by Garth Meyer

The LA Metro Transportation Board has postponed a decision on a light rail extension through a North Redondo Beach/Lawndale right of way after possible gravesites were found in a Lawndale back yard.

The matter came up Sept. 28 when Los Angeles County Sheriff’s detectives confirmed the existence of grave sites – or at least buried headstones – in Josh Standifer’s yard in Lawndale, which is in the right of way.

The news gave new energy to the grassroots effort to convince Metro to extend its Green Line down Hawthorne Boulevard on raised tracks, instead of next to homes along the right of way.

Standifer’s neighbor, Jay Gould, 72, believes there are 14 graves on his and Standifer’s property, dating back to before Gould’s father owned the land, when the area was largely ranches. Gould and Standifer live at the end of West 172nd Street, and West 173rd Street, near South Bay Galleria.

“There is at least one grave between the two properties,” said Lawndale city manager Sean Moore. “At least one headstone has a marking (Earle Hoffman, a World War II soldier who died in 1951), and there are potentially two more headstones. We’re not sure.”

Moore said that maps indicate the right-of-way extends into Gould’s and Standifer’s yards, but stops short of their houses.

“Metro has allowed residents to utilize the right of way over the years,” he said.

Gould told Easy Reader that Metro representatives came to his house to see the gravesites last year. 

“I’ve told ‘em about it, and told ‘em about it. They don’t pay attention to anything. I told them 15 years ago,” said Gould. “I saw four headstones for sure.” 

He said his father told him there were 17.

Gould first saw the four headstones (in 2008), he said, when a previous neighbor hit one while working in his garden.

“I thought my dad was full of s— he was trying to scare us. Turns out he was right,” Gould said. 

His father told him they were ranch workers’ graves.

Gould said he was advised by the Lawndale mayor at the time, the late Harold Hofman, not to say anything about the discovery – or the city would want to tear up his property. Gould did what the mayor allegedly said, and his neighbor reburied the headstones.

The possible graves lie inside the fences in both Gould’s and Standifer’s yards, about 35 feet from existing freight tracks. 

“There was no criminal aspect to the graves,” said Michael Chen, LA County Sheriff’s Public Information deputy. “It is a civil matter between the homeowners and the city manager of Lawndale.”

The intact headstone found revealed a further mystery. 

Earle Hoffman’s obituary, as reported by the L.A. Times, ran in the Venice Evening Standard Dec. 17, 1951, saying that services were held at Hillside Memorial Park, a Jewish cemetery in Culver City. The obituary also lists Hillside as the cemetery where he was buried.

Hillside confirmed last week that their records show Hoffman was buried at the cemetery, a headstone in the grass says so, too. That makes two headstones for Hoffman, one in the Culver City cemetery and one in the Lawndale backyard.

Postponement

The day of the report of the right of way discoveries, Metro announced at a regular board meeting, also Sept. 28, that it would wait on the Green Line decision. 

Specifically, the agenda item for the Oct. 26 meeting – which was to include a public hearing, and possible action on the choice of route – will be delayed until early next year.

Holly Mitchell, L.A. County Supervisor and a Metro boardmember, made the request to suspend the vote. She called for added community meetings to learn more about the project options.

“It means an investigation is warranted,” said Zein Obagi, Jr., Redondo Beach District Four city councilman. “Supervisor Mitchell is exercising the diligence that’s required on such a generational project.”

The city of Redondo Beach two weeks ago approved an expenditure to charter a bus to take residents to the October meeting, to advocate for the Hawthorne Boulevard route and against the right of way.

Moore, the Lawndale city manager, reported no new developments this week, nor did Jose Ubaldo, Metro communications manager, media relations.

“We haven’t heard anything back from Metro,” Moore said. 

He noted he had talked to a Metro executive a week before the gravesite discoveries, asking about potential cemeteries along the right of way. The representative said they had no evidence of any, going back a hundred years. 

Nonetheless, once the findings on the purported gravesites are in, Moore said, “Metro would take the lead and tell us what their mitigation would be.”

Metro has moved graves before for a light rail project. In 2005, workers building an E-line extension in downtown Los Angeles discovered a mass grave of predominantly Chinese immigrants. A dedicated memorial wall was built at Evergreen Cemetery in L.A., where the remains were reburied next to a historic Chinese Shrine.

Fine lines

Gould and Standifer’s properties sit along a narrow part of the railroad right-of-way — an estimated 800-foot stretch of 75-foot wide right of way (ROW), which runs south of 170th Street to Artesia Boulevard. On the east side, maps show the ROW cuts into yards, such as Gould’s and Standifer’s.

“In any event, Metro would have to take out some of people’s backyards (in that section),” said Obagi.

North of 170th, the right of way is 100 feet. 

“There’s just so much more certainty to the Hawthorne option,” Obagi said.

Standifer notes he has heard word in the neighborhood that there was a cemetery near the right of way a long time ago. 

“It makes very little sense to have moved the caskets and leave the headstones,” he said, on the likelihood of actual graves on his property.

Is he going to keep digging himself? 

“I’m yet undecided,” Standifer said. “I want to be respectful.”

He said that Georgia Sheridan, Metro project manager for the Green Line extension, said at the last public meeting on the subject that there is no plan to buy houses through eminent domain.

Standifer estimates there are 20 residences on either side of the narrow ROW stretch.

Against the ROW

Redondo residents who oppose the Green Line extension through their neighborhood cite the potential grave sites as another reason the tracks should instead go down Hawthorne Boulevard. 

Gould had a heart attack while speaking against the Green Line in the ROW during a February Metro meeting in Lawndale.

Obagi points out that the gravesites are not mentioned in Metro’s DEIR (Draft Environmental Impact Report) for the right of way option.

“Are there more (gravesites)? Metro doesn’t know. They have no idea,” he said.

Standifer has lived alongside the right of way, across the fence from Gould since last December.

“These graves may be a godsend, because Metro has not been communicating with the citizenry,” he said. “To sum it up, they are trying to sneak this through under everyone’s nose.”

Lawndale City Manager Moore said he did not know what impact the potential gravesites will have on the Metro Board’s ultimate decision about what route to use to extend the Green Line.

“It definitely is going to require some additional study,” he said. “They’ll have to hire an expert to come out and make a recommendation.”  

Metro statement:

On Sept. 28, Metro was notified by the City of Lawndale that a resident discovered a headstone on or adjacent to the Metro-owned Right-of-Way (ROW) that is currently under consideration as an alternative alignment for Metro’s C (Green) Line to Torrance project. The City Manager indicated that he was contacting the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and suggested that Metro may need to investigate as well.  

The California Health and Safety Code (Sections 7050.5, 7051, and 7054) has specific provisions for the protection of human burial remains, as well as procedures to be implemented if Native American skeletal remains are discovered. The L.A. County Coroner acts as lead in assessing potential burial sites. Metro is working with the Environmental Department and LA Coroner’s office to schedule a site visit and receive a report.   

Metro will work with the LA Coroner’s office, the City of Lawndale and the property owner to investigate the site and survey the property line. If it is confirmed the potential burial site is on Metro property, Metro would use on-call archeological and paleontological experts to determine if there are human remains. 

If human remains are discovered, Metro will follow the California Health and Safety Code provisions and provide updated information on any further investigations that are necessary. ER