No one does a funeral scene like the star of Mountain View Cemetery.
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In the shadow of the San Gabriel Mountains just outside Pasadena, theres a cemetery called Mountain View.
It is not the showiest boneyard in greater Los Angeles.
Forest Lawn has Jean Harlows marble crypt; Hollywood Forever, the (perfect) statue of Johnny Ramone.
Mountain View has a dutifully kept blog.
But thats not all it has.
A lot of cemeteries allow film shoots, but the Mountain View grave stands out.
Deeply versatile, she has made her name in comedic roles.
He tells me Mountain View has angles that can look like almost anywhere.
I ask him if he has any favorite productions that have filmed here in the past two decades.
He sighs in a way Im quickly learning is Classic Luis.
I mean, I dont know.
I dont really watch too much, he says.
I egg him on: Coffin Flop?Seinfeld?
One of Luiss co-workers, a 20-something named Nicole, perks up and turns to me.
he says over his desk.
And whos that fella?
Neither option is environmentally friendly, but cremation remains the more cost-effective choice.
The Grave exists outside all that, catering to the outsize demand to see death rituals onscreen.
A full hour after leaving Mountain Views office, I cant find the plot.
What I havent found, no matter how many lefts my dumb ass takes, is the Grave.
Just as Im ready to give up, an unmarked white van pulls up beside me.
Did you find it?
he asks, looking encouraged that Ive spent this much time on the premises.
No, I reply.
It turns out that the Grave disappears into the role: I had walked past her twice.
Shes marked with only a little yellow spigot this is a BYO-tombstone situation.
Mountain Views location-shooting business is not mentioned on the cemeterys website.
I ask Luis if he has ever received a complaint from a mourner about filming near the Grave.
I think our visitors find it interesting, he says.
It brings life to the cemetery.
Then he throws me a bone.
Wanna see a movie I liked?
Shes spending time at a park where someone she loves is buried.
Maybe the Grave is even one of the reasons she feels comfortable doing so.
Many of them shot right where I was standing.
The Grave remains criminally undercredited.
But like any good character actor, youll never hear the Grave say a word about it.
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