Gardens of Stone --- A Cemetery Blog by Alexandra Kathryn Mosca

The Mercedes-Benz monument which marks the gravesite of Ray Tse is not to be missed.

Hattie McDaniel not only achieved immortality by playing Mammy in Gone With The Wind but also won an Academy Award for her role, becoming the first African American actor to do so. When she died in 1952, she was denied her wish to be buried in California’s Hollywood Memorial Park because of the cemetery’s “whites only” policy. Instead, she was buried in LA’s Rosedale Cemetery. After Tyler Cassity took over Hollywood Memorial Park in 1998—renaming it Hollywood Forever—he offered to have McDaniel’s remains disinterred from Rosedale and reburied. McDaniel’s family did not want her remains disturbed, so instead, Cassity had a four-foot pink and gray granite cenotaph erected in her honor. The cenotaph was unveiled to the public on October 26, 1999, the 47th anniversary of McDaniel's death, in a dedication ceremony to which the public was invited.