I Dined with the Dead in the Hills of Southern California and Helped Preserve a Forgotten Piece of History

If you’ve ever taken a drive through Tujunga and noticed the golden hills above, you may have noticed a small, weathered cemetery perched above the city. Here lies Verdugo Hills Cemetery, a resting place with one of the most bizarre and fascinating histories of any cemetery in Southern California.

This is a place where memory, tragedy, and renewal collide in ways that seem almost too strange to be true.

A History of SoCal's Verdugo Hills Cemetery

Let’s rewind to 1922, when Marshall Valentine Hartranft, a local developer, donated four acres of land to commemorate a community burial ground. A visionary in his own right, Hartranft had been a key figure in shaping Tujunga, and his decision to cement a cemetery reflected his desire to anchor the new settlement in permanence. Originally named the Hills of Peace Pioneer Cemetery, it became a final resting place for the early settlers who had set out to build an agrarian paradise in these very hills.

Like so many institutions built on traditional values, its fate shifted with time.  By the mid-1950s, the grounds had slipped into neglect due to lack of maintenance, loss of finances, and the site began to fall into disrepair.

1950s: A Cemetery Falls to Disrepair... in a Landslide

Then, in February 1978, only two years after the cemetery lost its operating license, days of heavy rain unleashed a landslide on the hill. The scene that followed was seemingly too macabre to believe: caskets broke free and tumbled down the slope, spilling their contents into the streets below. Local homes and shops were trapped in what seemed to be a horror movie with stories of caskets being discovered in doorways of supermarkets and bones finding a new home in gutters and yards.  

Looting in the '90s Led to Official Closure

Never fully recovering from the landslide, looting, general neglect, and vandalism continue to disrupt the dead. In the mid '90s, a group of teens broke in, removing the bones from their resting grounds.  They photographed and dressed them up in hats and cigars, only to be discovered after attempting to develop the photos from a disposable camera. By 2002, the cemetery was officially closed to new burials, though families of those interred could still visit by appointment. For many, it seemed like the site was doomed to fade away, its reputation overshadowed by tragedy.

A Cemetery Reborn; A Redemption Arc for the Books

Through patience and dedication, a determined group of volunteers who called themselves the Friends of Verdugo Hills Cemetery took it upon themselves to restore the site. Not only did their work rescue a deeply forgotten graveyard, but it also rekindled a sense of ownership and pride in the community. Formally recognized in 2009, the cemetery was declared a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument, finally securing its place in the city. 

Although Verdugo Hills Cemetery is not open to the public daily, it welcomes visitors every third Saturday of the month from 1 to 4 p.m. Visitors can walk among its stones, learn its history, and reflect from its hilltop perch, enjoying the sweeping views of the valley below.

Dine With The Dead

The community stands strong and brings not just art and cuisine that transcend the realm between the living and the dead. Thanks to Chef Tumara Arnett, head chef of Joselito's Tujunga, who hosted an event that helped bring donations and friends of the cemetery to celebrate not only the site’s past but also its present role as a place of connection. 

There are meals you remember for flavor, and there are meals you remember for setting. This particular night offered both a feast under the stars, surrounded by gravestones, history, and the whispers of lives lived so long ago.

What makes Joselito’s food so delicious is the authenticity of the craft.  The beginning of the meal with a reimagined artisan Caesar salad, topped with queso manchego, crunchy corn, and a dusting of bee pollen.  The centerpiece of the dishes was a roast chicken draped in Mole negra, with pine nuts and cremini mushrooms. The grand finale was a Tumbas de Chocolate, a Mexican chocolate mousse molded into a tiny tomb, complete with edible dirt, macadamia, flax, and cocoa, and adorned with Wildflower petals, a sweet yet symbolic reminder of life’s fragile beauty.

While the sun set golden hues over the Verdugo Hills, the meal became much more than just dinner; this was the ritual of community. Neighbors, preservationists, and storytellers gathered not to summon ghosts, but to honor ancestors and to reaffirm their connection to one another and to find joy in an unexpected place.

Verdugo Hills Cemetery - Finally Resting In Peace

Far More than a site of tragedy or scandal, Verdugo Hills Cemetery is a testament to the cycle of neglect and renewal. From tumbling caskets in the streets, disruptive vandalism by teens, to volunteers planting flowers and meals that celebrate life. Verdugo Hills Cemetery has become exactly what its founders dreamed: a place of peace.