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    Valhalla Memorial Park: The Unauthorized Guide
    Valhalla Memorial Park: The Unauthorized Guide
    Valhalla Memorial Park: The Unauthorized Guide
    Ebook50 pages46 minutes

    Valhalla Memorial Park: The Unauthorized Guide

    By Mark Masek

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    About this ebook

    Pierce Brothers Valhalla Memorial Park, near Los Angeles, was founded in 1923, and is the oldest cemetery in the San Fernando Valley. Although more closely associated with the aviation industry than entertainment, Valhalla contains the graves of many well-known and legendary entertainers and celebrities, including comedian Oliver Hardy, professional wrestler Gorgeous George, boxing champion Slapsie Maxie Rosenbloom, stuntman Yakima Canutt, Lassie trainer Rudd Weatherwax, Broadway producer George White, and actresses Mae Clarke, Gail Russell, Lita Grey, Mae Murray and Aneta Corsaut. This book provides a detailed guide to find their final resting places, along with personal and professional biographies. Valhalla also contains the Portal of the Folded Wings memorial, museum and shrine to aviation pioneers, sometimes referred to as “The Arlington of the Air.”

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMark Masek
    Release dateDec 29, 2011
    ISBN9781452410418
    Valhalla Memorial Park: The Unauthorized Guide
    Author

    Mark Masek

    Mark Masek was born and raised in Joliet, Ill., about 40 miles southwest of Chicago. He was always interested in history and Hollywood and, when he moved to the Los Angeles area in 1999, he was able to combine his interests, and wrote "Hollywood Remains to Be Seen: A Guide to the Movie Stars' Final Homes," a detailed history and guidebook to 14 cemeteries in the Los Angeles area, as well as a guide to find the final burial locations of more than 300 entertainment celebrities. He is also a member of the Hollywood Underground, a group of people with the similar interests of finding and documenting the final resting places of celebrities. If they're famous, and they're dead, and they're buried somewhere in the Los Angeles area, he probably knows where to find them.

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      Book preview

      Valhalla Memorial Park - Mark Masek

      Valhalla Memorial Park: The Unauthorized Guide

      Mark Masek

      Smashwords Edition

      Copyright 2011 Mark Masek

      Discover other titles by Mark Masek at Smashwords.com

      or visit his website at http://www.CemeteryGuide.com.

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      A passenger jet from nearby Bob Hope Airport take off over the Portal of the Folded Wings at Pierce Brothers Valhalla Memorial Park.

      In front of the Portal of the Folded Wings is a model of the Space Shuttle, dedicated in 2007 in memory of the 14 crew members who lost their lives on the Challenger on Jan. 29, 1986, and the Columbia on Feb. 1, 2003.

      The ashes of film comedian Oliver Hardy are buried at Valhalla Memorial Park, near this memorial marker, which was placed by members of the Sons of the Desert in 1977.

      Pierce Brothers Valhalla Memorial Park

      10621 Victory Blvd.

      North Hollywood, Calif. 91606

      History: Founded in 1923 by Los Angeles financiers John R. Osborne and C.C. Fitzpatrick and located near the border between North Hollywood and Burbank, just south of the Bob Hope Airport, Valhalla Memorial Park is more closely associated with aviation than entertainment, although more than a few well-known celebrities are buried there.

      But, like almost everything in Los Angeles, Valhalla – named for the mythical palace of Odin, the Norse god of slain warriors – has a shady and mysterious past, buried just beneath the surface.

      In 1925, shortly after the cemetery opened, Osborne and Fitzpatrick were convicted of fraud for repeatedly selling the same burial plots – some as many as 16 times – and making a profit of nearly $5 million. They were both sentenced to 10 years in prison. Valhalla continued to be involved in lawsuits during the late 1920s and early 1930s, and the state of California eventually took over control of the cemetery. Osborne killed himself in 1935, and is buried on the lawn near the Heritage Fountain. His grave marker identifies him as Founder, President, Developer, Valhalla Memorial Parks.

      In 1928, evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson opened a nearby cemetery which was originally known as Blessed Hope Memorial Park, then Restland Memorial Park. Pierce Brothers took over ownership of Valhalla in 1950, as well as the adjoining Restland Memorial Park, and removed the fence separating the two properties, incorporating Restland into Valhalla. The Restland section of Valhalla is located at the far northeastern corner of the property, along Vanowen Street, directly across the street from the Bob Hope Airport.

      In 1958, Pierce Brothers sold its chain of Southern California cemeteries and mortuaries to businessman Joseph L. Allbritton, who sold off 20 unused acres at the northwest corner of the Valhalla property for development of condominiums. Allbritton sold the Pierce Brothers cemeteries and mortuaries in 1991 to Service Corp. International, but the property is still known as Pierce Brothers Valhalla Memorial Park.

      The Portal of the Folded Wings: Valhalla Memorial Park is home to the Portal of the Folded Wings memorial, museum and shrine to aviation pioneers. The structure, which was built in 1924 by architect Kenneth MacDonald Jr. and sculptor Federico Giorgi, was originally known as the

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