Cemeteries in the U.S. are just different. I’m traveling with my colleague Jürgen; we have some free time. Of course, in LA, you visit the Griffith Observatory, the Hollywood Sign, and the Walk of Fame. I suggest visiting a cemetery as well and propose Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California. Many Hollywood greats are buried there, such as Lorne Greene, known for his role as Ben Cardridge in Bonanza.
Jürgen agrees, so we turn into the large driveway leading to the cemetery, which is guarded by an elegant gatekeeper. We tell him we’d like to look around the cemetery, and he lets us through.
The grounds are huge and impressive. They’re so completely different from the other American cemeteries we’ve seen before. That’s probably because the cemetery wasn’t founded until 1941.
The grounds are dominated by a monument about 23 meters high, erected in honor of the American actor and entertainer Al Johnson. The structure, situated on a hill with a water cascade, is visible from a great distance even outside the cemetery.
We don’t really have a destination in mind and just set off. We find a parking spot and get out of the car. But we see that a funeral or memorial service is taking place there, so we decide to drive on. A little further down the road, we find a good place to park. We walk along a hedge into a section of the cemetery known as the Garden of Solomon. It’s only later that we realize this is a Jewish cemetery where many famous Hollywood stars are buried.
We see stone gardens, ponds—a beautifully landscaped grounds. We walk along a sandy path and look at the first grave on the right by a pond, and—what a coincidence—it’s the grave of Leonard Nimoy, best known from the series Star Trek.
“LLAP” stands for “Live Long and Prosper.” It was essentially invented by Nimoy, and together with the famous gesture of a raised hand with the middle and ring fingers extended, it serves as the Vulcan greeting. The inspiration here was the Hebrew letter “Shin,” which stands for “Shalom” (peace), among other things. The symbol of the two hands, which symbolizes a blessing, is often found on Jewish tombstones, including Nimoy’s.
LLAP Day is celebrated annually on March 26, Nimoy’s birthday.
Jürgen really wanted to find Lorne Green’s grave, but it’s not easy since we obviously don’t know our way around there and the cemetery is just so big.
We approach a gardener walking past us, but he speaks only Spanish, hardly any English. My Spanish doesn’t get us very far either, so he naturally uses his walkie-talkie to call over his younger colleague, who arrives shortly afterward in a golf cart. We explain our request to him again, and he in turn radios the office. A reply comes, he nods, smiles, and leads us to the grave. We thank him warmly and mention what a wonderful place this is, which seems to please him.
After a while, we leave the cemetery, wave to the gatekeeper, who smiles and waves back, wishing us a nice day.