{"id":560,"date":"2011-08-12T21:58:48","date_gmt":"2011-08-13T04:58:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/?p=560"},"modified":"2011-08-12T22:03:40","modified_gmt":"2011-08-13T05:03:40","slug":"partying-with-the-deceased-at-hollywood-forever-cemetery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2011\/uncategorized\/partying-with-the-deceased-at-hollywood-forever-cemetery\/","title":{"rendered":"Partying With The Deceased At Hollywood Forever Cemetery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Who knew when my husband and I set out on our trip to Los Angeles, we’d be partying with the deceased. Our mission was to drop off our fifteen year old grandson at SOCAPA<\/a>, a film camp in Pasadena. But first we planned some sightseeing, one of the sights being the Griffith Observatory<\/a> overlooking the famous Hollywood sign. There on the hill overlooking Los Angeles, we met a former actor who told us about Saturday night film screenings at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery<\/a> . We were intrigued. We didn\u2019t know if it was a well kept secret or what, but it certainly wasn\u2019t listed in any itineraries for what to see and do in L.A.<\/p>\n

Back in the hotel that night, I searched the internet for \u201cmovie\u201d and \u201cHollywood Forever Cemetery\u201d and discovered Cinespia<\/a> has been hosting summer film nights at this burial ground for the past ten years.<\/p>\n

As the three of us are all film buffs, we embraced the idea of seeing a film in an unusual setting. The film advertised was the 80s cult classic, Flash Gordon<\/a> \"\"<\/a>produced by Dino De Laurentis of Ragtime and Blue Velvet fame. When we arrived at the Hollywood Forever cemetery\u00a0 on Santa Monica boulevard just across from Paramount studios, we found to our surprise, a well organized event. There were collectors of fees at the gates\u2014parking, $10 and admission for each person another $10\u2014and other personnel directing us to parking down the roads. The show was to start at 9, and since we were one of the last cars let in, it was almost pitch black by the time we parked our car by some gravestones.<\/p>\n

Carrying blankets and water bottles, we walked gingerly past the deceased. I kept glancing at the headstones we passed, thinking there might be some recognizable names. I later discovered that Hollywood Forever cemetery is the oldest memorial place in Los Angeles and contains the burial remains of many famous Hollywood celebrities; among them, director John Huston, actor Tyrone Powell and actress, Jayne Mansfield.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Near the site of the screening\u2014a large open grassy space the size of a football field\u2014there was a small stand with a man selling bottles of wine. I was taken aback. Wine by the glass would be shocking enough, but bottles? \u00a0At the open air theatre space, already occupied by hundreds of people on blankets with candle-lit picnic meals, there was a line of port-a-potties to the right. On the wide screen, the side of a mausoleum, was a slide show of posters touting bygone movies\u2014some of them to be shown in future screenings\u2014and next to it, a DJ was blaring music from his loudspeakers. The sweet smell of marijuana wafted over the crowd, and at one point, I wondered if it was possible to get stoned just by inhaling what was around us. I wished we had at least brought popcorn. Still, we were happy just to be there.<\/p>\n

The movie turned out to be a lot of laughs, given the performances, the directing and the dialogue. Some of it good, some of it very bad. In fact, the lead actor, was nominated for a Razzie in 1981 for worst actor. Among the film\u2019s admirers, there\u2019s an ongoing debate as to whether the film was meant to be tongue in cheek or a serious superhero movie. We were also astonished at how well-behaved the crowd was, despite the wine sales and obvious toking up of grass. The audience kept the area clean and conducted themselves respectfully as if the cemetery\u2019s residents could rise from their graves and complain if they didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The night made me think of another celebration my husband and I attended decades earlier in the colonial town, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. \u00a0It was the Day of the Dead and while walking the town streets, we stumbled upon family upon family bearing flowers and picnic baskets. We followed them to the cemetery where a Catholic priest conducted prayers for the masses gathered there. My husband and I prayed as well and shed tears for those we\u2019d lost. But when we looked around, we only saw joyous faces. For the Mexicans, it wasn\u2019t a time of grieving. It was a time for celebrating life.<\/p>\n

