In the mid-1920s, visitors to Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery entered through a monumental Spanish Revival portal with a colorful tile dome. They would have been welcomed to bring picnics and blankets to sit on the lawns and listen to concerts performed for radio broadcast.
Named for the palace of Odin, the Norse god of slain heroes, Valhalla Memorial Park was one of Los Angeles' first lawn cemeteries with grave markers flat to the ground. Tourists came to walk its tree-line avenues and enjoy its three reflecting pools and park-like environment.
Scandal tarnished Valhalla just five months after its opening. Financiers John R. Osborne and CC. Fitzpatrick, who created the cemetery, were convicted of reselling the same burial plots – as many as 16 times – for a profit of $3 to $4 million. They were convicted, fined and sentenced to 10 years in prison. The cemetery was taken over by the State of California until 1950 when it was purchased by Pierce Brothers.
Among those laid to rest here are Oliver Hardy of Laurel and Hardy fame; Bea Benaderet, the voice of Betty Rubble of “The Flintstones”; Aneta Coraut, who played Andy Griffith’s girl friend and his son Opie's teacher, Helen Crump on “The Andy Griffith Show,” Cliff Edwards, the voice of Jiminy Cricket in “Pinocchio”; and Curly-Joe De Rita, the sixth man to be a member of the “Three Stooges.”
Finding graves at Vahalla is sometimes a challenge, so bring your patience when you visit. While the map is helpful, geographically adjacent areas are not necessarily given consecutive letters.
