Mountain View Cemetery Comes Alive on Film

Fingers of early morning sunlight creep across the lawn at Mountain View Cemetery in Altadena. A squirrel pauses on a cylindrical marble head stone to crack a nut. The purpled San Gabriel Mountains embrace the view north. Birds chirp and sing in the cedars. A browning chestnut leaf drifts down to the grass.

The Mattisons, Szymanskis, Jacksons, Hurlbuts and Spaldings slumber in eternal rest. The more than 14,000 people interned here include congressmen, state legislators, a governor, a Nobel Laureate, a MacArthur Foundation genius, Civil War veterans and Congressional Medal of Honor recipients. You’d instantly recognize the faces of some, like character actor Cy Kendall (1898-1953) or George Reeves (1914-1959), who played Superman in the 1950s TV series.

Some created characters, like Earl Derr Biggers’ (1884-1933) Chinese detective Charlie Chan, or places like the movie sets that George J. Hopkins (1896-1985) designed for “My Fair Lady” (1964), “A Streetcar Named Desire” (1951), “Auntie Mame” (1958) and “The Music Man” (1962).

Some created other worlds like science fiction writer Octavia E. Butler (1947-2006); others tried to change the world like Black Panther leader Eldridge Cleaver (1935-1998); and still others like physicist Richard Feynman (1918-1988) tried to explain the world.


You may be more familiar with Mountain View Cemetery from film or television. The cemetery is reported to be used for filming 150 days a year.

It was here that Mama Solis’ funeral took place in the “Desperate Housewives” Season 1 episode, “There Won’t Be Trumpets.” It was the cemetery where George Costanza’s fiance was buried in the Season 8 episode, “The Foundation.” (She dies from toxic glue ingested while licking the envelopes of their wedding invitations.) Scenes for episodes of “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” and “Six Feet Under” have also been filmed here.

From Family Plots to Civic Cemetery

Had the grave of Levi W. Giddings’ daughter Laura not been threatened by a land sale, Mountain View Cemetery never would existed. Laura Giddings and others were buried on land owned by Col. Jabez Banbury along the Arroyo Seco. When he decided to sell his land, the question of what to do with the graves became urgent. Giddings bought the land and donated it for burying the citizens of Pasadena in 1882. Prior to that, most families buried their loved ones on family land.

Today, the 60-acre Mountain Cemetery is still operated by Giddings’ descendants.

The Mausoleums of Mountain View Cemetery

Through the years, the cemetery acquired Mountain View mausoleum across the street at 2300 N. Marengo Ave., and the Pasadena Mausoleum, which can be reached from within the cemetery.

The Mountain View Mausoleum is considered “the crown jewel of the more than 80 mausoleums constructed by Cecil E. Bryan.” It is where Bryan himself was interred in 1951.

Bryan worked a year for architect Frank Lloyd Wright and another with Ralph Modjeski, a pioneer in using reinforced concrete and the builder of the Bay Bridge connecting San Francisco with Oakland.

From the street, the Mountain View Mausoleum looks like a rundown, nearly abandoned church. Inside, the building has marble fronted crypts and floors and magnificent stained glass ceilings — typical of Bryan’s work. It is monumental without making visitors feel insignificant.

The Pasadena Mausoleum is a much smaller neo-Classical building with a modern addition.

Notable People Interred at Mountain View Cemetery

While this isn’t a large cemetery and it does have section markings along the curbs, it can be challenging to find specific sites.

To tour the cemetery, go through the main gates and turn right. Follow the road until it branches right again and you will be at the Pasadena Mausoleum.

Pasadena Mausoleum

George B. Reeves (1914-1959), best remembered for his role of Superman in the 1950s television series. His niche is in the columbarium directly inside the door of the Pasadena Mausoleum and to the left. His urn can be found in the second bank of niches toward the far end on the right, about midway up the wall.

Radiant Meadow

Mary Stone, MD, (1873-1954), who organized the first Red Cross in China and founded a modern nursing school in China. She served as the only doctor for five million rural Chinese in the early part of the century. (Lot 466, Grave 2)

At the east edge of Radiant Meadow, the road branches. Take the right or southern branch toward Marengo Avenue. You will approach the Vista del Monte Garden Crypts.

