Birth of a Cemetery: Forest Lawn Memorial-Park

Forest Lawn Memorial-Park is probably the most famous cemetery in California and also one of the most famous in the country. Known for the beauty of its grounds, art, and service to the community, it has also been parodied in print, film, and television.

Forest Lawn Cemetery was founded in 1906 in Tropico, California, now part of the city of Glendale. Previous publications have emphasized the changes Hubert Eaton made to transform Forest Lawn Cemetery from a typical graveyard into Forest Lawn Memorial-Park. Earlier books ignored the challenges which had to be conquered to create this famous institution.

Birth of a Cemetery reveals the never-told-before history of Forest Lawn's early years. It shows the struggles of the early days, the years of conflicts with Hubert Eaton, and how Eaton struggled to make Forest Lawn a viable enterprise. Overcoming the early challenges, Forest Lawn became a part of the fabric of Los Angeles and the region's growth and development.