Even Holy Cross Cemetery is Overrun with Scum (Los Angeles, Glendale: condo, felons)

[Visit a Library]

I drove my mother this day to Holy Cross cemetery to put flowers on several grave plots. The speed limit at the cemetery is 20 mph I believe, which is reasonable considering...well...it's a place of rest for the deceased.

So there I am, driving to the grave plots and observing the speed limit, when a scummy looking fellow with one of those long mustaches that's typically found on felons begins riding my bumper. Then, after I reach my turn-off to another road, I see him in my rear view mirror turning to look at me, showing me his tough-guy gangbanger "I'll mess you up, hombre" look. Huh? Seriously? In a cemetery?

Then, after we've stopped and my mother and me are walking to the graves, I hear a thumping sound -- could it be somebody has been buried alive and is trying to alert us to the fact by banging on their coffin? No -- as the thumping got louder, I realized to my utter disgust that it was the booming of the stereo of some gangbanger types cruising by us in a Cadillac Escalade with tinted windows and custom rims. Seriously...we now boom music at cemeteries?

Then, on the way out, I got tailgated again, this time by a couple of girls who look like they probably date gang members and/or have family members who are gang members.

The scum in this city simply oozes into every last vestige of what was once a decent place to live.

[Fontucky]

Maybe they were picking out plots. For themselves, hopefully.

[RxLoc]

despite the racial overtones I can c where ur coming from. U need to checc that bullsh*t but how other people choose to respect their dead is their decision. Im quiet but a lot of my friends will be bumpin music, lightin blunts and pourin henny **** me too I just won't be loud.

You really have no right to say anything about that. Esp as it seems that the "gang member" is nothing but a code word for black or latino male/female. What makes you be able to tell what kind of men/family those women have btw? (I know a lot of women who don't appreciate being called girls just like you wouldnt like being called a boy btw)


and it's never cool to wish death upon anybody.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by Visit a Library

The scum in this city simply oozes into every last vestige of what was once a decent place to live.

I presume that if they were white they wouldn't be "scum" in your eyes.

Sounds more like poor management of a cemetary than any indication of "oozing scum". Aware of what used to happen at Hollywood Cemetary all the time back in the 1980s and 1990s? There were syringes and condoms left on the grounds under the old management as well as problems with graffiti, vandalism, and homeless breaking in, until the Forever Cemetary from St. Louis bought the cemetary, fixed it up, changed its name to Hollywood Forever, and made it orderly. There are far fewer problems at Hollywood Forever now than there were 30 years ago (I have relatives buried there which is how I know), and its in a far worse neighborhood than Holy Cross. (The neighborhood by Holy Cross is super-safe, the neighborhood by Hollywood Forever has quite a few problems, let's put it that way....)

Perhaps the Forever people should buy Holy Cross if its being that poorly run. They do know how to run a cemetary.

[Jonah K]

Originally Posted by Visit a Library

I drove my mother this day to Holy Cross cemetery to put flowers on several grave plots. The speed limit at the cemetery is 20 mph I believe, which is reasonable considering...well...it's a place of rest for the deceased.

So there I am, driving to the grave plots and observing the speed limit, when a scummy looking fellow with one of those long mustaches that's typically found on felons begins riding my bumper. Then, after I reach my turn-off to another road, I see him in my rear view mirror turning to look at me, showing me his tough-guy gangbanger "I'll mess you up, hombre" look. Huh? Seriously? In a cemetery?

Many folks in Los Angeles have no qualms about killing someone in a cemetery.
Man is fatally shot at Forest Lawn - Los Angeles Times

Originally Posted by Visit a Library

Then, after we've stopped and my mother and me are walking to the graves, I hear a thumping sound -- could it be somebody has been buried alive and is trying to alert us to the fact by banging on their coffin? No -- as the thumping got louder, I realized to my utter disgust that it was the booming of the stereo of some gangbanger types cruising by us in a Cadillac Escalade with tinted windows and custom rims. Seriously...we now boom music at cemeteries?

At least they weren't stealing stereos, or worse yet, grave markers.
String of burglaries at cemeteries in Rancho Palos Verdes, Hollywood Hills | abc7.com
Several bronze headstones, other items looted from Downey Cemetery | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times

Originally Posted by Visit a Library

Then, on the way out, I got tailgated again, this time by a couple of girls who look like they probably date gang members and/or have family members who are gang members.

The scum in this city simply oozes into every last vestige of what was once a decent place to live.

Unfortunately, gang members provide a lot of business for hospitals, mortuaries, and cemeteries. Other than having these establishments increase security by forcing everyone to go through metal detectors (like courthouses or airports), there's not much that can be done...

[bentstrider]

Originally Posted by RxLoc

despite the racial overtones I can c where ur coming from. U need to checc that bullsh*t but how other people choose to respect their dead is their decision. Im quiet but a lot of my friends will be bumpin music, lightin blunts and pourin henny **** me too I just won't be loud.

