Andre "Mac Dre" Hicks

Bay Area hip hop legend Andre "Mac Dre" Hicks was born in Oakland, CA on July 5, 1970. At the age of 19 he released his first single "Too Hard for the F*ckin Radio". Between 1989 and 1991 Mac Dre was busy making a name for himself releasing 3 consecutive albums. By this time he'd moved to Vallejo California's Country Club Crest neighborhood or as it was called "The Crest". In 1992 Dre was charged with conspiracy to commit bank robbery when it was thought he had ties to the "Romper Room Gang" who had robbed several Bay Area banks. This was due to many references to the gang in his songs. This didn't stop Dre from working because while in prison he recorded the album Back N da Hood via prison phone. To hip hop fans in the Bay Area this album remains a classic. After his release from prison in 1996 Mac Dre immediately went back to work on his music releasing album after album of classic material. Then in 2000 Mac Dre relocated to Sacramento, CA and started the label Thizz Entertainment. Mac Dre was able to gain a huge following in the Bay Area and a few other cities and seemed content to just release the music he wanted to release and not be tied to the restrictions and rules of a major record label. Dre built his career on the underground music scene and still remains one of my favorite hip hop artists today.

In 2004 while in Kansas City, MO a car pulled up next the the vehicle Mac Dre was riding in and opened fire. The vehicle swerved off the road and ran into a ravine where Dre was thrown from the vehicle. Autopsy reports determined that he was killed from a single gunshot wound to the neck. Nobody really knows who Mac Dre's killer was but a Kansas City rapper by the name of Anthony "Fat Tone" Watkins was believed by many to be involved. In 2005 Fat Tone was found murdered alongside Jermaine "Cowboy" Akins allegedly killed by a good friend of Dre in retaliation for Dre's death. He is now serving time for the crime. In 2006 Mac Dre's headstone was stolen a local rapper by the name of AP .9 put up a $10,000 reward for it's return. Obviously the headstone has been replaced but I'm not sure if it's the original or if sometime or somewhere somebody will try and sell it somewhere. For this reason the cemetery office will not disclose it's location. It took 4 trips Mountain View Cemetery before we found Mac Dre's gravesite searching through more than 8000 graves.

Although hip hop is often filled with violence Mac Dre seemed to stay away from that after his release from prison. The Bay Area hip hop scene was shocked and saddened by the death of one of the greatest Bay Area rappers to ever live. In my opinion Bay Area hip hop is now saturated with a bunch of people all doing the same thing...trying to be like Dre. Thizz Entertainment is still a label out here today but it's not the same without Dre. I don't know if my opinion is swayed by the lack of Mac Dre or if the hip hop scene out here is really saturated with rappers trying to be Mac Dre and still using his name to promote themselves.

On a side note I must credit my girlfriend with the find. I will not disclose the location out of respect for Mac Dre's family.

Tombstone Tuesday - An interesting find

Click the picture for a larger version...But does anyone know what this epitaph may mean? It was just sitting there with nobody's name on it. The nearest grave was about five feet from it. The epitaph seems to have a hidden meaning. Of course I could just be fooling myself because I have no idea what it's intended meaning is. The part that gets me is "We have worn our white robes in defiance of the world in this the last travail." It keeps going through my mind every time I look at it. The stone is from Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, CA. Jeane has helped with the symbols but I'd still like to know if anyone has any ideas on the epitaph itself.

February is Black History Month

Born a slave in 1844 Obediah Summers worked as a servant for a top soldier in the Confederate Army and in 1862 was captured by the Union. The Union forces gave Obediah a choice. Fight for the Grand Army of the Republic (a part of the Union Army) or return to the south and remain a slave. Obediah made the wise decision of joining Company A of the 18th Regiment of the United States Colored Forces. After his discharge in 1866 Obediah became a preacher at the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Around 1891 he decided to build his own church The Old Bethel Church on 15th Street in Oakland, CA. About the same time he was appointed the first African-American chaplain of the state legislature. No doubt a huge step for a man of color given the time period.

Today Obediah has a marker in the Grand Army of the Republic plot in Oakland's Mountain View Cemetery. But it wasn't always like that. You see up until 2005 Obediah Summers was buried in the unendowed section of Mountain View Cemetery. It wasn't until a docent by the name of Dennis Evanosky, who happens to be the Civil War plot expert at the cemetery, discovered the location of Summers body that procedures to remove and re-inter Summers' body began to take place. Since it was not a national cemetery permission was not needed to remove Summers' body, however it was discovered that he was also buried with an infant grandson which halted the procedures. Evanosky would have to seek permission from the city of Alameda before proceeding with efforts. Since Evanosky was neither family nor did he have to resources to hire a lawyer. He was able to locate Summers' great grand-daughter Myrnna Adams. After 2 years of efforts petitioning the cemetery Summers remained buried in the undendowed section. Adams has become too tired of the fight and the only thing Evanosky could do is have Summers memorialized in the section he belongs in. Summers was also a member of the Masons and Odd Fellows in his lifetime as well as other organizations.

