2018-02-23 18:58:03 +00:00
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---
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created_at: '2016-02-20T04:00:02.000Z'
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title: Colma, Calif., Is a Town of 2.2 Square Miles, Most of It 6 Feet Deep (2006)
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url: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/09/us/09cemetery.html
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author: apsec112
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points: 56
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num_comments: 37
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created_at_i: 1455940802
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- story
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- author_apsec112
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objectID: '11138742'
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---
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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Still, 73 percent of Colma’s 2.2 square miles **** is zoned for
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cemeteries — or “memorial parks,” as the operators call them. There are
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17 such parks, including those that cater to Italians, Jews, Greek
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Orthodox, Japanese and Serbs.
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2018-02-23 18:19:40 +00:00
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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Colma, where the two major property owners are a land holding company
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and the Roman Catholic Church, is in a sense a place where an evolution
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has come full circle.
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2018-02-23 18:19:40 +00:00
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Photo
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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“Most Americans used to live near a graveyard in the 18th century,” said
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David C. Sloane, author of “The Last Great Necessity: Cemeteries in
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American History.” “That changed in the 19th century, when big
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cemeteries were on the edge of the cities and became destinations,” the
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precursors to civic parks. But by the 20th century, Dr. Sloane said, an
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aversion to dealing with death had made cemeteries places that people
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“went out of their way not to go to.”
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Given that environment, clusters of cemeteries in outlying areas may
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seem only natural. Still, though one occasionally finds several
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cemeteries grouped together these days, 17 in “a single place is very,
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very unusual,” Dr. Sloane said.
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Here, hearses far outnumber hot rods. Colma’s museum has a cemetery
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room, of course. Instead of the metal signs that customarily mark
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boundaries between towns, new ones made of somber granite have been
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ordered by town officials. Everyone knows that it is against the law to
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cross a funeral procession. Wedding parties spill out of stretch
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limousines to be photographed at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park’s duck pond,
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and weddings themselves are held at the cemetery’s small chapel, next to
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its crematorium.
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Colma’s motto is “It’s Great to Be Alive in Colma\!” And residents say
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they are comfortable being alive among the mausoleums, the marble
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obelisks and the tombstones. They express appreciation for the
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tranquillity of their hometown, where a serene, occasionally whimsical
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attitude toward death prevails.
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Having grown up with death, Owen Molloy says that “it doesn’t creep me
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out.” Mr. Molloy’s family owns the only bar in town, a mourners’
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gathering place two or three times a week, and he fondly recalls playing
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hide-and-seek among the tombstones of various graveyards and sipping his
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first beer, at age 12, among marble angels and Ionic columns. He marvels
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at the view from the deck of his home, which overlooks Holy Cross
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Cemetery.
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2018-02-23 18:19:40 +00:00
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Advertisement
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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[Continue reading the main story](#story-continues-4)
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2018-02-23 18:19:40 +00:00
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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Living alongside the cemeteries “doesn’t matter” to Ashley Hurtubise,
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16. “It’s just another part of town,” she said.
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2018-02-23 18:19:40 +00:00
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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City Councilwoman Joanne del Rosario does not give her underground
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neighbors a second thought. “I’m more afraid of the living,” she said,
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“than I am of the dead.”
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2018-02-23 18:19:40 +00:00
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Photo
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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In the way New Jersey students know that Thomas Edison’s laboratory is
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in West Orange, the people of Colma know that Wyatt Earp’s ashes are
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buried at Hills of Eternity, a Jewish cemetery (he wasn’t; his wife
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was), and that Joe DiMaggio is at Holy Cross Cemetery, where visitors
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often lean bats against his gravestone.
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Everybody knows that Tina Turner’s dog is wrapped in her fur coat at
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Pet’s Rest Cemetery, the final stop for 13,000 dogs, cats, rabbits,
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goldfish and cheetahs. Even after last summer’s downsizing, plots
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remain, though they are so expensive ($550 to $850 and up, depending on
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the size of the pet) that some families opt for cremation or for
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stacking their dead pets vertically. Pet’s Rest draws so many mourners
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that, says the owner, Phillip C’de Baca, some form carpools and
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occasionally fall in love and marry.
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Dr. Sloane, an associate professor at the University of Southern
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California, says there is a growing demand for space at American
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cemeteries that is fueled in large part by immigrant families who insist
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on elaborate burials as a way to help establish their identity in a
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community. In Colma, so little undeveloped property remains that an acre
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sells for more than $2 million.
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2018-02-23 18:19:40 +00:00
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## Newsletter Sign Up
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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[Continue reading the main story](#continues-post-newsletter)
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2018-02-23 18:19:40 +00:00
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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2018-02-23 18:19:40 +00:00
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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2018-02-23 18:19:40 +00:00
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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The cemeteries have two choices, said Steve Doukas, general manager of
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Greek Orthodox Memorial Park: build taller mausoleums or buy more land.
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Either way, added costs are naturally passed along.
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2018-02-23 18:19:40 +00:00
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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“As expensive as it is to live in the Bay Area,” Mr. Doukas said, “it’s
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also expensive to be buried here.”
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2018-02-23 18:19:40 +00:00
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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Cypress Lawn offers burial plots that cost as much as $20,000, or
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$250,000 for a family plot, said Ken Varner, its president.
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2018-02-23 18:19:40 +00:00
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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And what does a cemetery ultimately provide for that kind of money?
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“Memory management,” Mr. Varner said.
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2018-02-23 18:19:40 +00:00
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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“Cemeteries,” he said, “are really for the living.”
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2018-02-23 18:19:40 +00:00
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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**Correction: December 14, 2006**
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2018-02-23 18:19:40 +00:00
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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An article on Saturday about Colma, Calif., a city whose primary
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business is cemeteries, misspelled the surname of a man whose family
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owns the town’s only bar. He is Owen Molloy, not Malloy.
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2018-02-23 18:19:40 +00:00
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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[Continue reading the main story](#whats-next)
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