Cemetery Seeks to Move Some Graves Away From Unstable Ground

Rose Hills Memorial Park, one of the world’s largest cemeteries, is the final home to a diverse mix of artists, musicians, actors, political leaders and regular Joes in the world. Modern dance legend Alvin Ailey, rapper Easy E and Keystone Kop Ted Edwards are among those buried in the Whittier cemetery’s 1,400 acres.

While these legends continue to rest in peace, at least 143 graves in a 13-acre section--the Garden of Commemoration and Greenwood Gardens--are at risk of being washed down the cemetery’s slopes in the coming rainy season.

So far there are no exposed graves, but cemetery officials said the area has been a concern for a number of years.

Cemetery representatives are scheduled to request permission Wednesday from a Norwalk Superior Court to unearth the endangered caskets and reinter them in safer ground. Rose Hills spokeswoman Sandra Sternberg said cemetery representatives are taking the extra precaution of requesting court permission to make the move.

“Many of the next of kin are no longer alive,” she said. “It’s difficult to advise all of them.”

Rose Hills staff members spent Tuesday fielding calls from family members. Sternberg said cemetery officials have been writing and calling next of kin since Saturday, and have reached more than half of them. She said the coffins removed from the graves would be interred in a temporary space until family members pick new plots.

Geologists drained the area after 1998’s El Nino storms. But in a study presented to park authorities last week, engineering consultants said they could not guarantee that such a procedure would work a second time. According to geologists, the land recently moved and may continue to slip.

“The area could be at serious risk for major movement after it begins to rain during the fall and winter months,” said a statement from Rose Hills Co., which owns the park.

Most of the park--which features 600 varieties of roses and carefully tended lawns--remains safe for the 500,000 or so buried there, as well as the million people who visit annually.

Sternberg said that much of the land at Rose Hills was graded for development around 1900, and the cemetery was opened in 1914. As the park expanded, and as scientists discovered more about the area’s geology, officials learned of the slide risks.