How to Find a Grave at Rose Hills Memorial Park

Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier, California, is the largest cemetery in North America. Spanning 1,400 acres with more than 340,000 interments, its grounds stretch across hillsides, valleys, and gardens in every direction. Finding a specific grave here — without preparation — is genuinely difficult. This guide gives you a realistic path from name to grave marker, whether you're looking for a family member, a historical figure, or someone who left only a memory behind.

About Rose Hills Memorial Park

Rose Hills was founded in 1914 and has grown from a modest local burial ground into a 1,400-acre park that dominates the eastern slope of the Puente Hills. The grounds are enormous by any measure — larger than Golden Gate Park, according to some comparisons — and contain dozens of named sections, multiple mausoleums, a columbarium, and extensive outdoor garden areas stretching across several distinct zones.

Over the decades, Rose Hills has become the final resting place for a wide range of Angelenos: entertainers, athletes, civic leaders, and the many families who chose the park for its serene setting and because it was among the few cemeteries in the region that allowed burials without affiliation to a specific religious organization. It is non-denominational, active, and continues to accept new burials and cremations today.

The park's scale is both its defining feature and its primary challenge for visitors. The property is large enough that staff cannot provide personalized directions to individual graves. Preparation — knowing the section, lot, and space in advance — is not optional for a focused visit. It's essential.

How to Find a Specific Grave at Rose Hills Memorial Park

1. Use Rose Hills' Online Memorial Search

Rose Hills maintains an online search portal for current and former interments at rosehills.com. Enter the full legal name of the deceased, and the portal typically returns the section, lot, and space number — the key information you need to navigate the grounds. The search covers burials and cremations from the cemetery's founding to the present day.

Results may include a section map and interment date, which is useful context when a name appears multiple times. If the portal returns no match, proceed to the steps below.

2. Check Find A Grave

Find A Grave has a substantial collection of Rose Hills memorials — many contributed by volunteers who have photographed grave markers on-site. The search often surfaces information that won't appear in the cemetery's own portal, including maiden names, death dates, and GPS coordinates. GPS coordinates are the single most useful output: drop them into Google Maps and you can walk directly to the grave.

Filter searches carefully — "Rose Hills" returns results across multiple states. Be sure to specify the Whittier, California location.

3. Call or Visit the Cemetery Office

The Rose Hills office is staffed Monday through Friday during business hours. Call (562) 699-0921 and ask for section, lot, and space information for the burial. You'll typically need the full legal name and an approximate year of death. Staff are professional and helpful for record lookups but cannot escort visitors to specific graves or provide directions beyond the section-level information.

For in-person visits, the front office at the main entrance is the starting point. They can provide printed section maps, though these show only section boundaries — not individual grave locations.

4. Use RestBloom's Cemetery Search

RestBloom maintains a searchable burial index covering major Los Angeles cemeteries. Browse the cemetery directory to look up a name — if the burial is in our database, you'll find the section and lot reference along with the option to arrange flower delivery directly to the gravesite.

Navigating the Grounds

Rose Hills' 1,400 acres are divided into named sections and gardens, each covering a different area of the property. Sections range from densely developed garden areas to hillside plots with wider spacing. Knowing your section before you arrive will save a significant amount of walking — the property is too large to explore by chance.

• Memory Lawn — One of the most recognizable sections, with flat bronze markers arranged on manicured lawn. Many standard burials are located here.
• Hillside — A terraced hillside section with above-ground cremation niches integrated into the slope. Views across the valley are a notable feature.
• Sunshine Terrace — An elevated section on the southern slope of the property, known for its open exposure and well-maintained gardens.
• Victory Garden — A large section with a mix of family plots and individual graves, covering a significant area in the central portion of the park.
• Garden of Honor — A dedicated section for veterans, with markers acknowledging military service. The layout is formal and the section is well-signed.
• Heartland — An active section in the southern area of the park with family plots and space for new interments.
• The Great Wall — A large columbarium and mausoleum structure housing cremated remains in wall niches. Climate-controlled and sheltered, with the cremated remains of many families housed here.
• Tranquil Gardens — A newer section with contemporary landscaping, designed with wider paths and bench seating for visitors.

