Holy Cross Cemetery contains the graves of many of Hollywood’s biggest stars, including Bing Crosby, Loretta Young, Jimmy Durante  Lawrence Welk, Bela Lugosi, and John Candy.

It is skillfully landscaped, accented with white statuary, and dotted with small ponds, waterfalls, and serene grottos. This is a very large cemetery. You will need a map of the grounds to find the graves.

Immediately to the right (east) of the grotto, beneath the white statue of a praying angel, is grave #15, that of actress Rita Hayworth. For three consecutive years, starting in 1944, Rita Hayworth was named one of the top movie box office attractions in the world. In 1944, she made one of her best-known films, the Technicolor musical Cover Girl. 

The grotto is on the left hand side (west), near the top of the hill. It is marked by a rugged volcanic-stone archway containing a small altar and white statues of St. Bernadette and the Virgin Mary (recreating the famous apparition scene from Lourdes). There is also a small pond and waterfall in front of the grotto.

This cemetery also has a mausoleum with nice stained glass.

Also there  is the turtle pond.  In it there is a large but elusive soft shell turtle there, that has a leathery shell rather than a hard one and a long snake-like neck.

 

It is very nice to walk out the door in early December with only a windbreaker on. The temperature is usually in the 60’s, and to us this is a magical novelty. Having these cemeteries nearby is are a tranquil oases that we can hide out in without needing to struggle with epic traffic jams.

 

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