Cemetery Memories and Joey Ramone

The grave of punk rock legend Joey Ramone (aka Jeff Hyman)

As I attempted to snap a photo with my iPhone of the zinc Civil War soldier's grave marker I just stumbled upon in Palisades Cemetery, I got the dreaded warning that I was out of memory space! I ended up dicking around with my phone to free up space so I could capture more photos, along with some videos. (As an aside, if you’ve never heard the song Dick Around by the rock band Sparks, you need to listen to it here!

If you’ve never experienced such frustration, I envy you. It is not something you want to deal with in ninety-degree heat, or if you’ve just travelled a hundred miles to take photos (or both). This in fact occurred not twenty minutes from the time I first pulled into this cemetery, after finding that the memory card in my old Olympus PEN E-P1 (micro four-thirds) digital camera was full. 

Palisades Cemetery, Weehawken, NJ

I had slammed on the brakes in the shade of a tree just as I pulled in through the entrance gate, as there was a gorgeous mausoleum here with a marble angel statue on top. I have a 200mm telephoto zoom on this camera, which I brought for this specific purpose (you can’t zoom to a distant object with a camera phone – the zoom is digital, not optical, so you lose resolution quickly). I screwed with the camera and card, thinking maybe the write protect switch had gotten moved, but just could not get it to accept an exposure. Dead in the water. 

Gate relic of family plot, Palisades Cemetery

It was not like I could just go find a Walgreens and buy another SD card – I discovered a week ago that this camera is so old (2009 technology) that it’s internal processor can only handle a card with a maximum storage capacity of 16GB. I had filled up a card a couple weeks ago and was too lazy to download the images to my laptop, so I just ordered the cheapest, lowest capacity card available (120GB) online. This did not work. After the good folks at WebbCam (in Philadelphia) explained the problem to me, they sold me an old, used 8GB card, which worked fine. Kind of low capacity, and I hadn’t realized that I had filled it up so quickly. Standing in front of this mausoleum, it would not accept any new images. So, I threw the Olympus in the trunk and figured I would order some low-capacity SD cards when I got home. 

Gabba Gabba Hey!

Palisades Cemetery in Weehawken, New Jersey (near the Meadowlands sports complex), was actually my second stop. It wasn’t even on my to-do list. I just stumbled upon it as I found it across the street from my actual destination, Weehawken Cemetery (it may actually be a part of Weehawken Cemetery, depending on whether you use Google Maps or the Find-a-Grave ap). There were several zinc monuments there, along with some dynasty plots still bordered with original Victorian-era metal gates and fencing (unusual to see this). First stop, and my primary destination, was New Mount Zion Cemetery in nearby Lyndhurst, NJ, to visit the grave of punk rock legend Joey Ramone (a.k.a. Jeff Hyman). Joey, vocalist for the band The Ramones, died in 2025. (His solo album, “Don’t Worry About Me,” is wonderful, by the way, in case you’ve never heard it. In fact, he’s recorded the best version of What a Wonderful World in the known galaxy! Click to hear.)

Joey (Jeff) Ramone (Hyman)'s dad, Noel

Joey is buried in the New York Social Club plot in Lyndhurst's New Mount Zion Cemetery. New Mount Zion occupies the southern quarter of Hillside Cemetery (which also has several zinc monuments). Joey's dad, Noel, is buried next to Joey. Noel's companion was Nancy Lerner ("My Beloved Nancy"), and Noel's wife Charlott Mandell Lesher - also buried in this cemetery - was Joey's mom.

So I wanted to find Joey’s grave, pay my respects, and make a few photos and videos, which I did. There were a few interesting things in Hillside Cemetery (several zinc monuments), and there is a great diner near the Orient Way entrance to the cemetery, Colonial Diner, if you need a quick bite or a pit stop. You can almost picture the Ramones crammed into one of the red booths here in 1976, right? Jersey diners are the best!