Pick up a map at the main entrance when you arrive. The map shows section names, the locations of major landmarks like the Rose Hills Chapel and the Memorial Fountain, and the general layout of the property. Section signs are posted throughout the grounds, but internal grave locations within each section are not individually labeled.

Notable Interments

Rose Hills holds the graves of many notable figures from entertainment, sports, and public life. Because of the park's non-denominational status and its location in the southeast LA basin, it has long been a burial choice for families who chose a setting outside the Hollywood-centric cemeteries to the north. A selection of the most frequently visited:

• Hattie McDaniel — The first African American to win an Academy Award (Best Supporting Actress for Gone with the Wind, 1940). Her Rose Hills grave is among the most visited in the cemetery.
• John Ritter — The beloved television actor best known for Three's Company and 8 Simple Rules, who died in 2003 at age 54.
• Andy Gibb — The pop singer and brother of the Bee Gees, who had three consecutive number-one hits in the late 1970s before his death in 1988.
• Florence Henderson — The actress and singer best known as Carol Brady on The Brady Bunch, interred at Rose Hills after her death in 2016.
• Jimmy Snyder — The baseball pitcher nicknamed "The Great Gashouse" who won 20 games five times for the St. Louis Cardinals and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1970.
• Don Wilson — The bandleader whose orchestra provided the soundtrack for不计其数的 radio programs through the 1930s and 1940s.
• Richard Dennison Lewis — The actor and comedian known as "Dick" who appeared in dozens of films through the mid-20th century.

Rose Hills also holds the graves of many sports figures from the mid-century era, including players and executives from the LA Rams, Angels, and Dodgers organizations, though specific grave locations for celebrity figures are not displayed on any public map.

Visiting Tips

Getting There

Rose Hills is located at 3888 Workman Mill Road in Whittier, at the eastern edge of the LA metropolitan area. The most direct route from central Los Angeles is the 605 Freeway north to the Whittier Boulevard exit, then east to Workman Mill Road. The drive from downtown Los Angeles is approximately 25–35 minutes without traffic; expect longer during rush hour.

Parking is free at the main entrance. For sections in the southern or far western areas of the park, there are additional parking areas accessible from within the grounds. Driving is strongly recommended — the property is too large for comfortable exploration on foot.

What to Expect

Rose Hills is well-maintained, with paved roads throughout the developed areas of the grounds. The terrain is hilly in the outer areas, and some sections are accessible only by car. The main entrance, Memory Lawn, and the central gardens are all accessible by paved roads.

Bring water in summer. Whittier regularly reaches 90–100°F in July and August, and the exposed sections — particularly Sunshine Terrace and Hillside — have limited shade. Hats and sun protection are advisable for warm-season visits. The Great Wall and interior mausoleum areas are climate-controlled and offer a cool respite during hot weather.

Photography is permitted throughout the grounds. The cemetery is busiest on weekend mornings, particularly after 10 AM. Weekday afternoons tend to be quieter. Active services may be in progress — the park's size means you're unlikely to encounter one unless you're specifically visiting a section where a service is scheduled.

Sending Flowers If You Can't Visit

If distance or schedule prevents an in-person visit, RestBloom works with local florist partners to deliver fresh arrangements to gravesites at Rose Hills and across the Los Angeles area. We send a photograph of the arrangement once it's placed at the gravesite, so you can see that your gesture arrived.

Browse the RestBloom cemetery directory to search for a burial by name and place an order from anywhere. Orders typically deliver within 2–3 business days.

Also planning a visit to other Los Angeles cemeteries? Read our guides to Forest Lawn Glendale, Hollywood Forever Cemetery, and Holy Cross Cemetery Culver City.

RestBloom is a flower delivery service serving cemeteries across Los Angeles. For official cemetery records, plot locations, and interment services at Rose Hills Memorial Park, contact the cemetery office directly at (562) 699-0921 or visit rosehills.com.