I recently took a walk around Colma. The cemetaries were in fact the least creepy part of that town. Walkways leading nowhere covered in racially charged graffiti, lack of sidewalks along the roads, and sprawling parking lots occupied the area not reserved for the dead.
I walked past some sort of workshop that made tombstones. I took a picture of some tombstones on display outside, since they looked kind of cool. Some worker there started asking me: "Are you here to buy one? Then why the hell are you taking pictures of them?!" Not the most inviting place. The graveyards were nice though.
> I walked past some sort of workshop that made tombstones. I took a picture of some tombstones on display outside, since they looked kind of cool. Some worker there started asking me: "Are you here to buy one? Then why the hell are you taking pictures of them?!"
I mean, I can see where they are coming from, that's kinda disrespectful to the dead. I wouldn't want you to take pictures of my recently passed away father's headstone just so you could put a cool filter on it, load it up with edgy hashtags and get likes on your instagram. :(
... maybe. Maybe they were pre-orders waiting for customers to come pick them up. Who knows. Either way, still kinda tacky and in poor taste, imo. Grief shouldn't be a sideshow for kitchy photo-ops.
Maybe they were tombstones for dead teenagers who would have appreciated you taking a selfie with their tombstone, putting a cool filter on it, loading it up with edgy hashtags and getting likes on your instagram. Each generation has its own way that they want to be remembered. YOLO!
There were no names on those tombstones yet. That said I specifically went and took pictures of some "in-use" tombstones as well. Those were more interesting, some display a perspective of family history you don't normally see -- a perspective that focuses on the dead.
Keep in mind that tombstones are publically displayed. It's not like I broke into a mausoleum or something.
Colma is a lovely necropolis. I went there once to visit the grave of Emperor Norton I, one of my personal heroes. I'm still disappointed they didn't name the Bay Bridge after him.
I once lived there for a few months. The first day I arrived, I opened by window and looked at the view and thought "Wow this place has a beautiful view, no buildings, all nature... wait... what are all those things on the ground?"
It's a really quiet and boring place where you go to Home Depot and Target. It looks like theft is more likely than robbery. I don't live in Colma, but I know SF and Oakland are much worse.
I would guess the high crime statistic is just a quirk of the fact that Colma has very few residents, but many more people visit from neighboring communities for shopping.
Skylawn [1], a few miles south, is about the same size as the biggest cemetery in Colma, and it's still expanding. The scale of the place isn't visible from the highway. It's on Lifemark Road (Their slogan: "Every life leaves its mark") off of CA 92 at the summit near CA 35. Their section with sample gravestone sculptures is worth a visit. Some of them are humorous.
It's insane. You literally leave one Target parking lot, drive under the freeway and turn into another Target parking lot. I would have decision paralysis even picking one.
The one at Serramonte Shopping Center is almost always busy/crowded. Parking can be absolutely awful. That's since it's a mall. When the "Colma" Target didn't have a pharmacy, that was the one advantage that the Serramonte one had over it.
Nowadays it's almost always better to go to the Colma one if possible to avoid the crowd.
I think someone told me a while back that the one at Serramonte is one of the best-selling Target locations in the country, which I can definitely believe.
It's a lovely place. I've got several family members buried there, and the graves are well looked after.
As a non-American it reminds me of how everything in America is bigger. Haven't looked at the numbers, but it's probably bigger than even the WWI memorials in northern France.
Colma a also features a passable par 3 golf course (as of 2005 anyway). A good option if the municipal is too full of a weekend. Out of bounds in many areas is guarded by the deceased.
I walked past some sort of workshop that made tombstones. I took a picture of some tombstones on display outside, since they looked kind of cool. Some worker there started asking me: "Are you here to buy one? Then why the hell are you taking pictures of them?!" Not the most inviting place. The graveyards were nice though.