When I left Palisades Cemetery to head over to the Meadowlands, I realized I never even went to Weehawken Cemetery across the street! Ah well, it didn’t really look that interesting. When I mapped out this area, my goal was first and foremost, Joey’s grave, and then any Victorian-era cemetery in the area. There appeared to be three over by the Meadowlands, a few miles away – Weehawken, Flower Hill, and Hoboken cemeteries. So off to Hoboken Cemetery in North Bergen, New Jersey, I drove – knowing full well that I had little or no media on which to record anything. I hadn’t even brought a film camera!

If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all. Maybe all the gods just hated me that day. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald said, "reserving judgements is a matter of infinite hope." However, I think I just screwed up. I was ill-prepared. Yadda, yadda, yadda. Gabba, gabba, hey. Had I taken to heart the words of the great philosopher Charles Manson, “Total paranoia is total awareness,” I would have been better off. Would have checked the storage space on all my gear, battery life, and so on. I already knew that I had run out of film last week, so I didn’t even bring my Leica SLR film camera. Sigh. So with all this poor planning in mid-July, 2026, I drove two hours from Philadelphia in an attempt to blitz several cemeteries in North Jersey.

Hoboken Cemetery, NJ

After leaving Palisades, I hit these other nearby cemeteries that definitely warranted more time and memory than I had. Almost every image I shot at Flower Hill Cemetery had to be preceded by my freeing up iPhone storage by deleting aps or text messages with image files attached. Certainly sucked the joy out of exploring these new places. Hoboken Cemetery, next to the opulent gorgeousness of Flower Hill, was in poor condition. The grass was cut, but the tombstones were knocked over, the bronze elk from the B.P.O.E. (Elks) monument had either been removed or stolen – the place was kind of desolate and in a shambles. Not to mention mountainous. 

Pyramid mausoleum, Flower Hill Cemetery

Missing Bronze Elk

To say that Flower Hill and Hoboken cemeteries were built into a hillside is a rather mild description of these steep properties. The land grades up almost immediately after you enter either property by their separate Tonnelle Avenue entrances. I didn’t realize that I entered both from the rear (pun intended) until I drove up the steeply hilled properties to the upper ridge of Flower Hill where the magnificent mausoleums sat (right off John F. Kennedy Boulevard). I spent about a half hour walking amidst these structures with their amazing stained glass windows, statuary, and sculpted granite sphinxes. I realized I should have brought my Canon G11 point-and-shoot zoom camera to get better images of these amazingly colorful windows. Not bringing that super versatile pocket camera was not just stupid, it was stupid on stilts. Sigh.

Mausoleum window, Flower Hill

So in actuality, it seems that you enter Hoboken Cemetery from its main entrance off Tonnelle Avenue, but you should enter Flower Hill from it's main entrance on John F. Kennedy Boulevard. The dark green Flower Hill gatehouse is quite a lovely piece of architecture itself – I did not get a photo as I only noticed it as I was leaving - and a funeral procession was entering at the same time I was trying to merge into the steady stream of traffic. As I shot by a White Castle burger joint, I lamented having gotten that tuna hoagie at Colonial Diner. I LOVE White Castle burgers! 

I am contemplating a trip back here at some point, but honestly, the traffic is so dense and congested in the area that it makes driving such a chore. I was there just two days before the FIFA World Cup Final soccer match was to be held at the Meadowlands – I could not image what the traffic would be like around here at that point! This entire area is close to the highway leading to the Lincoln Tunnel so I would strongly suggest visiting these places on a weekend. If you do so during a weekday, avoid being on the roads anytime during rush hour. Or during road construction. Or a traffic accident. 

Intensely-designed fireman's monument, Flower Hill Cemetery

Pieta, Flower Hill

So much of my life revolves around memory. I photograph cemeteries, which is all about memory. I’m 65 years old, so I’ve got all my personal memories. Plus there is recording media - memory! I remember decades ago standing in line at Best Buy with an armload of blank CDs, blank audio cassettes, and blank VHS tapes. I remember thinking at the time, “This is weird. I’m standing in line here ready to spend all this money on memory.” Twenty-five years later, its still all about memory. Why is the act of recording things so important to humans? What are the broader implications? 

