All you have to do is drive two blocks off Hollywood Way to see that Valhalla Drive leads to Valhalla Memorial Park, from which it gets its name. The cemetery, officially within Los Angeles city limits, takes its own moniker from Norse mythology: Valhalla, a grand hall in Asgard, was effectively “warrior heaven”, where those who died in battle went to an afterlife filled with food, drink, and fun. Valhalla Memorial Park was opened in 1923 by John R. Osborne and Clifton C. Fitzpatrick, who were soon indicted for defrauding the park’s investors. (Both did time for the crime.) Pierce Brothers Mortuaries purchased Valhalla in 1950. P.S. The ornate 1925 rotunda at the end of this street was Valhalla’s original entrance. Designed by Kenneth MacDonald Jr. with sculptures by Federico Giorgi, it was rechristened “Portal of the Folded Wings” in 1953 and honors notable aviators, befitting Valhalla’s proximity to Burbank Airport.
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