Summers died in Oakland on March 15, 1896. He was 51.

Holiday Circle of Lights - Mountain View Cemetery

I first heard of the circle of lights from Cheryl over at Heritage Happens.
I thought to myself Christmas at the cemetery? Awesome. It turns out that much like everything I get all excited about I fail to figure out that it just says "circle of lights". I've been to Mountain View a million times and just as you enter the cemetery gates you have the main office, the Gothic Chapel, and this traffic circle that goes around a small man made pond in the middle. Hence "circle". It's not very big. So I get there and I'm a little disappointed because I walk straight past the lights and find out that the cemetery has been closed off by barricades so all I'm going to see tonight is this circle of lights. Don't get me wrong they did a great job with the lights on the main office and around the pond as you can see above. They even did a great job with the Gothic Chapel you see below. I've always wondered what a Gothic Chapel actually is. Looks like I'll have to ask the cemetery personnel but it is my understanding that it serves as a regular chapel would serve, hosting several funeral services as well as a few weddings. Now I've been married before but had no idea this existed when I got married. I think it would take a special lady to marry me in a cemetery. I'm going on record right now and saying I'm not getting married again unless these conditions are met. I get married in a cemetery, there is a little person dressed like Jimi Hendrix playing the wedding march on an electric guitar and the wedding cake will need to be made off bacon. If all these conditions are met we can proceed with nuptials. Ok back to business...sometimes those thoughts up there stay in and sometimes they squeak through the cracks. Looks like that one squeaked through. So after we got done looking at the lights we noticed security patrolling the cemetery grounds behind the barricades. So we took a stroll over to the chapel and pretended to be intrigued with the lights on it. We sneak around the back and we're in the Jewish section...allright!! So my first night shots of Mountain View. Finally something to be excited about. Unfortunately my camera takes really crappy night photos. Please take the time to buy me the camera I want. Anyway we get home and start noticing pictures with bright and lighter colored orbs in them from the one section we could visit without security getting us. My girlfriend is all excited saying it's ghost energy etc. I say it's dust and the argument begins. She says "How could you not believe in ghosts?" and I say "Because I've never seen concrete evidence that there are ghosts." Now I'm not saying they don't exist. I'm just saying I can't really say that I have seen a ghost. I have seen things I thought were there maybe out of the corner of my eye but cannot say for sure if I saw a ghost or if something was a figment of my imagination. I'm more of a feel the energy sort of guy. But you can definitely see something in the picture above. I always look for a logical explanation for something and to her it seems everything is a ghost. But in these pictures I cannot dispute that I see orbs. Now what is an orb? Is it just dust reflecting light back at the camera? Or is it a piece of energy from the other side? I guess everyone has their own opinions on it. Overall this was a fun trip and I would like to thank my kids for not being too much of a pain in the butt as Dad cruised the graveyard at night. Happy Holidays everyone...

Monday Madness

I usually don't post on Monday but I've been going a little mad as of late. With the Christmas holiday approaching it's getting crazier and crazier around here. My job always tries to kill us right before the end of the year. I think mainly so the sales guys can get their end of the year bonus while everyone else has to be happy just collecting their regular paychecks like the drones we are. It's at this time of the year when I usually realize my title at work is only given so that I can deal with all the crap other people don't want to deal with. And usually when I'm down and in a funk I turn to Photoshop where I can lose myself in a false reality and create something that takes me somewhere else. Even though I'm really just sitting here in my chair on my laptop.

I did this picture the other day. The style is called Tilt Shift Photography. I guess they actually make lenses that do this. Since I neither have the correct camera nor the correct lens, I decided that I'd see if I could fake it in photoshop. Please click the picture to see the larger image. What it's supposed to do it make the scene appear miniature. What you see here is a shot of Millionaire's Row at Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, CA.

