Discovery at the Cemetary
I run through a cemetary not far from here. All in all, it's maybe a 4-mile loop, but en route I go through Albany, North Berkeley, El Cerrito, and Kensington. The cemetary, Sunset View Cemetary and Mortuary, is on a hill overlooking the bay; you can see Mt. Tam, the Golden Gate Bridge, Albany Hill, the refinery in Richmond, and some of Berkeley and Oakland. At the right time of day, it's possible to see the sunset...as well as the sunrise, but I've never heard of a cemetary called Sunrise View.
There are trees and open space in the cemetary, which is why I like to go there. It's probably the quietest, greenest open space within reasonable walking distance. I don't explore the grounds too much because I'm always paranoid that I'm going to get chased out, or that a mourner will spy my in my sweaty running shorts and be offeneded. Still, I try to go there at least once a week. People should be using that space.
It takes a while to get to the top of the hill. At the bottom, by the entrance, there's a mortuary and chapel with a 70s'-looking fountain, parking spaces, and a special spot for the hearse to unload. Then there are small family mausoleums, lawns seperated by a winding paved road, and a few smaller fountains built into the hillside. The trees are tall and the grounds are kept up fairly well.
At the top of the hill is another building, a huge mausoleum and columbarium. I see people getting out of cars up there with flowers and such, and I always try to stay out of their way and go unnoticed.
Yesterday Joe and I walked to the cemetary for a change of pace. Joe had only been there once before, so he noticed all sorts of things that I gloss over during my runs. There are graves there dating back to 1907; the trunk of a tree encroached on one of them enveloped it like one of those trees in Fangorn Forrest.
We went all the way to the top, where the big mausoleum is. It's not too impressive from the outside, just a big, white structure. But we noticed a sign reading VISITORS WELCOME, and the main door was open. Joe and I looked like ragamuffins, but some force drew us up the steps. An older fellow in an Indiana Jones hat came up to us and said, "I'm sorry, but you have to be in a jacket and tie to come inside."
His face broke into a smile a second later. He was joking, of course; he was wearing neither himself. We said hello, and he said to come one in, that everyone was welcome. He was the office manager there, and he started showing us around right away. Here's what we learned.
First off, the Sunset Mausoleum is a different establishment from Sunset View Cemetary. The mausoluem was built in 1927, and it contains tons of Italian marble and travertine. From the inside, it's much more striking: gilded, vaulted ceilings; veined marble laid out on butterfly patterns that mimic Roscharch inkblots; crystal chandeliers; stained glass windows. It's a quiet, cool, cavernous place. Our guide, Bud Branch (I took his business card) seemed happy to have an audience to share his enthusiam of the place with. There were three side chapels (or wings, I suppose), plus a main chapel at the opposite end from the main entrance. This chapel was huge, and looming in the middle was a massive white marble statue of Jesus with his arms outstretched. Joe and I went over to the chapel and poked around a little bit. Bud had classical music playing softly over a PA.
Bud told us to check out the lawn downstairs. "How could there be a lawn down there?" I thought, but I guess "lawn" is archaic mausoleum-speak for a big, open space. Most ever wing upstairs had an underground counterpart. It was especially still down there. I walked past stories of niches with urns in them; I felt compelled to softly say the last name inscribed on each niche. Thousands of names, and I wondered how long it had been since a person had pronounced one.
We were there for about 45 minutes. I liked Bud, and I want to go back someday. For all of its opulance, the mausoleum smelled stale, like a church basement, and there was water damage in a number of spots. But it was cool, this secret place I've literally run right past about a hundred times.
There are trees and open space in the cemetary, which is why I like to go there. It's probably the quietest, greenest open space within reasonable walking distance. I don't explore the grounds too much because I'm always paranoid that I'm going to get chased out, or that a mourner will spy my in my sweaty running shorts and be offeneded. Still, I try to go there at least once a week. People should be using that space.
It takes a while to get to the top of the hill. At the bottom, by the entrance, there's a mortuary and chapel with a 70s'-looking fountain, parking spaces, and a special spot for the hearse to unload. Then there are small family mausoleums, lawns seperated by a winding paved road, and a few smaller fountains built into the hillside. The trees are tall and the grounds are kept up fairly well.
At the top of the hill is another building, a huge mausoleum and columbarium. I see people getting out of cars up there with flowers and such, and I always try to stay out of their way and go unnoticed.
Yesterday Joe and I walked to the cemetary for a change of pace. Joe had only been there once before, so he noticed all sorts of things that I gloss over during my runs. There are graves there dating back to 1907; the trunk of a tree encroached on one of them enveloped it like one of those trees in Fangorn Forrest.
We went all the way to the top, where the big mausoleum is. It's not too impressive from the outside, just a big, white structure. But we noticed a sign reading VISITORS WELCOME, and the main door was open. Joe and I looked like ragamuffins, but some force drew us up the steps. An older fellow in an Indiana Jones hat came up to us and said, "I'm sorry, but you have to be in a jacket and tie to come inside."
His face broke into a smile a second later. He was joking, of course; he was wearing neither himself. We said hello, and he said to come one in, that everyone was welcome. He was the office manager there, and he started showing us around right away. Here's what we learned.
First off, the Sunset Mausoleum is a different establishment from Sunset View Cemetary. The mausoluem was built in 1927, and it contains tons of Italian marble and travertine. From the inside, it's much more striking: gilded, vaulted ceilings; veined marble laid out on butterfly patterns that mimic Roscharch inkblots; crystal chandeliers; stained glass windows. It's a quiet, cool, cavernous place. Our guide, Bud Branch (I took his business card) seemed happy to have an audience to share his enthusiam of the place with. There were three side chapels (or wings, I suppose), plus a main chapel at the opposite end from the main entrance. This chapel was huge, and looming in the middle was a massive white marble statue of Jesus with his arms outstretched. Joe and I went over to the chapel and poked around a little bit. Bud had classical music playing softly over a PA.
Bud told us to check out the lawn downstairs. "How could there be a lawn down there?" I thought, but I guess "lawn" is archaic mausoleum-speak for a big, open space. Most ever wing upstairs had an underground counterpart. It was especially still down there. I walked past stories of niches with urns in them; I felt compelled to softly say the last name inscribed on each niche. Thousands of names, and I wondered how long it had been since a person had pronounced one.
We were there for about 45 minutes. I liked Bud, and I want to go back someday. For all of its opulance, the mausoleum smelled stale, like a church basement, and there was water damage in a number of spots. But it was cool, this secret place I've literally run right past about a hundred times.
posted by Lefty at 9:23 AM
1 Comments:
This mausoleum could have been the place where Phantasm was filmed. The first Phantasm, with the floating sphere that guarded the halls. I forgot to ask Bud if he knew about this.
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