On an overcast Saturday, I went to Boyle Heights to visit Evergreen Cemetery. As the city started growing beyond the downtown area, Boyle Heights was one of the new neighborhoods, since it was wide open, it was also a place where people bought land for cemeteries, like this one in 1877. Evergreen is a popular name, although these days, due to water conservation, it quite brown.
There is a wonderful old gate, the rest is surrounded by a simple Chainlink fence.
As you can see, we are right in the middle of a residential neighborhood, one that is experiencing gentrification. Alongside the little old houses are now newer modern apartment buildings. 
The original chapel, still used today.
This is a nondenominational private cemetery, today, everyone is welcome. In the past the Chinese weren’t and Jews always had their own places of burial. I find it interesting that the Japanese weren’t excluded and today there is a large Japanese presence, often just mixed among other graves. There were plenty of these kinds of graves, babies that died. In more modern Memorial Parks, like Forest Lawn, the babies have their own section.
Because this was an early cemetery, many of the important families are buried here. William Workman was very influential in the Los Angeles area in the mid 19th century. He is buried on his homestead, but other family members were buried here.
Not sure exactly where Nancy fits in the genealogy, I love how exact they were with her age.
Two more important families, The Gilmores bought the land where Farmers Market at 3rd and Fairfax is today. They discovered oil, had a baseball team and although quiet today, are still and important business in the city.
The Bixby’s developed the Long Beach area. What is interesting to me is that there is a large monument, but many of the graves of the family are simply around these, with small stones of their own. Unlike later, when large mausoleums will be constructed in places like Hollywood Forever or Forest Lawn. 
This family plot is dear to me, The Lankershims and Van Nuys families, the ones who really developed the Valley. 
Both men were Isaacs’, Lankershim ends up being Van Nuys’ Father in law, make sure the business stays in the family. Under this tomb lie both Lankershim and his wife as well as Van Nuys and his wife Susanna, Lankershim’s daughter.
This post is getting long, I will continue tomorrow…
Leah