Photo Essay: Savannah Memorial Park Pioneer Cemetery, Memorial Day

This Memorial Day, I decided to take a visit to Rosemead, CA, where many of Los Angeles County's founding fathers (and mothers) are buried.

There are plenty of war veterans there too, but I chose to visit the more neglected, overlooked graves...



...the crumbling...



...the old...



...the cracked...



...the infants, with no living family to place flowers or candles atop slightly displaced stones...





The generic...



...the consumed...





...the twig- and moss-covered...













...The split...











..and the sprouted.









Many of these headstones, which lie flat on the ground rather than standing up like modern ones, have virtually sunken into the ground, their perimeters literally exhumed from the encroaching earth, now set into little depressions rather than the little mounds you'd expect to see at a gravesite.



So many darling, beloved babies and infant sons and daughters lost, with no one left to mourn for them...except me, photographing them in memoriam.

Related reading:
Photo Essay: The Faces of Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Photo Essay: Past the Mission
Gloom (Photo Blog)

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Photo Essay: Behind the Scenes at Grauman's Chinese Theater (Now TCL, Updated for 2019)

Last Updated: 1/12/19 8:47 PM PT

When I was back home earlier this month, Maria asked me if I ever did any cheesy touristy things in LA, like taking a tour of the Chinese Theater. I said, "No, not yet."



And then this weekend, I had my chance.

Photo Essay: Millard Canyon

Millard Canyon is an area of the San Gabriel Mountains foothills that has been carved up by several different entities for years.



Part of the canyon, through which a creek runs, spawning a vast biodiversity in the creatures, flora and fauna that populate it, is controlled by the Angeles National Forest...



...while part of the public trail is controlled by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy...



...and yet another part is privately owned, and hopefully soon to be purchased by the Arroyo Foothills Conservancy, whose work in Rubio Canyon will greatly contribute to the foothills' open spaces, and who conducted some guided tours of the area a couple weekends ago.



A vast area of Millard Canyon has been greatly impacted by human presence - mostly vis à vis the recreational and residential cabins that pepper the trail, where people have lived and planted landscaping that has dramatically altered the botanical constitution of the canyon, mostly because of the introduction of invasive species (e.g. vines).



But despite a relatively well-marked trail...

...and some relatively easy creek crossings...

... it is possible to feel wild out there, far from vehicular and foot traffic. In fact, we never saw another hiker...



...and we never saw anyone coming out of those cabins.



Nature has taken control of the area, with several downed trees...



...plenty of plants (including thriving poison oak)...



...tiny, camouflaged flogs living in the creek...



...and abundant wildflowers.







By the boundary of the currently privately-owned land, indications of infrastructure start to manifest...







...before emptying out into a residential neighborhood.



Millard Canyon isn't hard to navigate through - you just follow the creek - but it's a biologically sensitive area, and the trailhead isn't easy to get to.


Hopefully when the AFC completes its land purchase, they'll be able to both protect the native species and make the area more accessible for public use.

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Photo Essay: The Big Parade Day Two Part 2 (Franklin Hills, Los Feliz, Griffith Park)

When I decided to embark on Day Two of The Big Parade this year (having missed last year), I knew I would encounter staircases. I knew I would encounter some hills. And I figured I could make it around the four mile Silverlake loop.



But I decided to try to make it all the way to Griffith Observatory, through Franklin Hills and Los Feliz.



I didn't pressure myself. I figured I would go as far as I could go, and I would know when I had to stop.



But curiosity got the better of me - I'd already seen many of the areas of Silverlake that we'd walked through, but I hadn't done more than drive through Franklin Hills once across the Shakespeare Bridge...



...and I knew, in this hidden city, there was much more to see.



Like who knew there were still movie studios that far east, like The Prospect Studios (near the heart attack-inducing Prospect Stairs)?



Curiosity kept pushing me forth, to go back again across the Shakespeare Bridge, this time on foot, this time in daylight.



At some point between Franklin Hills and Los Feliz, advancing towards my beloved Griffith Park, my walk no longer became a matter of how far did I want to go, but how far could I go?



And where was this secret Glendower Gate entrance to Griffith Park?



Past the infamous Ennis House designed by Frank Lloyd Wright...



...somewhere along Glendower Road...



...and to a gate that opens to a path that leads straight to the Griffith Observatory.



At 6 p.m., nine hours after departing from Silverlake, we arrived at the Observatory, just in time to join the crowds gathered to witness the solar eclipse, which spectators viewed through telescopes, souvenir glasses, holes cut out of cardboard boxes, and various other makeshift apparatuses (like the one woman who reflected the solar eclipse onto the Observatory facade using a commonplace cosmetic mirror that one might find at a chain hair salon).



Once at the Observatory, I collapsed onto the ground. I knew my hiking companions were going all the way to the Hollywood Sign, but I was done. My adventure was complete. I made it farther than I ever thought I would make it, and I could stop now and watch the moon pass across the sun.



Except then I had to get back to my car...4.5 miles away....

For more photos, click here.

Related Reading:
Photo Essay: The Big Parade Day Two (Silverlake)
Keep On Moving

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