Cemetery Finds

I spend a lot of time in my local cemetery - Hollywood Forever. The cemetery,  among the most interesting in Los Angeles, is the final resting place for all kinds of Hollywood celebrities - from Cecil B. DeMille to Rudolph Valentino to Dee Dee Ramone. But nearly every time I visit, I find the grave of someone who strikes a historical chord - often having some Civil War connection. Just the other day, I encountered this rather dignified looking fellow: one Cornelius Cole. Cole served a single term in the House of Representatives representing the Republican Party from California from 1863 to 1865, and then in the Senate from 1867 to 1873. After the war he practiced law in San Francisco and then Los Angeles where he purchased one of the original Spanish landgrants - he called it Colegrove.

Well...Colegrove is now Hollywood. And while Cole the man is sort of lost to obscurity...at least they named a street after him. So if you are in town and find yourself on Cole Street - you'll know where it got its name.

With compliments,

Keith