Domingo Ghirardelli Feb. 21, 1817 - Jan. 17, 1894

Born in 1817 to an exotic foods importer and his young wife Domenico Ghirardelli became an apprentice for a local candy maker at an early age. Attracted to South America by the possibility of prosperity Ghirardelli spent several years in both Uruguay and Lima, Peru where he engaged in the trade of chocolate and later opened a confectionary store next to that of an American cabinet maker by the name of James Lick. Interested by stories of success in North America Lick set sail for San Francisco in 1847 with 600 pounds of Ghirardelli chocolate in tow which he quickly sold. Lick then writes Ghirardelli a letter asking him to come north and bring more chocolate. In the meantime, while learning Spanish, Ghirardelli decides to drop his Italian name Domenico and take on the Spanish equivalent of Domingo. It wasn't until 1849 after the death of his first wife and the news of gold in California that Ghirardelli decided to set sail for California. After little success finding gold Ghirardelli once again becomes a merchant setting up a tent store in the city of Stockton, CA. It wasn't until a couple months later that he opened his first location in San Francisco. Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory has now been in business for over 150 years and after fires and earth quakes it now stands at 900 N. Point St. in San Francisco, CA.

Although today Ghirardelli's mausoleum is located on Millionaires Row in Mountain View Memorial that was not always the case. It seems that the family originally had a mausoleum at the adjacent St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery. As the story goes, As a young man Ghirardelli was a supporter of Garibaldi for the unification of Italy. It seemed that Garibaldi had differences of opinion on this subject. Garibaldi was exiled to South America and was exiled in 1836. Garibaldi's exile may have shaken Ghirardelli's faith in Catholicism. Thirty years later that faith would be destroyed. Ghirardelli had a teenage niece Aurelia who became gravely ill. A priest was called to give her last rites. Family members have conflicting stories about whether there was a bad rain storm or if the priest felt Ghirardelli hadn't given the church enough financial support. So Aurelia died without being given her last rites which infuriated Domingo and devastated Ghirardelli's deeply religious wife Carmen. Ghirardelli then forbade any of his family members to ever enter a Catholic church again. With this act still weighing on him Domingo had the mausoleum you see above built at Mountain View complete with a Masonic emblem above the door which was considered inappropriate by Catholics. Once it was ready, Domingo and his two sons went to St. Mary's in the dark of night and took the 4 bodies that were at St. Mary's and laid them to rest in the newly built mausoleum.

I found that story while just researching Domingo himself. I like the whole dark of night body stealing. I can't find any hard evidence that Ghirardelli was a freemason but an interesting story nonetheless...

Tombstone Tuesday

Henry S. Crocker 1832-1904
Clara E. Crocker 1845-1910

In 1856 Henry founded the H.S. Crocker Company Printers. Promising to deliver the best printing services the West Coast had to offer. Over 150 years later H.S. Crocker Co. is still in business.

It took me 3 trips to Mountain View Memorial in Oakland, CA to get a decent picture of this memorial. I kept getting too close and cutting off part of the feet or the sun wasn't right. It was always something. This has always been one of my favorite statues. Up close she is so lifelike and the detail on the robe is phenomenal.

Freaky Friday

Most likely a victim of vandalism. This statue had 1 arm, 1 wing and no head. The pic was taken at St Mary's Catholic Cemetery in Oakland, CA. This is a beautiful cemetery which is dwarfed by the massive Mountain View Memorial right next door.

GYR Carnival Favorite Photo

I figure it was only fitting that my submission of my favorite photo to the Graveyard Rabbits Carnival come from my favorite cemetery. This is the marker of Daniel and Mary Martin located in the Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, CA. It was taken on my first trip to this cemetery and also marks the day I fell in love with the cemetery itself. I have taken thousands of pictures of various cemeteries and every time I come across this picture I get a smile on my face. The berries on the bush are only there a certain time of the year. This photo was taken in December of 2008. I went back at the beginning of July 2009 only to find the bush had been cut back and that another photo like this would not be possible.

Pyramids In Oakland?

When I first began my cemetery adventures I did a search of all the cemeteries in my area and decided to pick them off one by one little by little. I was immediately intrigued with Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, CA because I found that it had 3 families buried in pyramid type mausoleums. Well 2 of them are actual pyramids and one just sort of rests on top of the mausoleum itself.

William McKendree Gwin (October 9, 1805 – September 3, 1885)

Gwin was a doctor and one of California's first U.S. Senators. He moved to California in 1849 where he bought some land in Paloma, CA. Once there he established a gold mine which yielded millions of dollars. Gwin was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate serving from September 9, 1850, to March 3, 1855. I found a story that says Gwin had a duel with a Congressman named Joseph McCorkle over his mismanagement of federal patronage. Apparently neither was a good shot because although they both fired, only a donkey some distance away was shot dead.

