Grand View Memorial Park (dot) Info

Grand View's Memorial Day Visitation Schedule Announced

While no official word on the sale of Grand View Memorial Park to a new operator has been made to date in 2013, volunteers have continued assisting at regular weekly public visitation hours each Sunday.

An announcement was made this week, however, that the cemetery will open for visitation on both Sunday, May 26 and Monday, May 27 in observance of the Memorial Day weekend holiday.

After Memorial Day, the schedule will go back to every Sunday until further notice.

There are no changes to the visitation day hours since they were instituted several years ago:

Gates open at 12 noon and are closed to incoming motor and foot traffic at 3:45 p.m. sharp. This ensures that the cemetery is vacated of all visitors and volunteers at the 4:00 p.m. closing time. 

Please and thank you for planning your visit to Grand View according to this timeframe so that everyone's time at the cemetery is as productive and pleasant as possible.

Grand View Volunteers wish everyone a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend!

Protocol Changes Save Grand View Families $1K Attorney Fees To Bury/Disinter Love Ones

Late last month changes were made to the process of how families who own pre-need property rights obtain permission to bury their loved ones and those wishing to pursue a disinterment at Grand View Memorial Park that will save them $1,000 per procedure in attorney fees. 

As reported here in April, families have been forced since March 2008 to obtain the assistance of an attorney to petition the Los Angeles County Superior Court before either procedure could be done. The reported additional cost for each petition was a flat fee of $1,000.

In July of this year class plaintiff counsel Paul Ayers filed a motion that would take the process out of the downtown courtroom and reroute it up to Sacramento through California's Department of Consumer Affairs' Cemetery and Funeral Bureau (CFB) at no additional cost to consumers. [Read the Motion and supporting materials here.]

The motion was approved on August 22. [Read the Order here]

According to court records, approximately 120 burials and 30 disinterments have taken place at Grand View since 2007.

The now-vacated 2008 protocol was enacted by the court after plaintiffs requested a solution to their need to bury or remove loved ones at Grand View while the court was overseeing litigation related to the closure of the cemetery.

As of March 2012 the class complaint and several individual suits were settled, and specific restoration work stipulated and paid for out of the class settlement were completed, leaving permission protocol as the last outstanding piece of business with the court.

The new protocols were at least nine months in the making, according to court records, starting with a November 2011 assertion by new CFB Chief Lisa Moore that her department had authority to grant permissions.

Last month requests for further details to be included in this story were made to and acknowledged by both Grand View and CFB representatives.

I'll post an update when details are received. Stay tuned.

PLEASE NOTE: Currently only people who pre-purchased burial rights at Grand View before it lost its all important Certificate of Authority are eligible to be interred there while any family may pursue disinterring and relocating a loved one.

No new sales of burial spaces are allowed until the business is sold and a new operator is issued the necesssary licensing from the CFB.

Cemetery officials continue to stress that strides are being made to sell the business but no official details are currently available due to confidentiality agreements made with prospective buyers.

The person to contact with questions regarding burials and disinterments at Grand View is its authorized representative, attorney David Baum. He may be reached by telephone at (310) 990-3660 or by email at david.baum@dbaumlaw.com.

Correction/Update 12/12/2012: Per Reg Duran, the Cemetery & Funeral Bureau has the authority to authorize the burial at an unlicensed cemetery. It does not have authority to authorize disinterment's. Therefore anyone wishing to disinter will have to wait until a new licensed owner is in place. ~ Lisa Burks

Sunday Visitations Continue Until Further Notice

Greetings Readers!  Just a quick note to let everyone know that Sunday Visitations continue this summer at Grand View Memorial Park and will continue until the cemetery is sold to a new operator.

I've not been giving any new information regarding the sale, other than negotiations with interested operators contine.

Visitation hours are every Sunday from 12 noon until 4 p.m. with the gates closing to incoming traffic at 3:45 p.m. so please plan your trip accordingly.

Volunteerism has slowed down a bit in recent months. Grand View Volunteers still need people to come out and help visitors find grave locations during visitation hours and to fulfill Findagrave.com photo requests; the backlog is up to 66 requests as of this writing.

If you'd like to volunteer a Sunday afternoon, or have any other questions regarding operations at Grand View, please contact the cemetery's representive David Baum at 310-990-3660.

Grand View Will Open For Memorial Day Holiday on Sunday & Monday

Planning to visit Grand View Memorial Park on Memorial Day weekend?

This just in... Grand View representatives have confirmed that volunteers will be opening the gates on both Sunday, May 27 and Monday, May 28 for this special holiday.

Hours will be the same as regular visitation dates: 12 noon to 4pm each day, with gates closing to incoming traffic at 3:45pm.