People sit before the start of Cinespia’s screening of "The Wizard of Oz" at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, on July 31, 2021.In these challenging times, the need for reliable local reporting has never been greater. Put a value on the impact of our year-round coverage. Help us continue to highlight LA stories, hold the powerful accountable, and amplify community voices. Your support keeps our reporting free for all to use. Stand with us today.
Let’s start with the cemetery itself. Tucked between the Hollywood sign and the Paramount Pictures water tower, Hollywood Forever is a peaceful, inviting space alongside the bustle of Santa Monica Boulevard. Rolling green lawns surround the mausoleums with a beautiful water feature in the middle where you can often spot swans or turtles.There’s a strong sense of life in the cemetery — a now infamous feral cat colony and numerous peafowl roam the grounds.
Cemetery tour guide Karie Bible tells tour-goers about the life and death of silent film actor Rudolph Valentino, whose remains are in a mausoleum at Hollywood Forever.Her tour includes the graves of character actors like Peter Lorre, cinematographers, screenwriters, cenotaphs like those of Jayne Mansfield and Hattie McDaniel, directors like Cecil B. DeMille, and of course, stars like Judy Garland.
Wyatt, the founder of Cinespia, was looking for a place to screen classic and cult films, and something about being so close to Old Hollywood history was appealing. The cemetery signed off and it was an immediate success. The first screening wasThe screening space is on the Fairbanks Lawn, near the grave of silent film star and United Artists founder Douglas Fairbanks Sr.Don’t worry, no one is sitting on an actual grave to watch a movie.
During the pandemic lockdowns in 2020, Hollywood Forever closed to the public, deferred memorial services and turned to Zoom. Cinespia needed to find alternative, workable spaces for the screenings and started doing drive-in pop-ups at L.A. State Historic Park and Griffith Park near The Greek. The raised tombs of Constance Adams DeMille and Cecil Blount DeMille, located in the Garden of Legends at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. The remains of other DeMille family members surround those of Constance and Cecil. “And then at the end, she addresses the crowd in her famous speech. And the thrill that runs through the audience when she says, ‘And to you, all you wonderful people in the dark,’” Wyatt recalls.
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