Photo: FLLewis/Media City G -- A serene scene at Grand View Cemetery in Glendale shot through a locked gate on October 22, 2010
The gates of Grand View Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale will be open this Sunday, a few weeks before the anticipated start of the restoration. By the order of Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Anthony Mohr, the struggling 120-plus-year-old cemetery will also be open for visitors on Sunday, November 21, as well as Sunday, December 5.
In an e-mail update this week, Attorney Paul Ayers, who is heading up the $500,000 restoration project, announced a landscape architect “… has completed construction plans for irrigation installation and landscape rehabilitation…” for the beleaguered cemetery.
The hiring of a landscape contractor should be a done deal by next week, clearing away for the restoration to begin. “We anticipate breaking ground on or about December 15, 2010,” Ayers said.
Grand View appears to be making progress on the long road to recovery. In January, a multi-million dollar settlement was finalized in a class-action lawsuit against the cemetery. More than a thousand plaintiffs were involved in that suit. It was one of seveal lawsuits filed against the cemetery after a state investigator in 2005, discovered thousands of human remains at Grand View had been improperly handled. Also, there were allegations of illegal business practices such as the selling of non-existing grave plots.
Management and financial problems forced the cemetery to close down more than two years ago. Since then, Grand View has been open to the public only periodically by a judge’s order.
Grand View will be open Sunday, November 7, from noon to 4 p.m.
