“By the late 1880s, the boom had peaked, and some of the dream of a new city East of Los Angeles had given way to concessions to certain other kinds of settlers. The black labor force settled into the East side, as did Italians, who would build much of the houses during the time, Germans and French, followed by the Russian Molokans and Armenians, who were fleeing the horrors of terror and repression in their respective homelands. The small pockets of Chinese and Japanese families that didn’t live in Little Tokyo or new Chinatown were also in East L.A., and Mexicans who had survived the push east were still very much a growing presence. Several years before, during the height of the first wave of xenophobia, the city fathers found it appropriate to move the local graveyard, far too close to the civic center, and for sanitation purposes, out to a then remote locale in East Los Angeles. Thus, the Evergreen Cemetery was established, and remains the resting site of many of the new settlers of East L.A.” From www.pbs.org/americanfamily/eastla.html.
It’s Sunday afternoon and I feel called to walk among our brave “early settlers” at the oldest cemetery in Los Angeles County as if one of them extended a personal invitation in my sleeping hours. As soon as I get out of my car and follow the paved road I wonder what I’m doing here. Suddenly I feel ashamed of my own oddity when I realize there is no one around., except a few young men who park themselves around a tomb with folding chairs and stereo. I say hello but I shy away from my desire to connect with the 3 in a city of millions who, like me, choose to spend their Sunday afternoon in a place which feels at this moment terribly empty when you have no living or dead one with whom to share it.
I want to take a closer look at this beautiful statue I see in the background. I yearn to console and be consoled too. Whoever called me in to visit this place didn’t stay to welcome me.
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June 24, 2008 at 6:05 am
Zanlovesela.com
June 24, 2008 at 6:48 am
Dear Frankie Thank you for writing about E.L.A there is such a rich history there. The oldest cemetery Everegreen Cemetery is now in the heart of ELA/Boyle Heights where once it must have been the outskirts of Los Angeles. That is why you will find at least four other cemeteries within ELA boudaries. My daughter, Rosanna and I have walked through some of these where one can experience an awareness of the history and demographics of LA at its beginnings. The Chinese cemetery is in my neighborhood and you can find the earliest graves of Chinese immigrants in the 1840s and -50s up to the present. Besides Calvary Cemetary , the largest Catholic in Los Angeles, there is also a Serbian and Croation cemetery close by with its ancient chapel and Orthodox Crosses. The Jewish cemetery on Whittier Blvd, is another cemetery that dates back to early times. But The Evergreen Cemetery, I find is most interesting for reflecting such a diverse representation of our city. We found my children’s paternal great- great grandparents an some their children buried there, with a very old grave marker that was still legible. This Esparza patriarch immigrated from Mexico was born in 1846 and died in 1930. This information has provided some imprtant leads to the geneology and history about our family. Did you know that Biddy Mason,the first freed African slave woman in California to become a landowner and entrepreneur is also buried at Evergreen Cemetery? There is also an improtant memorial to Japanese Nesei Veterans of WWII along with a large number of other Japanese burials there. This is not only a relevent resource for me and for my family in our altar-making work for Day of The Dead, but it is also a source of reverance and inspiration to explore our history,our sense of place and belonging.