Maybe its to help us correct our future behavior. The liminal moments I experienced on this trip will hopefully benefit me – at least until I learn how to go back in time to warn myself about the future. How about I pack an extra memory card and free up space on my phone? Take a film camera for backup?  Also, why is it that I always find myself driving past a White Castle burger joint when I’m not hungry? How about, on my next trip, I look for nearby White Castle fast food places ahead of time and plan to stop at one for lunch or dinner? Then, I'm guessing, all the world would be happier in relative terms and we can all join in singing the Ramones' We're a Happy Family! (Click link to listen.)

"Dark Shadow's" Crypt at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery

I never thought I’d associate my Mom with vampires, but stranger things have happened. My Mom, who passed away in 2023, was an avid fan of the daytime American Gothic soap opera Dark Shadows, which aired on ABC-TV from 1966 to 1971. It was one of the things we bonded over. I was probably nine or ten years old. I would come home from school and watch it with her every weekday at 4 pm. Those characters – Barnabas Collins (the main vampire), Angelique (a witch), Quentin (a werewolf) – were all super scary. I remember naming our cat, “Quentin.”

To my surprise, during a fall midnight lantern tour of Sleepy Hollow Cemetery (in Sleepy Hollow, New York), the tour guide, John, showed us one of the scene locations of Dark Shadows! As we stood in front of a mausoleum – in the dark, lit by a dozen lanterns – John told us that the show’s producers wanted to use a particular mausoleum as the “Collins” mausoleum that Barnabas called home. Really? Wow! THAT was unexpected! (You see, I never do any research ahead of exploring a cemetery - I like surprises). But the family that owned that mausoleum would not give permission to use the structure. My hopes dashed.

“I don’t wanna be buried in a pet sematary!”

But then …John says, we WILL see another site on the property that WAS used for scenes in Dark Shadows. Damn! My lucky day! He said nothing for the next half hour as our group of twenty people trod from site to site in the dark. As we trudged forth into the darkness, we heard screams off in the distance – which I assume came from the tour group ahead of us as those people were being eaten. We saw the original graveyard of the Old Dutch Church, the graves of historical figures like Andrew Carnegie and the Rockefellers, and heard various stories involving local history and folklore. The photo you see above was made on the location where the Ramones shot the video for their song, “Pet Sematary!”

Receiving Vault

Finally, up a small incline above Washington Irving’s grave, we came to the receiving vault. After explaining that this structure, built into the hillside, was used to temporarily store bodies in winter while waiting for the ground to thaw (prior to the Industrial Revolution, graves had to be dug by hand), our guide told us that this structure had been mocked up and used as the Collins’ family crypt for the Dark Shadows television serial!

Barnabas and friend, inside a crypt

After John explained what the receiving vault was used for, he asked if anyone wanted to go inside. Of course everyone yelled, “Yes!” Nothing about the tour was really spooky, but this made up for it! He unlocked the door (with a skeleton key, I believe) and we filed inside. I certainly did not expect to see an open crypt with Barnabas Collins’ framed portrait inside! Jonathan Frid is the actor who played this role. There were three or four other large glossy photos on the opposite wall showing scenes from Dark Shadows, portraying the various regulars from the show.

Collins Family Mausoleum

Above is a photo hung inside the receiving vault showing the outside with the mocked up “COLLINS” name above the door, and some Gothic-looking statues flanking it. In the television show, Barnabas’ coffin was actually hidden behind a wall in the Collins mausoleum. You would pull the lionhead chain above one of the crypts to open the wall. Barnabas would rise out of his coffin and bite you. If you check out some of the Dark Shadows episodes on YouTube you might be surprised at how well they were done. Sixties’ horror movies are famously cheesy, but Dark Shadows can be genuinely tense and frightening. Happy Halloween!