Christian Otto Gerberding Miller (1865-1952) aka C.O.G. Miller

Originally built for his wife Einnim who died at the age of just 30 it now contains the remains of C.O.G Miller, his wife Einnim, his mother and father and a few other relatives. Einnim and C.O.G. were married for seven years and she bore him two daughters. A short two years later he married Janet McAlpine Watt who bore him two sons. Miller made his fortune in the Pacific Lighting Corporation which was cofounded by Walter B. Cline.

Bradbury Mausoleum

Sadly I can find no information on who is exactly buried here nor did I get a good picture of the top which actually has the pyramid. I even went as far as to call the cemetery to see if they could provide me information but since everything is stored in books and not on computer I'll have to make a trip down there soon to see what I can dig up. I did however get a picture of the angel which stands guard at the door. Maybe somebody reading this knows some more about the person or people buried within and can provide me a clue to go on. If you would like to see a better picture you can do so by clicking here.

As I seem to be uncovering more and more interesting things about these people in pyramids, I will be doing a more in depth biography in the near future. I can only speculate as to why they chose to be buried in pyramids. When I see them I immediately think Freemasons. But who knows? I could be way off. The Gwin pyramid is magnificent. I estimate it to be about 25 feet high by about 25 feet wide. Maybe more though, I didn't have a tape measure with me at the time. Each pyramid has 13 tiers which could represent any number of things. I think I could go on all day with speculation. Hopefully I can finds some actual facts pretty soon.

Random Shots from Favorite Spots

I'm being lazy today so I've decided to share a few shots that I've taken at Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, CA and Cypress Lawn in Colma, CA. In the future I'll probably be doing more research on some of these. Research seems to take the longest especially when all I start with is a name and burial location. Most of the time the only thing I know is that I like something about the way the person chose to be remembered...

Mountain View Cemetery Oakland, CA

Charles Main is buried here and once my research is complete I will have more information to provide. I can tell you for now that Main St. in San Francisco is named for him. I like this because of the Gothic architecture.













Mountain View Cemetery Oakland, CA

Absolutely one of my favorite shots of any that I've taken. Not sure who's buried here but a beautiful accidental shot...















Mountain View Cemetery Oakland, CA

Charles Crocker (1822-1888) I thought the angel atop his resting place looked rather bored. I found that interesting...









Cypress Lawn Colma, CA

I am still in the research phase of this one. I can tell you this statue is about 15 feet tall. You can not truly appreciate it unless you're standing there staring up. It's a possibility that Louis P. Drexler is buried here but I'm still researching...













Cypress Lawn Colma, CA

This is called the Angel of Grief or Pool Memorial. The detail in the wings of this statue is beyond description. Another must see...buried here is Jennie Roosevelt Pool cousin of Theodore Roosevelt













Cypress Lawn Colma, CA

Thomas Larkin is marked by this beautiful angel seen here. I have already done a piece on Larkin in a previous post but had to include this statue. The feather alone must have taken forever to complete. Simply amazing artwork.

The Art of Mountain View Cemetery Oakland, CA

Originally when I was attempting to come up with an idea for this post I was going to do a history on an individual person, which I'll save for later. But after going through what pictures I have I decided that the reason I fell in love with this cemetery wasn't a single person. This is probably the most beautiful cemetery I've visited to date and I get excited every time I know I'll be going. Mountain View Cemetery is located at 5000 Piedmont Avenue Oakland, CA. It was established in 1863 by a group of East Bay Pioneers under the California Rural Cemetery Act of 1859. The layout was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, the landscape architect who also designed New York City's Central Park and much of Stanford University. This cemetery boasts many beautiful statues, lush green lawns and beautiful trees surrounded by elaborate tombs built by many pioneers of the Oakland and San Francisco area. This cemetery is home to many famous people such as Edson Adams who designed the layout of the city of Oakland, Elizabeth Short (The Black Dahlia), The Ghiradelli family of the Ghiradelli Chocolate Company, Jeremiah C. Sullivan, Union Army general and staff member of Ulysses S. Grant, and Andre Hicks known as the Bay Area rapper Mac Dre who's grave I have yet to find but will be looking for next time I go there, just to name a few. As I learn more about these cemeteries myself I will definitely be revisiting them to gain more information and insight into the lives of the people buried here.
Probably the most intriguing thing I noticed in Mountain View Cemetery were the pyramids located here. Yes some of the people actually buried themselves in pyramids. The largest of these belonging to William M. Gwin (1805-1885) - One of California's first two U.S. Senators. You can not possibly understand the beauty and intricacies of this tomb unless you see it for yourself. It's funny that looking around the web there isn't any information as to why someone would choose a pyramid as their final resting place. Perhaps somebody out there knows some more information on this. There will be plenty more to come on this cemetery because I already have plenty more to talk about...For more information on this cemetery please visit their website.