Holy Cross, part 2

[aceofkittens]

Yesterday, I thought I'd elevate this LJ a little from its typical "whining and moaning" content, by posting about my walks in Holy Cross Cemetery: Read all about it!

Today, as promised, I'm posting pictures!



So, this is the entrance. People seem to drive in and out of this cemetery at crazy speeds. I keep waiting to get hit by a car. How ironic would that be! Except of course, I am not Catholic.




Doesn't this picture look ominous? I totally thought it was going to rain yesterday. (It didn't.) I haven't gotten any closer than that to the building, because it's usually full of mourners/funerals.




This is pretty typical. The green turf with flowers covers the pyramid of dirt. Note the blue "outer coffin" sitting on top of slats. I think this definitely is how they lower the real coffin in. I should have paid more attention to Six Feet Under.




These are everywhere. Note the uncovered pyramid of dirt — different from the typical "funeral" mounds of dirt. I'm going to guess that these may be how they deal with the cheaper funerals. But, I'm not sure.




Yup, Bela Lugosi's dead — and buried in Holy Cross. He's one of the celebrities! Everyone seems to have known about this but me. Rita Hayworth and Macdonald Carey ("Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives") are underneath other gravestones I found yesterday. N.B.: the small black bat on the left side of Mr. Lugosi's marker.




Here's that heron. He really didn't want me to take his picture yesterday. He flapped away to the other side of the pond. Oh well, I still took his soul!


This concludes today's photo essay. :)

Comments

[saladbar.livejournal.com]

Awesome pics.

Oh you need to come to New Orleans gravedigger!!!

[aceofkittens.livejournal.com]

I've never been to NO!!!

[saladbar.livejournal.com]

The graveyards there are legendary.

[wiliqueen.livejournal.com]

Duuuuude, you are so not wrong.

:: has only been in NOLA two weeks out of her life and misses it something fierce ::

[saladbar.livejournal.com]

When it flooded there recently, my friend told me how weird it was just seeing the tops of the cemeteries (all buried above ground) peeking up from the water. Like sculptures swimming.

[kingcadillac.livejournal.com]

Did I ever show you the pic of Morgan at Bela Lugosi's grave? He was like 1 1/2 at the time. Morgan, that is.

Did you see Bing Crosby, down the row a little from The Count?

[aceofkittens.livejournal.com]

I love that pic of him! In fact, I was just thinking about that picture as I searched for Dracula's final resting place. And I did see Bing! (and all his family, it seemed)

See, everyone else knows Holy Cross is all famous!

[aceofkittens.livejournal.com]

Poor Bela Lugosi was forever damaged in my mind by Plan 9 From Outer Space.

More more more

[nowafulldeck.livejournal.com]

Great pictures. I like cemeteries. They're like parks that don't get ruined by park managers and frisbeeites. We need more of your Holy Cross pictures. And of course you need to protect yourself against hives.

Re: More more more

[aceofkittens.livejournal.com]

That's all I took. Not much else of interest. :)

[sakeofmercy.livejournal.com]

Neat!

Although, I think they cover allllll the mounds of dirt with astro-turf.

Maybe that funeral wasn't till later in the day.

[aceofkittens.livejournal.com]

I went back after work, and that one was still there. But I doubt it will be there today. Who knows... if I ever see someone who works there who looks like they speak English, I'll ask.

[kingcadillac.livejournal.com]

Have you gone to the cemetary on Pico and 14th? It's a lovely spot. Not much in the way of famed dead, but it's a very pretty place.

[aceofkittens.livejournal.com]

I've been past it several times, but never been inside. The first time, I was walking and was really shocked to see that there was a cemetery right there. I just can't get used to having cemeteries in the middle of town. The weird thing is this was a couple of years ago, when I kept seeing crows everywhere. And there was an entire murder of crows flapping around that cemetery. So spooky! :)

[darthmollusc.livejournal.com]

Wow. Those are awesome.

I love the entrance shot especially. If that was next door to where I worked I would be photographing it once a week in every angle and against every kind of sky.

Too cool!

[aceofkittens.livejournal.com]

Thank you... I like that one and the one of the church. It seems so spooky and ominous!

I didn't get to go outside at lunch today (nonstop meetings), but maybe I'll take more pics tomorrow.

[dedopossum.livejournal.com]

Cool pics!

[aceofkittens.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm trying to be less whiny and "OMG I might never drink again!" and more filled with worthy content! ;)

[dedopossum.livejournal.com]

I would whine a whole lot if I thought I couldn't drink!

[ketsele.livejournal.com]

i thoroughly enjoyed this photoessay.i like taking pictures in cemeteries too.

[aceofkittens.livejournal.com]

Thank you. Since all the markers are flat, there's not much in the way of interesting gravestones, which I have seen in other cemeteries. I don't know that I want to take photos of non-famous people's markers — it seems too intrusive.

[seismic.livejournal.com]

Lovin' the cemetary photos. And the soul stealing. Definitely approve of the soul stealing.

[aceofkittens.livejournal.com]

Hee hee!!! Thanks! You know, there are lots of really neat cemeteries in Colma. The pet cemetery is pretty cool. There's also a pet cemetery somewhere in the Presidio. I sense a photo shoot! :)

[splodgenoodles.livejournal.com]

Hi!
Wandered in from saladbar's page.

This is a great post.

I have an (unfortunately very boring) explanation for the uncovered pyramids of dirt - it could simply be preference of the family. When you go through funeral planning they probably offer you the option, and some people will want the dirt covered and some people won't, not neccessarily for cost reasons. I've been to burials where the family insisted that the dirt be completely removed until everyone had gone and the entire area laid out with astroturf, and others where everyone chucked handfuls of dirt in on the coffin.

...although I'm very puzzled by unattended coffins. That is *not* something I've ever seen before.

[aceofkittens.livejournal.com]

Yeah... lots of these white unattended coffins. I basically have only an hour for lunch, but they're usually there when I arrive and still there when I leave. It's puzzling. There's none of the other trappings of a funeral (chairs, flowers, etc.) near them, either. I suppose I will just ask one of these days, but that means going into the mortuary, because the guys out on the backhoes and lawnmowers don't look terribly communicative.

You seem nice, let's add one another! :)

[splodgenoodles.livejournal.com]

?Paupers' burials perhaps? But then the coffins would probably be plainer.

You seem nice, let's add one another! :)
..mwahahahaha! soon I shall rule the world...
Why thankyou, yes, let's do that!

[aceofkittens.livejournal.com]

Uh oh, I'm in for it now!!! :)

Ahahahah, love your marzipan bears icon! Did you the marzipan kangaroos as well?

[cohen7.livejournal.com]

cool pictures - i hope you don't mind, but i stole the bela lugosi picture and posted it in a horror movies community i belong too because i figured they'd really appreciate it...

if this isn't cool, just tell me and i'll take it down asap. :)

[aceofkittens.livejournal.com]

That's totally cool. I can try to take a better one where the bat someone left on the marker is more prominent. It's a little blurry on the one I took, I think. :)