Vista del Monte Garden Crypts

Matthew Robinson (1914-2000), won a Silver Medal at the 1936 Berlin Olympics for the 200-meter race, beaten only by sprinter Jesse Owens. He was the older brother of baseball legend Jackie Robinson. His niche is on the side of the crypts closest to Fair Oaks and the entrance to the cemetery. In the first north-south corridor, his niche is on the east wall (parallel to Marengo) in the second column from the right, and fifth niche from the top.

Across the road toward Marengo, is where you’ll find:

Eldridge Cleaver (1935-1998), a social activist and leader of the Black Panthers movement of the 1960s. The black stone marking his grave says “A Loving Heart and Helping Hand.” If you’re facing Marengo Avenue, with the Mountain View Mausoleum ahead and to your left, Eldridge Cleaver’s grave is next to a sprinkler head with a tall redwood to the left and a crepe myrtle tree to the right. Directly ahead is a standing stone with the name Laugharn on it.

Founders Lawn

Richard Feynman (1918-1988), a mathematician, physicist, writer and 1965 Nobel Laureate in physics. (Founders Lawn, Curb No. 1617)

Wallace Neff (1895-1982) was a noted architect who designed Pickfair, the home of Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., and homes for such Hollywood celebrities as Fredric March, Joan Bennett, Darryl Zanuck, Charles Chaplin and Groucho and Harpo Marx.

The grandson of map maker Andrew McNally, Neff is credited with helping to create Spanish and Mediterranean influenced California architecture. His simple concrete cast marker is the fourth marker from the curb, north of the upright stone for Up de Graff and south of the upright stone for Page. (Section 1878, Grave 11)

Mountain Meadow

Charles Richter (1900-1985), a seismologist and physicist, invented the Richter magnitude scale, which was used for measuring earthquake magnitudes until the 1979 development of the moment magnitude scale..

Mountain Vineyard

Frank Holliday (1912-1948) was a movie actor of the 1930s, who had a role in the Frank Capra classic “It Happened One Night” (1934). (L-3233)

Serene Pastures

Henry H. Markham (1840-1923) was governor of California from 1891 to 1895, after campaigning as “the dashing colonel from Pasadena.” (Lot 186)

Windsong Lane

George P. Baker (1931-1997), a sculptor known for his abstract works. Locally, he designed a fountain at the World Trade Center in Long Beach and a kinetic fountain at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Other works of his are in the Whitney Museum and Museum of Modern Art in New York.

On the Fair Oaks edge of the cemetery, north of the entrance, you’ll find:

Octavia E. Butler (1947-2006), the first black woman to make a living writing science fiction full time. A dreamy dyslexic child she spent much of her time in the Pasadena public library and began writing at 10. In 1995, she became the only science fiction writer ever to receive a MacArthur Foundation genius grant. Her plot is located along a cinder block wall near a service building. Engraved on her stone are these words from one of her books, “All that you touch, You Change. All that you Change, Changes you. The only lasting truth is Change. God is Change.”

Others you can find here include:

Charles Webster Bell (1857-1927), a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and the California State Senate.

Thomas F. Ellsworth (1840-1911) A Civil War veteran and Congressional Medal of Honor recipient. He was a captain in the first regiment of colored soldiers (Mass 55th).

Wilbur Hatch (1902-1969), was a composer and conductor in radio and television including L.A.'s KNX and CBS radio stations. He became the conductor of the Desi Arnaz Orchestra for the “I Love Lucy” television series and composed the musical scores for various episodes. From 1951 until his death, he was the resident musical director of Desilu Studios, where his work included being musical director on Star Trek, The Untouchables and other Desilu productions.

The Details of Mountain View Cemetery and Pasadena Mausoleum

• Location: The cemetery is at 2400 N. Fair Oaks Avenue, Altadena, CA 91001. The Mausoleum is at 2300 N. Marengo Ave., Altadena, CA 91001.
• Telephone: (626) 794-7133
• Hours: Cemetery gates are open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

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