Local News in Brief : Graveyard Nearing Landmark Status
The cemetery that Wilmington founder Phineas Banning established 131 years ago to bury his first child is about to be declared a Los Angeles landmark--a year and a half after it went broke and was temporarily forced to shut its gates.
This week, a City Council committee approved a recommendation by the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission that the Wilmington Cemetery be given historic status. The entire council is expected to add its approval when it meets Jan. 24, said Susan Pritchard, an aide to Harbor-area Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores.
The cemetery at Eubank Avenue and O Street just north of Pacific Coast Highway is said to be the oldest graveyard still in use in Los Angeles County.
It is the resting place of Civil War veterans and members of several of the first families of Southern California, including the Narbonnes, the Carsons and the Sepulvedas.
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