Hollywood Forever, formerly known as Hollywood Memorial Park (located at 6000 Santa Monica Blvd), famous for its Permanent Celebrity Residents, had become a desolate ruin, especially after being extensively damaged by the Northridge Earthquake in 1994. It became a horrific disgrace, displaying crumbling walls that exposed open crypts, broken glass, rotting wood (Coffins?) and extensive water damage. There were also reports of the stench of decay. The chief architect of this scandal was Jules Roth, a con man, a liar and a thief who stole money from endowment funds and had a wetbar in his cemetery office. He cared nothing for the cemetery or its legendary clients. He forced the cemetery into bankruptcy and some people who were buried there, were exhumed by their surviving relatives and taken to another cemetery. Max Factor was one such person. The State of California brought the Owners up on charges and threatened the Cemetery with closure. However, in 1998 a man named Tyler Cassity bought the property for $375,000.00 and not only made repairs to the place, but also modernized it, bringing it into the 20th Century with the latest technology and gimmicks such as Living Memory, Interviews, Biographical Movies and Webcasts of Funeral Services! Hollywood Forever even has its own website now and can be found here.

And, of course, there are ghosts here. One day, a man was searching for a certain celebrity gravesite in the Abbey Of the Psalms Mausoleum. He asked a quaint looking, old gentleman whom he saw standing in the Foyer where the grave of this person was. The man gave directions. When the other turned around to thank the man, he was gone! He gave a description of the man to a Cemetery Employee and was told that it was Mr. Clifton Webb....who had died of a heart attack in 1966!
The other ghost at Hollywood Forever is not one that you will see, but you might hear it. It has been said that if you wander near the grave of tragic starlet, Virginia Rappe, you might hear a ghostly weeping. She died at the tender age of 25 due to Generalized peritonitis. However, because she had died after a wild party attended by comedic actor Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, it was thought she had been murdered. Arbuckle was charged with the murder. He was tried for the crime three times and acquitted each time. However, his career was irrevokably ruined.
Rudolph Valentino, who died in 1926 of a ruptured appendix, a perforated ulcer and peritonitis is interred in the Cathedral Mausoleum. A grand tomb was planned for his final resting place and Valentino's body was placed in a temporary crypt until it could be built. Unfortunately, Rudy owed back taxes which set the building of the tomb back about three years. Then, another setback occurred on October 24, 1929. The Stock Market crashed and the world wide Depression began. The tomb was never built. Valentino still rests in that "temporary crypt" to this very day. It has been reported that his ghost has been seen walking thru the rear wall of the cemetery and onto the lot at Paramount Studios, where he has also been seen. According to one eye witness (a Security Guard), he looked around and seemed confused. When asked to leave by the Guard, he smiled....and walked thru the wall and back into the cemetery. The Guard resined that very day. Perhaps his confusion stems from the passage of Time and the changes that have taken place in our world since then. He has also been seen at his former home, known as the Falcon's Lair.