Historic West Adams District

When I wrote out my 2010 goals, one is to have more fun. In keeping with that, I went on a fabulous bus tour of the Historic West Adams District of Los Angeles. The tour was offered through a local company called Esotouric. If you're in the LA area, I highly recommend them. This was the second tour they offer that I've taken. Well worth the time and the price. It was a beautiful, rain-free day (after nearly an entire week of rain) and just perfect for some photo ops.

We toured neighborhoods, viewing beautiful homes and beautiful architecture. Just amazing. We would also stop in front of various homes to hear tales of a murder or a crime that happened at those exact locations decades ago. We also stopped in front of the house where Marvin Gaye was shot to death by his father. A particularly disturbing fact was that during the 1920s, child abduction, molestation and murder, seemed quite prevalent. Made me think of the movie "The Changeling".

Near the end of the tour, we paid a visit to Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery. What a magnificent place! Founded in 1884, this is the resting place of many notable characters such as Louise Peete (convicted serial killer) and Fernando Lamas. The grounds are kept well and are peppered with flowers and tall palm trees.



What intrigued me the most about this cemetery was all the headstones and mausoleums. I felt like I was in New Orleans. I had no idea that a cemetery with so many headstones exists in LA. These became my photo op.

Massive headstones of winged angels and towering crosses with possible guardians on watch:





I can only imagine back at the turn of the last century these amazing sculptures were handmade and surely quite pricey. However, I haven't researched this and could totally be wrong and possibly molds were in existence. After all winged angels, guardians, crosses, and the like, surely was common cemetery decor. Of all the wonderful headstones, the one that mesmerized me was the one I call "The Mourner":



This is something I don't think I've ever seen. I have seen footage and photos of cemeteries, but none that contained anything quite like this "Mourner". It was as if I could feel her pain:



I think I shall have to make another trip there in the future for more photo ops and to see if I can find the graves of the notable "residents". This trip found me so caught up in photographing the cemetery "art" that I didn't think to look for the famous.