Boulevard) is the power cemetery, the graveyard with more stars than any other, reputed t
o be the most costly burial site. It’s also the only cemetery to offer guided tours (cemeterytour.com). Famous residents include Vampira, Johnny Ramone, Cecil B. DeMille, Rudolph Valentino, Faye Wray, Jayne Mansfield, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel and even Charlie Chaplin’s mother.

  Forest Lawn Glendale (1712 S. Glendale Avenue), the largest cemetery, also features an art museum on its pastoral acreage, and the chapel in which Ronald Reagan married Jane Wyman. Its famous residents include Michael Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor, Walt Disney, Clark Gable, Nat King Cole, Sammy Davis Jr., Aimee Semple McPherson and L. Frank Baum, author of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

  Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills (6300 Forest Lawn Drive) is also a park, featuring a replica of the Old North Church made famous in Paul Revere’s ride, a copy of the Liberty Bell, and a giant mosaic: The Birth of Liberty, the largest in the United States. Prior to becoming a cemetery, this land can be seen in the Civil War battles depicted in Cecil B. DeMille’s Birth of a Nation. Notable residents here include Liberace, Lucille Ball, Bette Davis, David Carradine, John Ritter, Godfrey Cambridge, Andy Gibb, Stan Laurel, Telly Savalas, Annette Funicello; and Ozzie, Harriet and Ricky Nelson.

  Hillside Memorial Park (6001 West Centinela Avenue) Though many celebrated individuals are buried here, no one commands attention quite like Al Jolson, ensconced in a monument with a cascading waterfall, plus Jolson’s likeness cast in bronze, forever on one knee. Other residents include Max Factor, Nell Carter, Dinah Shore, Jack Benny, Shelley Winters, George Jessel, Eddie Cantor, Milton Berle, Aaron Spelling and the Sunset Strip’s favorite gangster, Mickey Cohen.

  Westwood Memorial Park (1218 Glendon Avenue) is hard to find. Enter from Glendon Avenue, just south of Wilshire Boulevard, to see one of LA’s most intimate and star-studded cemeteries. Joe DiMaggio picked this site to bury Marilyn Monroe because her childhood babysitter was already buried here. Since then, many celebrated names have checked in, including Natalie Wood, Billy Wilder, Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Burt Lancaster, Fannie Brice, Minnie Riperton, author Truman Capote and Beach Boy Carl Wilson.

  Mount Sinai Memorial Park (5950 Forest Lawn Drive) is a cemetery exclusively for Jews. (Non-Jewish relatives are buried to avoid splitting up families.) The cemetery features a memorial to the six million European Holocaust victims, and an enormous mosaic that depicts Jews in America. Celebrated residents include “Mama” Cass Elliot, Bonnie Franklin, Totie Fields, Jack Klugman, Lee J. Cobb, Pinky Lee, Phil Silvers and Hillel Slovak, guitarist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

  Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery (1831 West Washington Boulevard) is integrated. For decades in Los Angeles, “whites only” cemeteries prevailed. Hattie McDaniel, the first African American to win an Academy Award, wanted to be buried in Hollywood Forever cemetery, but that was not permitted. Her body landed here, instead. Other people of color include Anna May Wong, the first Chinese American movie star; Andy Razaf, the lyricist for Ain’t Misbehavin’ and Honeysuckle Rose; Fernando Lamas, the Argentinean-born actor; and many more. One of LA’s oldest graveyards, this is also the final resting place for many of LA’s prominent founders, including three mayors and one California governor.

  Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell putting hand prints in wet concrete at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, 1953

  LOS ANGELES DRIVING & WALKING TOURS

  Visit the Places Where History Really Happened

  TOUR ONE……El Pueblo and Chinatown

  TOUR TWO……Bunker Hill

  TOUR THREE……Hollywood

  TOUR FOUR……Hollywood Heights

  TOUR FIVE……Sunset Strip and Beverly Hills

  TOUR SIX……Santa Monica and Venice Beach

  Los Angeles

  EL PUEBLO AND CHINATOWN WALKING TOUR

  No car required! Take the Red Line (the underground LA Metro) to Union Station for a visit to the center of Los Angeles in its days as the Mexican capital of Alta California. Then, just a short stroll from the historic Pueblo, the tour continues through Chinatown, with its colorful shops, restaurants and bakeries. There’s plenty to see, and all of it’s free.