You really have no right to say anything about that. Esp as it seems that the "gang member" is nothing but a code word for black or latino male/female. What makes you be able to tell what kind of men/family those women have btw? (I know a lot of women who don't appreciate being called girls just like you wouldnt like being called a boy btw)


and it's never cool to wish death upon anybody.

Regardless of whatever race or ethnic background they were, you would've thought that those individuals would've seen enough funerals or memorials through other means to know that you shut off the music and to come/go in peace through an area like that.
As far as why they acted the way they did, I would also blame age.
It seems as though many of the newer generations are being raised without proper discipline.
As for the shiny Cadillac SUV, it was probably mommy or daddys.

[Visit a Library]

Originally Posted by majoun

I presume that if they were white they wouldn't be "scum" in your eyes.

Sounds more like poor management of a cemetary than any indication of "oozing scum". Aware of what used to happen at Hollywood Cemetary all the time back in the 1980s and 1990s? There were syringes and condoms left on the grounds under the old management as well as problems with graffiti, vandalism, and homeless breaking in, until the Forever Cemetary from St. Louis bought the cemetary, fixed it up, changed its name to Hollywood Forever, and made it orderly. There are far fewer problems at Hollywood Forever now than there were 30 years ago (I have relatives buried there which is how I know), and its in a far worse neighborhood than Holy Cross. (The neighborhood by Holy Cross is super-safe, the neighborhood by Hollywood Forever has quite a few problems, let's put it that way....)

Perhaps the Forever people should buy Holy Cross if its being that poorly run. They do know how to run a cemetary.

It's a management issue? Seriously? So we now need people policing the cemetery and asking them to not boom music at a cemetery and not speed through the place? And you're trying to normalize this by making reference to that weird Hollywood cemetery? Are you kidding me? And BTW, this was never an issue decades ago, so it's not something that's always been normal and somehow I'm being a reactionary by just now noticing it. I have family that has been buried there for quite a while and I do not remember as a child people with prison haircuts and mustaches booming their music and giving other patrons tough guy gangbanger looks.

[bigdumbgod]

Originally Posted by Visit a Library

this was never an issue decades ago, so it's not something that's always been normal.

Except it's not "decades ago" anymore, and "normal" changes with generations. Maybe accepted behavior in a cemetary is changing these days.

[CamaroGuy]

Originally Posted by Fontucky

Maybe they were picking out plots. For themselves, hopefully.

I hope not. I know people who have family members who are burried there and they would not be too keen having lowlife trash in the same cemetary as their relatives.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by Visit a Library

It's a management issue? Seriously? So we now need people policing the cemetery and asking them to not boom music at a cemetery and not speed through the place?

The Forever Network does a pretty good job of keeping Hollywood Forever, as it is now called, orderly. Unlike the people they bought it from.

Obviously Holy Cross has management issues which need to be corrected.

And you're trying to normalize this by making reference to that weird Hollywood cemetery?

I.e. the most historic cemetary in Los Angeles? Do you have any idea of what used to go on there? It was nuts. And my family did NOT like visiting our departed relatives there and seeing vagrants there, and seeing used condoms and syringes on the grounds, and seeing the whole place in the state that it fell into. Homeless people would break into the cemetary, knock over and deface the graves, write graffiti on them, etc. Even in the mausoleum rooms there was graffiti. There was open drug dealing going on in front of the cemetary on Santa Monica (especially after the minimall was built). All this came to an end when the Forever people from St. Louis bought it. They were able to clean up the cemetary and have run it quite well. And this in a neighborhood that is FAR more problematic than the very safe neighborhood where Holy Cross is located. Forever has just taken over Glendale's Grand View Cemetary which also has had severe management issues. Sounds like they need to take over Holy Cross, too.

The lesson here is that often it takes non-Angelenos to appreciate what L.A. has and take care of what L.A. has because Angelenos just don't care.

Are you kidding me? And BTW, this was never an issue decades ago, so it's not something that's always been normal and somehow I'm being a reactionary by just now noticing it. I have family that has been buried there for quite a while and I do not remember as a child people with prison haircuts and mustaches booming their music and giving other patrons tough guy gangbanger looks.

There were obviously no management issues there at the time. Just as when my relatives who died in the 1950s and 1960s were buried at Hollywood Cemetary the place was very well kept up and very orderly. Unfortunately the place became mismanaged and fell prey to a number of issues which only ended when the cemetary was sold to a company better able to care for it. To me it sounds like Holy Cross, while managed well in the past, is being mismanaged now, and new ownership will force out the vagrants and undesirables and return it to its former glory.

If I were you I would file a complaint with the California Department of Consumer Affairs Cemetary And Funeral Bureau about the conditions that Holy Cross has fallen into. If other people are also encountering similar problems there than the state might wind up taking action against Holy Cross. According to the California Health and Safety Code if there are safety issues there than the management is liable to arrest and fines.