The Ramones and Hollywood Forever

In 1998, I had a teaching engagement in Los Angeles. I took my daughter with me, who was fourteen at the time. We got to California a day early so we could photograph in a few cemeteries. One of these was the Hollywood Forever Cemetery on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood.

The cemetery was at that time kind of overgrown with weeds and not tended to very well. It also seemed to parallel the shabby look and feel of Hollywood itself--a shanty town. Supposedly the owner (who died in 1997) embezzled most of the endowment funds (which is a cemetery's main source of income to pay for upkeep). New ownership in 1998 has turned things around and the place is currently a very lively memorial park that hosts tours, movie screenings (picture George Romero's 1968 cult classic, Night Of The Living Dead projected on a mausoleum wall!) and the Ramones annual memorial concert (see link below).

As the Hollywood Forever website says, "Founded in 1899, the cemetery was an integral part of the growth of early Hollywood. Paramount Studios was built on the back half of the original Hollywood Cemetery, where the studio is still in operation today." To paraphrase Mark Twain, you can't swing a cat without hitting a movie star's grave in this place. I don't usually take snapshots of such things, as I strive for a more abstract, fine art type of photography. The image you see above is one of the most memorable I made that day. The sculpture rests on a monument at the main entrance and is a knock-off of the famous Cupid and Psyche masterpiece "Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss" created by Antonia Canova in 1787 (original in the Louvre). I prefer the knock-off; it has more character!

Photo by Mike Spak

Jayne Mansfield, Douglas Fairbanks, Cecil B. DeMille, Rudolph Valentino, and those Little Rascals, Alfalfa and Darla, are all buried here. But the list goes on, as the cemetery continues to host active burials. Since I've been there, two of the Ramones, Johnny and Dee Dee have died (2004 and 2002 respectively) and are both buried there. The photo at right of Dee Dee's headstone was taken by my friend Mike, who visited the cemetery in 2009.

Many of my friends have seen my cemetery photography over the years, and some have become interested in the subject themselves. I've had people send me photos of fabulous graves from all over the world, places I'll probably never get to. It's a nice feeling to know that I've kindled this interest in others, and its fun to hear their stories. Mike, for instance, refused to photograph Johnny Ramone's monument, which is near Dee Dee's. Why? Because it had an inscription carved into it from that poser Eddie Vedder! I mean, Johnny paid for the monument himself! What could Pearl Jam's radio-friendly MOR music have to do with the Ramones' innovative punk? Takes some chutzpah (Johnny was Jewish)  to have your own name carved on someone else's monument.

Another thing that made my visit to the cemetery memorable was an interaction I had with my daughter. As we walked around the grounds, we came to a grove with childrens' graves. Many of the small stones had "Born" and "Died" dates that were very close, often less than a year apart. Being in the health care business, I was fully aware of the high mortality rate among children prior to the 1950s. My daughter, however, was not. They might mention this stuff in school, but it doesn't really hit home until the proof stares you in the face. She was shocked.

In 1900, 10% of U.S.-born children died before they were a year old (now its far less, below 0.03% thanks to vaccines for measles, rubella, and polio, as well as better prenatal care for moms). Large family plots in cemeteries would seem to feed into the stereotype of families being larger in the olden days. But if you scrutinize the dates on the headstones, you'll see that many children didn't make it past their 5th birthday. Parents would in many cases continue to produce children to make up for ones who died. A sobering revelation--I could tell her eyes were opened. Kind of like when I introduced her to the music of Alice Cooper. Nothing you do for a child is ever wasted!

I think I've reached the end of my broadcast day. Since I spent so much of this blog talking about life, death, and creativity, let me leave you with this lovely quote:

"Creation is a drug I can't do without." - Cecil B. DeMille

Some links to peruse:

Hollywood Forever Cemetery Website
Video tour of the cemetery
Ramones annual memorial concert
Johnny Ramone Monument on YouTube
Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss