Home of Peace Mausoleum

The domed Chapel Mausoleum with its double minarets is at the end of a long stretch of lawn directly in front of the entrance to Los Angeles’ Home of Peace Cemetery.

Oriental archways open on to corridors of marble-fronted crypts. Stained glass skylights scatter shards of colored light on the floor. Silence reigns.

This is the second of two posts on Home of Peace Cemetery.  The first covers the grounds surrounding the mausoleum.  A map of the mausoleum is available at the end of this post.

Here you’ll find the tombs of studio moguls like Louis B. Mayer and Carl Laemmle and his namesake son; Mack Gordon, who composed “Chattanooga Choo Choo”; Shemp Howard of the Three Stooges; ice cream maker Burt "Butch" Baskins; and mobster David Berman and his murdered daughter Susan Berman.

As you enter the mausoleum, you will be facing the Chapel. At the first corridor, turn to your left (east).  This is the Corridor of Adoration.  

Corridor of Adoration

Go to the end of the hall.  On your left (north) will be the Norton family room.

Isaac Norton (1844-1917) helped organize the Metropolitan Building and Loan Association, the Central Broadway Building Co. and the Free Loan Society in Los Angeles during its boom years.  His wife, Bertha (Bertie) Greenbaum Norton (1856-1949), was believed to be the first Jewish girl born in Los Angeles. Norton’s crypt is the bottom one on the left facing into the family room.  His wife is immediately above him.

Samuel Tilden Norton (1877-1959) was an architect who helped design the Greek Theatre (1913), Wilshire Boulevard Temple, the Financial Center Building at 704 Spring St. (with F. H. Wallis), and the Los Angeles Theatre (with S. Charles Lee). He designed two buildings for Sinai Congregation, Los Angeles’ first Conservative synagogue: the first at at 12^th and Valencia streets in 1909, and the second at 407 S. New Hampshire in 1924. The latter remains today as the Korean Philadelphia Presbyterian Church. His work also included the B’nai B’rith Lodge at 9^th and Union streets (1923); the Jewish Orphans Home of Southern California (1924), the Young Men’s Hebrew Association at Soto Street and Michigan Avenue (1925), Israel Temple at Franklin and Argyle (1927) and a clubhouse for the Council of Jewish Women (1928).  His crypt is on the bottom of the right hand side as you face into the room.

Retrace your steps back and cross the entry way to the Corridor of Love. 

Corridor of Love

Go to the end of the hall. On your right (north), you will find: 

Carl Laemmle (1867-1939) founded Universal Studios. He was the first studio head to publicize his stars by name and is given credit for launching the star system. An Omaha clothing store manager, he was fascinated by the lines outside Chicago’s nickelodeons. He bought his own theater in 1906 and a second two months later.  As his chain grew, he expanded into movie distribution. Thomas Edison’s Motion Picture Patents Co. tried to force him out of business by refusing to supply films. Laemmle filed suit and announced he would produce his own films. In 1916, he launched the Universal Studios Tour, charging visitors 25-cents to wander through the backlots and watch movies being made. His crypt is second from the bottom on the right side of the room.

Carl Laemmle, Jr. (1908-1979). As a teenager, he produced shorts for Universal Studios. On his 21^st birthday, he was named president of the company. One of his first projects, “All Quiet on the Western Front” (1930), won an Academy Award for Best Picture.  Under his leadership, Universal launched a series of classic horror films, including “Frankenstein” (1931), “Dracula” (1931), “The Mummy” (1932) and “The Invisible Man” (1933).  He also produced “My Man Godfrey” (1936) and the musical “Showboat” (1936). By 1936, his lavish spending had nearly bankrupted the studio. The Laemmle family was tossed out of Universal Studios in a hostile takeover. His crypt is second from the top.

Return to the rotunda. Turn to your right toward the chapel, and then right again into the Corridor of Devotion.  About midway down the corridor will be some steps leading into the Corridor of Solace.

