Evergreen Cemetery

Founded in 1877 and located on a hill in Boyle Heights, Evergreen Cemetery affords views out to the snow-capped San Gabriel Mountains. Its meandering lanes are tightly packed with age-stained urns draped in mourning cloth, sad angels and an obelisk honoring the Van Nuys and Lankershim clans. Other monuments include a pink marble tiger marking the Pacific Coast Showman's Association plot, where circus folks received dignified send-offs; the Van Caster family's polished stone sphere; and the graves of supermarket magnate George A Ralphs and attorney Earl Rogers, LA's real-life Perry Mason. The newer graves are decorated with balloons, bottles of hooch and stuffed animals, reflecting the deep connection the Chicano community feels to their dead. Sadly, gang tags disfigure some crypts, suggesting that these feelings don't extend to the old Anglo burials.