Tucked behind a public parking structure and a row of office towers just off Wilshire Boulevard, Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park might be the most overlooked cemetery in Los Angeles. In fact, you could walk right past its modest entrance on Glendon Avenue without ever knowing it’s there. Yet within these two and a half acres rests one of the densest concentrations of celebrity graves anywhere in the country. Indeed, unlike the sprawling, ornate cemeteries elsewhere in the city, Westwood keeps things understated. There’s no grand mausoleum complex or reflecting lake here, just open lawns, a few modest buildings, and decades of Hollywood history packed into a single city block. Plan for about an hour to see everything, longer if you want to read every marker.
Touring Celebrity Graves at Westwood Village Memorial Park
Marilyn Monroe and Her Eternal Neighbor
Head first toward the small marble building near the cemetery’s center. Marilyn Monroe has rested there since 1962, and her crypt remains the most visited spot on the grounds. Fresh flowers and lipstick kisses mark the wall almost every day. Just a few spaces away, you’ll spot Hugh Hefner’s crypt. The Playboy founder purchased that exact spot decades before his death, specifically so he could spend eternity beside her.
Related: Marilyn Monroe: Hollywood Icon Exhibit at the Academy Museum
A Hollywood Love Story, Reunited
Walk toward the Gardens of Serenity next, where you’ll find Farrah Fawcett’s grave. The Charlie’s Angels star died in 2009, and her on-and-off partner of three decades, Ryan O’Neal, never quite let her go. When O’Neal died in December 2023, his family buried him right beside her. Their relationship had spanned decades, with a long break in the middle, yet friends say the two had fully reconciled before her death. Now they share a quiet corner of the lawn together.
Leading Men of the Studio System
Several major names cluster together near the southern edge of Westwood Village Memorial Park. For example, Jack Lemmon’s marker simply reads “Jack Lemmon in,” a sly nod to his decades of movie credits. Walter Matthau, his frequent on-screen partner, rests nearby. Kirk Douglas and his family also call this section home and character actor James Coburn is not away. Together, they represent a stretch of studio-era Hollywood that shaped American film for nearly fifty years.
The Wittiest Headstones in Hollywood
Some residents clearly planned their epitaphs well in advance for Westwood Village Memorial Park. For instance, director Billy Wilder’s marker reads, “I’m a writer, but then nobody’s perfect,” echoing the closing line of his film Some Like It Hot. Rodney Dangerfield went a simpler route with “There Goes the Neighborhood,” a nod to his signature catchphrase. Merv Griffin, who created Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, topped them both with “I will not be right back after this message.” Visiting all three in one short walk makes for one of the funniest stretches of any cemetery you’ll ever tour.
Writers Who Found Their Way to Westwood Village Memorial Park
Not every notable resident here came from in front of a camera. Truman Capote’s ashes rest in a niche facing the cemetery entrance, a fitting spot for the author of In Cold Blood. Ray Bradbury, the science fiction writer behind Fahrenheit 451, lies near Billy Wilder. Not far from Truman Capote is Jackie Collins, whose glossy Hollywood novels sold tens of millions of copies worldwide, rounds out this small but influential literary corner.
Leading Ladies and Unforgettable Faces
Natalie Wood, who drowned under circumstances still debated today, draws steady visitors to the cemetery’s central lawn. Janet Leigh, forever associated with the Alred Hitchock shower scene, rests not far from her. You’ll also find Sondra Locke, the actress and director once linked romantically to Clint Eastwood, along with Florence Henderson, beloved as Carol Brady on The Brady Bunch. Gena Rowlands, who died in 2024 after a career that earned her two Oscar nominations, was laid to rest here too, alongside her husband and longtime collaborator, director John Cassavetes.
Television’s Familiar Voices
A cluster of TV-era favorites rests within steps of each other in this section. Don Knotts, beloved as the bumbling deputy on The Andy Griffith Show, remains one of the most visited names here. That’s not to mention Jim Backus, who voiced Mr. Magoo and played Thurston Howell III on Gilligan’s Island, who rests nearby. So does Bob Crane, the star of Hogan’s Heroes, whose own life took a far darker turn than his sitcom ever suggested.
Music Legends on the Lawn
Westwood holds its share of musical history too. Dean Martin rests inside the Sanctuary of Love, one of the cemetery’s most ornate mausoleums. Buddy Rich, widely considered one of the greatest drummers in jazz history, lies in a crypt near Jackie Collins. Carl Wilson, the Beach Boys’ guitarist and de facto leader after his brother Brian stepped back from touring, has called this cemetery home since 1998. Brian himself joined him in 2025, following a career that reshaped American pop music from the inside out. Standing between the two brothers’ markers gives you a quiet sense of just how much history this small cemetery actually holds. Incidentally, there are unmarked graves of other famous musicians, including Frank Zappa and Roy Orbison.
Before You Go
Hours and Parking
Westwood Village Memorial Park is open daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and both admission and parking are free. If the small on-site lot happens to be full, a public parking garage sits just across from the entrance on Glendon Avenue. However, the on-site lot is almost never full.
Etiquette to Keep in Mind
This remains an active burial ground, so plan your visit accordingly. Keep your voice down, stay off private family plots, and avoid anything that feels disruptive, since funerals and family visits happen here regularly, even alongside the steady stream of tourists.
Photography is generally welcome throughout the grounds, though it pays to be discreet near anyone who appears to be grieving.
What to Bring
Comfortable shoes are still worth it here, even though Westwood Village Memorial Park is small. The lawn sections aren’t always clearly marked, so you’ll likely wander past the same row more than once while searching for a specific name. Give yourself a little extra time rather than rushing through.
A Lot of History in a Small Space
Westwood proves that you don’t need sprawling acreage to hold significant history, just two and a half quiet acres hidden behind a parking garage. Walking past Marilyn Monroe, two members of the Beach Boys, and a string of witty epitaphs in under an hour is its own kind of remarkable.
If you want to spend more of the day exploring Los Angeles’s cemeteries, Hollywood Forever sits about eight miles east and offers a much grander, more theatrical contrast, complete with peacocks, a private lake, and decades more of Hollywood lore.
Related: The Academy Museum: 2026 Guide to Hollywood’s Best Museum
About The Author
Randy Yagi is an award-winning writer who served as the National Travel Writer for CBS from 2012 to 2019. More than 900 of his stories still appear in syndication across 23 CBS websites, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco. During his peak years with CBS, Randy had a reported digital audience reach of 489 million and 5.5 million monthly visitors. Additionally, his stories have appeared in the Daily Meal, CBS News, CBS Radio, Engadget, NBC.com, NJ.com, and Radio.com. He earned a Media Fellowship from Stanford University and is a Bay Area Travel Writers (BATW) member.
