Los Angeles, CA | Imagine walking through downtown Los Angeles, oblivious to the forgotten graves beneath your feet. We’re unearthing the eerie history of Los Angeles cemeteries and graveyards where the headstones were moved, but the bodies… not so much. Did anyone learn anything from Poltergeist?? For decades, construction crews have periodically dug up surprise skeletons and more around LA. We’ll share some of the finds in Boyle Heights through Chinatown, and give you a preview of a deeper dive we are planning to do in October on The Hollywood Forever cemetery.
Quick warning: Leah watched Midsommer this week and couldn’t not talk about it. If you haven’t seen it and would like to be as surprised as you will be traumatized by the ending, just skip ahead of that discussion to avoid the plot spoiler around minutes 14 -15.
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🐇 Go ahead, down the rabbit hole you go… Here’s the complete list of sources for this episode:
-Becerra, H. (2005, November 22). Bones unearthed during Gold Line construction. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-nov-22-me-bones22-story.html
-Berman, J., & Carreño, S. (2009, May 1). The former downtown dead zone. LA Downtown News. https://www.ladowntownnews.com/news/the-former-downtown-dead-zone/article_4b0bb876-8ab5-5fa0-98fd-c42f0ed1c0d3.html
-Chinese Historical Society of Southern California. (n.d.). Tombstones project. https://chssc.org/tombstones/
-Discover Los Angeles. (2024, May 21). Hollywood Forever: The story of an LA icon. Discover Los Angeles. https://www.discoverlosangeles.com/visit/hollywood-forever-the-story-of-an-la-icon
-Ehrenreich, B. (2014, March 3). Railroaded: Unearthing the history of the Chinese laborers who laid the tracks for L.A.’s rapid growth. Los Angeles Magazine. https://lamag.com/news/railroaded
-Garcia, R. (2012, May 11). Rest in peace: Ancestors finally return to El Pueblo. PBS SoCal. https://www.pbssocal.org/history-society/rest-in-peace-ancestors-finally-return-to-el-pueblo
-Greenfield, R. (2011, March 16). Our first public parks: The forgotten history of cemeteries. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/03/our-first-public-parks-the-forgotten-history-of-cemeteries/71818/
-Kakutani, M. (2022, October 4). Over my dead body by Greg Melville [Book review]. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/04/books/review/over-my-dead-body-greg-melville.html
-Meares, H. (2013, August 30). Evergreen Cemetery: Snapshots of a forever-changing Boyle Heights. PBS SoCal. https://www.pbssocal.org/history-society/evergreen-cemetery-snapshots-of-a-forever-changing-boyle-heights
-Melville, G. (2022). Over my dead body: Unearthing the hidden history of America’s cemeteries. Abrams Press.
-Olito, F. (2018, October). Map: U.S. graveyards and cemeteries. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/map-us-graveyards-cemeteries-2018-10
-Pierson, D. (2007, April 22). Century-old graves unearthed in Los Angeles MTA project. SFGate.
-Stevens, J. (2018, October). Graveyards of the contiguous USA. https://www.joshuastevens.net/blog/g
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👏 Special thanks to our talented partners:
Paolo Sbrighi for Musical Composition (instagram.com/paulosbrighi/)
Mario Cintra for Logo Design (instagram.com/alacarala/)