We left the Hollywood Forever Cemetery with the feeling we\u2019d participated in something very special\u2014a party with the deceased in attendance. What better way to spend an evening than in a place where the line separating the dead from the living is erased. It was as if those that departed were watching the film with us. And for all we know, they did.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Who knew when my husband and I set out on our trip to Los Angeles, we’d be partying with the deceased. Our mission was to drop off our fifteen year… <\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[82,1],"tags":[34,85,84,83],"class_list":["post-560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-film-2","category-uncategorized","tag-film","tag-flash-gordon","tag-hollywood-forever-cemetery","tag-movie"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LuVB-92","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":152,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2011\/writing\/adapting-for-the-screen\/","url_meta":{"origin":560,"position":0},"title":"Adapting for the screen","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"27 \u041b\u044e\u0442\u043e\u0433\u043e, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I'd mentioned earlier that I rarely like an adaption of a book for the screen. The exception is The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. The film, although different from the book in a number of details, is brilliant. It's faithful to the story and beautifully cast and\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/film-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2242,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2015\/film-2\/stepping-out-with-liza-minelli\/","url_meta":{"origin":560,"position":1},"title":"Stepping Out With Liza Minnelli","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"7 \u0421\u0435\u0440\u043f\u043d\u044f, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Stepping Out with Liza Minnelli, shot in 1990, had problems of a different kind than the ones mentioned in my last post about\u00a0Bye Bye Blues. \u00a0Our daughter, Robyn Stevan, was also in this movie. The Cast Stepping Out, adapted from a play by Richard Harris, was supposed to be Liza\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/film-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Stepping Out with Liza Minelli","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Stepping-Out-162x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1192,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2012\/writing\/ramblings-on-the-lowly-writer\/","url_meta":{"origin":560,"position":2},"title":"Ramblings on The Lowly Writer","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"11 \u0413\u0440\u0443\u0434\u043d\u044f, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"As I navigate the waters of pitching, writing, editing, revising, and marketing, I wonder about this profession of writing.\u00a0 As a writer, I am\u00a0 expected to work for hours, days, months, years developing my craft, and honing that story, all at my own cost of time and energy. Since I'm\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/250px-Francisco_de_Goya_y_Lucientes_-_Gaspar_Melchor_de_Jovellanos.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":908,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2012\/writing\/not-your-typical-fairy-tale\/","url_meta":{"origin":560,"position":3},"title":"Not Your Typical Fairy Tale","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"1 \u041a\u0432\u0456\u0442\u043d\u044f, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Growing up reading fairy tales and seeing films with a happy Hollywood ending, I expected more or less the same kind of ending \u00a0when I got married. I soon found out it took more than love to keep a relationship working. Unlike fairy tales, couples in love don\u2019t always live\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/film-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/The-Last-Kiss.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1565,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2014\/writing\/the-brother-roars-and-more\/","url_meta":{"origin":560,"position":4},"title":"The Brother Roars and More","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"9 \u0421\u0456\u0447\u043d\u044f, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"2013 was a great year on a number of levels. Yes, The Brother roars and more. This short film, that I co-wrote and co-produced with Michael Stevantoni, my grandson, had its premiere in January. After that, it was selected for a number of film festivals. Michael won the Director's Prize\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/film-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"theBROTHERposter","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/theBROTHERposter-218x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1244,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2013\/writing\/the-brother-comes-to-town\/","url_meta":{"origin":560,"position":5},"title":"THE BROTHER Comes To Town","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"21 \u0421\u0456\u0447\u043d\u044f, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"On Jan.24th, our 16 yr. old grandson, Michael Stevantoni, premiered his thirteenth film, THE BROTHER, in\u00a0 Campbell River, B.C. With Michael being in school, it\u2019s taken a year and a half to get this 25 min. film this far. Though he and I co-wrote the screenplay, it\u2019s his vision that\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/film-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"theBROTHERposter","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/theBROTHERposter.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}