Verdugo Hills Cemetery
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The Verdugo Hills of Peace Pioneer Cemetery, or Verdugo Hills Cemetery, located in Tujunga, Los Angeles,
California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
, opened in 1922 and closed in 1976.


History

The Los Angeles Office of Historic Resources describes the four-acre cemetery: By the early 1970s the cemetery had fallen into disrepair, according to the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
'', and lost its license in 1976.


Verdugo Hills Cemetery landslide, 1978

On February 10, 1978, after days of torrential rains, a massive landslide occurred in the San Gabriel Mountains foothills above Tujunga. The result was the unearthing of a large section of the cemetery and corpses being strewn throughout the area. The rain had been pouring into holes made by gophers and saturated the earth. When the slope gave way, rotted caskets broke open, and their contents were carried away. According to
Thomas Noguchi is the former Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner for the County of Los Angeles. Popularly known as the "coroner to the stars", Noguchi determined the cause of death in many high-profile cases in Hollywood during the 1960s and 1970s. He performed a ...
's book ''Coroner'', some 100 bodies were sent plunging into homes, businesses, and city streets. He even states that one such body was wedged into the entrance of a supermarket. The resulting task of trying to identify the remains and rebury them under their correct markers is documented in the book. When they arrived, bodies were everywhere. Some, he states, were "grotesquely standing upright". The City of Los Angeles repaired the grounds, but heavy rain unearthed more corpses in 1980.


Restoration

Friends of Verdugo Hills Cemetery
are volunteering every 3rd Saturday of the month in effort to renew and restore the cemetery.


See also

*
List of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments in the San Fernando Valley This is a list of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments in the San Fernando Valley, California. It includes Historic-Cultural Monuments in the San Fernando Valley as well as the adjacent Crescenta Valley. In total, there are more than 70 Hi ...
* Bob Ronka, Los Angeles City Council member, 1977–81


References


External links

* {{LAHMC Cemeteries in Los Angeles Sunland-Tujunga, Los Angeles San Gabriel Mountains History of the San Fernando Valley Landslides in the United States Landslides in 1978 1978 in California Natural disasters in California Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments 1922 establishments in California 1976 disestablishments in California