July 6, 2009

Michael Jackson to be Buried at Forest Lawn

By Eric Ditzian (MTV.com)

Michael Jackson will be laid to rest in a private ceremony at Forest Lawn Memorial Park., just hours before thousands flood the Staples Center in Los Angeles to attend the public memorial service in his name.

According to ABC news, Jackson will be buried in the Hollywood Hills section in the not-for-profit Forest Lawn Memorial-Parks & Mortuaries. Sources close to the Jackson family were cited as confirming the time and location of the burial.

While many celebrities are said to be buried at Forest Lawn, the cemetery is, "unrelentingly secretive about who, exactly, is entombed in its parks," but Findagrave.com and Seeing-Stars.com claim that Sammy Davis Jr., Humphrey Bogart and Jean Harlow are among those interred at various Forest Lawn cemeteries.

Many areas of the cemeteries are off-limits to the general public. "We hold the privacy of our client families in very high regard," Bill Martin, spokesman for the Glendale location, told CNN. "There are certain areas and property types that have limited access."

According to its Web site, Forest Lawn was built in 1906. It consists of several sites around the Los Angeles district. Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills is described as containing Colonial American architecture and the world's largest historical mosaic, the Birth of Liberty.

The cemetery is approximately 11 miles away from Staples Center; ABC noted that the private service could delay the start of the public memorial.