Historic Headstones Repaired

Kirt Ramirez
JULIE BARTOLOTTO, executive director of the Historical Society of Long Beach, points to a hole in the ground made by the headstone falling over.

A vandal, or vandals, toppled several old, upright headstones at the historic Sunnyside Cemetery sometime overnight Thursday, Aug. 18.

After finding heavy stones knocked over the next day, a cemetery maintenance worker called the police and the City of Long Beach to report the crime. The city took over ownership of the graveyard in 2019.

Julie Bartolotto, executive director of the Historical Society of Long Beach, examined the damage on Saturday and then posted about it on Facebook and Instagram. KCAL-9/CBS-2 News then aired a segment about the vandalism on Monday.

On Tuesday, city workers had returned the blocks – some perhaps weighing 500 pounds – back upright and secured them with epoxy, Bartolotto said.

“The city fixed them this morning,” she said. “There were like 12 of them knocked off their pedestals.”

Bartolotto noted leftover scrapes here and there on some of the markers from when they fell over.

It’s unknown how the trespassers got in.

The walls surrounding Sunnyside have barbed wire except for a small segment near the front entrance. The Beachcomber suggested to Bartolotto and a maintenance person that they consider having the city fill-in that portion with barbed wire to prevent prowlers from entering.

Most of the damage happened near that front entrance where there is no barbed wire.

The maintenance man added that he has found several dead chickens in the past scattered on the ground on different occasions, though not in the most recent incident. He indicated the chickens were real birds with feathers and that he had picked them up and disposed of them previously.

Meanwhile, Bartolotto was pleased at the city’s quick response to repairing the headstones and that work was done before the 26th Annual Historical Cemetery Tour in October at Sunnyside and neighboring Long Beach Municipal Cemetery – both city-owned.

The event uses professional actors in era-clothing to portray a select number of individuals with remains buried at the graveyards. In addition to the various performances, special guests will speak on different topics.

“The final version of the scripts are being written right now,” Bartolotto said.

History writer Claudine Burnett along with former Historical Society of Long Beach president Barbara Barnes, created the first tour in 1995.

The remains of around 19,000 people who were once part of society are buried in both cemeteries.

“The first people buried in Municipal Cemetery were workers from the Bixby Ranch,” reads a flier. “The oldest marker we know of is Milton Neece, age 17, from 1878, although it’s possible that wooden markers have been lost to time and the elements.”

Tickets for the tour will be available starting Sept. 1. The event runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29 at Sunnyside and Municipal Cemetery at 1095 and 1151 E. Willow St., Long Beach. Proceeds support the Historical Society of Long Beach, a nonprofit organization.

More information can be found at www.hslb.org.

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