Corridor of Solace

Rudolph W. Mayer (Rubin Meir) (1889-1951) was an international con-artist repeatedly bailed out of trouble by his brother Louis. When his legitimate business, Dominion Iron & Wrecking Co. Folded in 1918, he charmed people into buying Florida swampland or shares in a bogus movie studio on the strength of the family name. Arrested in Baltimore for the latter, he jumped bail and fled to China. Louis repaid investors from his own pocket and got the district attorney to drop charges.  By the eve of Pearl Harbor in 1941, Rudolph was in a Shanghai jail for money laundering.  He was held in Manila by the Japanese when they invaded China. Louis used his friendship with Cardinal Francis Spellman to get him released. Given a nominal position at MGM, Rudolph ultimately died in a hotel fire he started himself smoking in bed.

Abe Stern is a little further down the Corridor of Solace on the left side. 107 SW.

Turn back toward the chapel. Where there is a break in the hallway on your right turn toward and cross the Corridor of Remembrance to the Corridor of Immortality.

Corridor of Immortality

When you enter the hallway, turn right (west) and look toward the wall on your left.

Mack Gordon (1904-1959) was a composer and lyricist whose work has been used in the soundtracks of more than 100 films. He was nominated for the best original song Oscar nine times. He won once for “You’ll Never Know” from the musical “Hello Frisco, Hello” (1943). His credits include “Chattanooga Choo-Choo.” (Crypt 50)

Further down the corridor, also on the left is:

Leo F. Forbstein (1892-1948) was the music director and orchestra conductor for more than 550 film projects. He won the first Academy Award for Best Score ever given in 1936 for “Anthony Adverse.” Before coming to Hollywood in the mid-1920s, he had been a pioneer in synchronizing orchestral music to the action of a silent film. His first work in Hollywood was leading the symphony orchestra at Grauman’s Egyptian Theatre. He joined Warner Bros. as one of the directors of its Vitaphone Orchestra, becoming general music director in 1931. He died of a heart attack while preparing the music for the 1948 Academy Awards ceremony.  (Crypt 205 SW)

Directly below Forbstein’s crypt, at ground level is:

Harry Rapf (1880-1949) was one of the original top executives of MGM Studios when it was formed in 1924. He worked with Irving Thalberg in production, doing mainly westerns and shorts. His film “Broadway Melody”(1929) won an Academy Award for Best Picture. He was a founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. A heart attack in 1939 forced him to retire.  Mayer talked him into returning as producer in 1946, but a fatal 1949 heart attack ended his career. (Crypt 104-SW)

Louis B. Mayer (Lazar Meir) (1884-1957) turned a Haverhill, Mass., nickelodeon into New England’s largest theater chain. He invested his profits from distributing D.W. Griffith’s “Birth of a Nation” in 1918 in Metro Pictures and started Louis B. Mayer Productions in 1918. Marcus Loew, owner of Metro, orchestrated the 1924 merger of Mayer Productions, Metro Pictures and Goldwyn Pictures into MGM. Mayer became head of West Coast operations. An administrative genius, Mayer was also a workaholic, volatile and vengeful. After building an empire on MGM’s golden, hopeful movies, Mayer started buying and breeding race horses. He failed to note that post-war tastes were changing and TV was rising. As MGM profits fell, Mayer clashed with its parent company’s executives. He was forced into retirement in 1951. He received an honorary Oscar for “distinguished service to the motion picture industry,” which included helping to found the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1927. (Crypt 405)

Ida Mayer Cummings (-1968), Louis B. Mayer’s older sister, was an active fundraiser in Los Angeles. Bob Hope once said she was "the only woman I know who can reach through the telephone and grab a man by the lapels!" Her son, Jack Cummings, produced such films as “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” (1954) and most of the Elvis films.

Retrace your steps to the Corridor of Devotion. Cross the main hallway leading to the chapel and enter the Corridor of Memory.  About half way down the corridor is a short hall with shallow steps on your right leading to the next series of corridors.  Pass through the Corridor of Harmony into the Corridor of Benevolence. Ahead will be the Corridor of Peace. 