  EL PUEBLO

  Union Station

  El Pueblo

  Tribute to Antonio Aguilar

  The Plaza

  Olvera Street

  Avila Adobe

  América Tropical Interpretive Center

  Sepulveda House

  The Old Firehouse

  Chinese American Museum

  Our Lady, Queen of the Angels Catholic Church

  CHINATOWN

  Twin Dragon Gateway

  Chinatown Central Plaza

  Phoenix Bakery

  Chinatown Station

  START:

  Union Station

  END:

  Metro: Chinatown Station

  TOUR TIME:

  About 3 hours

  CHAPTERS:

  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 14

  Bring your appetite! Consider an authentic Mexican lunch in the Pueblo or dim sum in Chinatown. The tour covers a few miles, mostly flat. Wear walking shoes, sunscreen and a hat.

  1. Start at Union Station, the historic terminal that united the Southern Pacific, Union Pacific and Santa Fe railroads. It connected LA’s Southern Pacific to the Transcontinental Railroad, opening the orange groves to a national market. The passenger terminal opened in 1939. Interiors of Union Station are favorites with filmmakers. Today, it’s used by travelers on Amtrak and Metrolink, plus underground passengers on the LA Metro.

  NOTABLE FILMS SHOT HERE:

  Blade Runner (1982), Catch Me If You Can (2002), 500 Days of Summer (2011), Pearl Harbor (2001), Bugsy (1991), The Hustler (1961), The Way We Were (1973) and many television shows.

  Exit through the front doors. You’ll face the promenade that leads to El Pueblo National Historic Monument.

  2. El Pueblo—the birthplace of Los Angeles, home to the pobladores, the first Mexican settlers—is open, for free, seven days a week.

  Go up ramp to the left or the steps to the right.

  3. The steps lead to a tribute to Antonio Aguilar, a singer and actor who slept on benches in El Pueblo prior to achieving fame in Mexico. He recorded more than 160 albums and performed in more than 100 films before his death in 2007 at age 88.

  4. A short walk to the left is the Plaza. Free events take place here. See elpueblo.lacity.org

  Before California became the 31st state, LA was the final capital of the Mexican state of Alta California. To your left is an early administrative building. To the right, the hotel owned by Pio Pico, the last governor of Alta California.

  Ahead is the Catholic Church Our Lady, Queen of the Angels. Visit the church last. First, walk to the center of the Plaza, where you’ll see a plaque that lists the original pobladores, the 11 families that founded Los Angeles. The circle surrounding the Plaza is embedded with commemorative plaques detailing each of the founding families.

  There are three exhibits in the Plaza. The first continues the early Pueblo’s Mexican heritage.

  5. To the right of the church is the entrance to Olvera Street. Continue into the Olvera Street market. You’ll find handmade and unique surprises in the stalls.

  6. Ahead, you’ll spy the Avila Adobe on the right, the house of the former alcalde, or mayor. The house of Francisco José Avila, built in 1818, is the oldest standing residence in LA, now a museum. Turn right to enter the house. In the courtyard you’ll find a self-guided tour about life in El Pueblo de los Angeles in the 1820s. The exit from the house circles back into the courtyard.

  7. Across the street from the Avila Adobe (on the other side of the stalls down the center of Olvera Street), visit América Tropical Interpretive Center. A free museum explains the history of América Tropical, the mural that is viewed, via elevator, on the floor above.

  Muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros saw public walls as sites to encourage debate, but city officials disagreed with Siqueiros’ message. His artwork was whitewashed into oblivion. América Tropical became a symbol for suppression and government
censorship. In 2012, 80 years after its unveiling, América Tropical was unveiled once more.

  8. Next, view the Sepulveda House exhibit in the adjacent doorway. It’s the back entrance to an old boarding house.

  Turn right down the ramp to Olvera Street. On Olvera Street, turn right, back toward the Plaza.

  9. On the far side of the Plaza (southeast) stands the Old Plaza Firehouse, dating back to 1884. The museum displays equipment from LA’s early firehouses, photos, and firefighting memorabilia.

  Next, turn left, toward the church, as you exit. Turn left again, for a detour into the Chinese American Museum.

  10. The Chinese American Museum is free. See treasures from the earliest Chinatown, and artifacts from the Chinese pioneers of LA. (This exhibit adds context to today’s Chinatown, where this tour heads soon.)

  Upon exiting, turn right, back toward the Plaza, then turn left, toward Our Lady, Queen of the Angels Catholic Church.

  11. Dedicated in 1822, the church was rebuilt and expanded in 1861 using elements from the original building, but little of the original edifice remains. The historic church is reserved for special occasions. A larger church was annexed; parishioners enter the church from the other side of the building.

  To get there, go through the courtyard. Proceed to the right of the church, then walk left toward the other side of the building. Or, bypass the courtyard by continuing to the right. Walk around the side of the building, where you’ll see the mosaic of Our Lady, Queen of the Angels.