•My wife and I made a pilgrimage to Rose Hills Memorial Park yesterday to check out its famous chapels. Having read about architect Fay Jones’ SkyRose Chapel in David Gebhard and Robert Winter’s book “An Architectural Guide to Los Angeles” described in the book as a “neglected masterpiece resembling a Stealth bomber taking off”, I confess to being more than anxious to see it in person! The park itself is huge with multiple entrances (apparently it’s the largest cemetery in the United States). Arriving at the park in the late afternoon, and wanting to make sure we saw as much as possible before the sun set. We first stumbled upon the diamond-shaped Hillside Chapel believing we had reached our destination. I speculated without knowing that the name “SkyRose” had been changed to “Hillside” as the small chapel vaguely at least fit the description. Next up the hill was the “Memorial Chapel” with its Oscar Niemeyer-style architecture: upward-spiraling towers floating in a bubbling reflecting pool. Was this the famous Skyrose we were yearning to see? As we prepared to leave, my wife spotted an otherworldly shape peaking out of the trees above: “I think I found it!”, she enthusiastically announced. Sure enough, we had not reached our destination after all, and the best was yet to come. Perched on the park’s highest hill, the chapel is absolutely stunning. We parked our car below the summit, taking in its sheer beauty. Take a look at these photos and see for yourself, a visual reminder of the fact that Los Angeles is a goldmine of outstanding architecture.
Googling “Skyrose Chapel on the internet, I learned that several scenes in Star Trek was shot in the SkyRose Chapel. “The chapel was used as a filming location for several interior locations on the planet Vulcan”.
Rose Hills Memorial Park is located at 3888 Workman Mill Road in Whittier, California. Please do not use this image in any media without my permission.
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