Archive for the ‘Los Angeles’ Category
Dia de los Muertos (“Day of the Dead,” Gringos) in Los Angeles
Mies van der Rohe would have a heart attack
Hot pink at a cemetery. I love it.
Go Santa!
This is so cool. The front
The back
We're all half-alive, half-dead
Living in a city with a massive Latino population has its charms, such as the fabulous celebration of Dia de los Muertos, which takes place all over Los Angeles on Nov 1 (or the nearest Saturday night). We go to the Hollywood Forever Cemetery smack in the middle of the city, where altars are decorated on gravesites and people dress up as skeletons. The style is high kitsch, the colors black and neon, the atmosphere carnival.
Most cultures have traditions for commemorating the dead. The Chinese engage in ancestor worship, the Irish wake is a long funeral party, the Jews sit Shiva for seven days.
My people, the Mormons, wouldn’t be caught dead (tee hee) at a Dia de los Muertos festival, but they have some macabre traditions of their own. In the garage at my parent’s house in Vancouver, WA sits a coffin, quietly awaiting its use for my 99-year-old grandma, who of course will not live forever. They bought it two years ago at a half-price sale at Costco. Mormons are nothing if not practical.
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