If you can’t spend Day of the Dead in Mexico, Los Angeles is where you want to be. The City of Angels has the largest Dia de los Muertos celebrations outside Mexico, with events at the Olvera Street Festival running now through November 2, and at places like LA Plaza de Cultra y Artes, which last week hosted a glamorous “chef’s table for the dead.” Still, no place in Los Angeles does Day of the Dead better than Hollywood Forever Cemetery , which last night celebrated its 25th annual of honoring the departed in and around the historic resting place for Hollywood icons like Rudolph Valentino and Judy Garland.
The official crowd estimate was 30,000 but some of that was siphoned off by fans watching Game 2 of the World Series, with the Dodgers and Yankees battling it out in Chavez Ravine. Day of the Dead was mostly a private celebration in the U.S.
until Dia de los Muertos became a public celebration in Los Angeles in the 1970s. This interesting article explores that L.A.
history . Now Day of the Dead is one of the most anticipated oh-so-L.A.
events of the year, and it’s definitely worth making a trip for it if you haven’t experienced the drama and the joy in person. Death looks great on L.A.
, as you can see from these photos. At Hollywood Forever, the cemetery grounds are filled with color—adults and children alike dress as the skeletons known as calacas and catrinas, as well as just about every undead version of a Dodger. Elaborate altars, crafted to honor loved o.