Corridor of Peace

Burton Baskin (1913-1967), with his brother-in-law Irving Robbins, founded the global ice cream empire of Baskin-Robbins 31 Flavors in 1953 by merging their Glendale ice cream parlors. (Crypt E 119A)

Dave Berman (1903-1957) got into organizing crimes as a Sioux City, Iowa, teenager  and moved on to New York City and Minneapolis, earning the name “Davie the Jew.” He had close associations with the Genovese Family. His Minneapolis operations were busted by Mayor Hubert Humphrey. He moved his crew to Las Vegas and took over The Flamingo Hotel after Bugsy Siegel was assassinated. He was one of the few mobsters of his time to survive to a natural death (during colon surgery). (Crypt 253)

Corridor of Truth (At the rear of the Mausoleum)

Jerry G. Mayer (Gershon Meir) (1891-1947) joined brother Louis B. Mayer as the plant manager of Louis B. Mayer Productions in 1918. Six years later, he became location manager for the newly created MGM Studios. The Mayer brothers argued so often, Jerry left to become a talent manager in 1930. Louis boycotted Jerry’s clients.  Jerry returned to MGM as general manager in 1938, working through MGM’s busiest years until his death from cancer. (Crypt 420)

Corridor of Eternal Light

Kurt Neumann (1898−1958) was a German-born director and producer who wrote, directed or produced 70 films. He came to the United States in the early 1930s to shoot foreign-language versions of Universal talkies. He was the first choice to direct “The Bride of Frankenstein” (1935) but was replaced at the last minute by James Whale. He is best known for the 1958 science-fiction thriller, “The Fly.” He never lived to see its success. A month before its premiere, Neumann apparently killed himself.

Shemp Howard (Samuel Horwitz) (1895-1955) was one of the Three Stooges with his brother Moses “Moe” Howard and actor Larry Fine. Their vaudeville act led to a 1930 movie, “Soup to Nuts.” Shemp left the group to pursue a solo career and was replaced by his brother Jerome “Curly” Howard. Shemp starred in comedies for Vitaphone and feature films at RKO, MGM, Monogram and Universal. When Curly’s health failed, Shemp returned to the Stooges to keep the group going. He made 77 shorts and a feature film “Gold Raiders” (1951) as one of the Stooges.  He died of a heart attack lighting up a cigar in the back of a taxi, heading back to his North Hollywood home after seeing a boxing match with friends. His brother Curly Howard is buried on the west side of the mausoleum.

Harry Einstein (1904-1958) built a vaudeville and nightclub career as a dialect comic.  His character, Parkyakarkus, a Greek lunch counter owner, was known to millions of radio listeners on “The Eddie Cantor Show.” The character had a short stint in the movies.  For the last 10 years of his life, Einstein was unable to perform because of a heart ailment and spinal surgery so he wrote gags for others. His last appearance was at a roast for Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. At the end of his performance, host Art Linkletter exclaimed, “Why isn’t this man on television?” “Yeah! Why aren’t I?” Einstein replied then slumped into the arms of Milton Berle, who was seated next to him. When Berle called out to ask if there was a doctor in the house, the audience thought he was joking. Einstein was declared dead from a heart attack at the scene. He was the father of actor-writer-director Albert Brooks and comedian Bob Einstein (“Super Dave Osborne”). Crypt 248.

Susan Berman (1945-2000), the daughter of mobster Dave Berman, was a reporter, scriptwriter and author who discovered his father’s criminal life when she was in her 30s. She wrote a memoir, Easy Street, about her life as a mobster’s daughter. Just before Christmas Eve 2000, she was murdered execution style with a handgun at her Benedict Canyon home, prompting speculation that it was a mobster-related murder. Her murder came days after New York State Police contacted her to ask questions about the 1982 disappearance of her long-time friend Robert Durst's wife Kathleen. In March 2015, Durst was arrested in New Orleans and charged with first-degree murder in connection with Berman's death. (Crypt is on the second level.)