Ace Frehley's Grave

What would a Fourth of July celebration be without fireworks? And what better fireworks display to witness than Ace Frehley’s 2007 Dunkin Donuts television commercial? Easily one of the best television commercials EVER, assuming you’re a KISS fan. Here’s a link to the commercial on YouTube, to refresh your memory.

Still from Ace Frehley Dunkin Donuts commercial (2007)

If you’ve ever attended a KISS concert, you know that pyrotechnics were a big part of the band’s stage show. Firepots, explosions, flashing lights were de rigueur, and Ace Frehley, the lead guitarist, had his guitar rigged up to shoot sparks! It’s difficult not to feel all that excitement standing in front of Ace’s final resting place. This past June, I visited his crypt at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, NYC. 

Ace, or rather Paul Frehley, died in 2025. He was 74 years old. Hard to picture him at 74. The first time I saw him perform with KISS was in 1974, when he was just 23. That’s kind of how I pictured him for many years, face made up in his painted-on mask, spaceman costume, sunburst 3-pickup Les Paul, and more swagger than you could possibly imagine. The epitome of a lead guitarist in a dynamic rock band. Of course, none of the band members ever appeared to age, as they performed with the same painted faces for many years. Time is a challenging dimension.

Fans leave offerings, as you can see in my photos. No graffiti, all very tasteful. I brought an old guitar pick of mine, which I left on the artificial blue rose someone had left standing against his crypt cover. The pick was one I’d had since the 1970s, so it had the relevance of bringing me back to an era when I first saw KISS in 1974.

Here’s a short Instagram video of me placing the pick. I was rather shocked at how many “likes” I got when I posted this the day after I shot it. My IG feed (@mourningarts) is all cemetery-related images and videos. I typically get about 54 likes on each of my daily posts, mainly from cemetery nerds like me. The day I posted this video, I got 3,316 likes! A few days later, this was up to 8,855. Obviously, Ace touched a number of lives in his career with KISS and then as a solo artist after that. I have nothing but respect for the man.

Many people (literally hundreds) commented on the video in the first days it was posted, and most comments were positive and appreciative. A few people took issue with the fact that I left a Fender pick, thinking it was an insult to Ace, who mainly played Gibson electric guitars. The KISS Army is not to be trifled with. I’ve been playing guitar since around 1970, and I’ve never seen a Gibson guitar pick. I see them now on the Internet, but I’ve never seen one in real life or in a guitar store for sale. So, to be clear, this was not meant as an insult. My pick just had sentimental value to me. 

When I saw KISS the first time in September 1974 in a theater in Wilkes-Barre, PA, they were an opening act for Blue Oyster Cult. I was a huge fan of both bands, mainly as a result of buying their records (KISS had just released their first album) and reading about them in Creem magazine. KISS appeared on Don Kirchner’s Rock Concert and ABC’s In Concert, the late night concert television shows that pre-dated MTV, so people did have some idea of how wild their stage show was. As an aside, there was actually a lesser-known act that opened that show before KISS came on – they were a three-piece Canadian noise band called Rush. They had just released their first album as well, but the audience didn’t care. Rush was pretty bad – Led Zeppelin wannabes. Who knew that Rush would evolve into one of the world's most popular and successful prog bands? 

I had to sneak off to that show. I was 15 at the time and my parents did not want me to go, since I couldn’t even tell them when the show would end (concerts did not have 11 p.m. legal curfews then as they do now, so shows ran to all hours). I don’t recall the details, exactly, but I seem to remember “going to bed early,” climbing out the window of my second-floor bedroom, shimmying down the rain gutter, and walking the four miles to the Paramount Theater in Wilkes-Barre! I had to go - after all, I had already purchased the $6.00 concert ticket! I reversed the procedure after the show, getting home who knows when, with my parents never knowing that I was gone. Not quite as exciting as the movie, Detroit Rock City, but it was a coming-of-age adventure for me nonetheless!

That year KISS’s popularity grew so fast that they returned as headliners to the same theatre in Wilkes-Barre only two months later (December, 1974). I went to this show as well, this time with my brother Tim (who provided some of these show date facts). As I said, concerts did not have a hard stop at 11 p.m. back then, and I seem to remember this one running past 1:00 a.m.! 

Garden Conservatory Mausoleum

Finding Ace’s final resting place was nearly as challenging as getting to that first KISS concert. Once I found out he was a resident, I needed to visit. After a few attempts on the Internet to locate him, I saw that he was in a community mausoleum. Woodlawn has four of these, so I needed to do more searching. To add to the confusion, his parents are interred in a different community mausoleum in Woodlawn, and I believe there was some speculation that Ace’s body was placed in an unmarked crypt below those of his parents. However, Ace resides in the Garden Conservatory Mausoleum. He’s a bit difficult to find, this being a large building. Based on some photos I found on the Internet posted by previous visitors, I was able to find him after about twenty minutes of searching. Through the front doors, past the other spaceman (the white marble angel in the center of the building), and toward a rear corridor of the building. For video guidance to Ace’s crypt, you can watch this video, which I found after I visited, unfortunately. Would have saved me some time.

So why all the fuss? Why do fans want to visit? Why are they so intrigued by the video I posted? Most likely, these are people - from all over the world - whose lives were touched in some way by Ace. And visiting his grave, albeit vicariously, is a way to thank him and pay their respects. There are a lot of famous people at Woodlawn who I did not visit. I’m not a celebrity stalker. But I did visit the graves of a few well-known people whose work touched my life in some way. One of whom was Dorothy Parker, who lived in New York in the 1920s and was a theater critic. Her finely crafted prose was clever and often biting. I think of her line almost every morning when I walk into work and ask myself, “What fresh hell is this?” So of course, I visited her grave. 

If you visit Ace, or any grave at Woodlawn, do be respectful. There may be mourners there visiting their loved ones, and people grieve in their own way. When I was in the Garden Conservatory Mausoleum, an old guy was slow dancing in front of a crypt while holding his cell phone, which was playing Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon.” Music is often such a big part of our lives, and our memories. My brother Tim found this YouTube video of a fellow who visited Ace's final resting spot recently. He mentions some of his own reminiscences in the video and also leads you through the confusing hallways of the mausoleum right to Ace, which would be helpful should you want to stop in and pay your respects to this talented artist.

Rock ‘n’ Roll all Nite, Ace.