Bronze plaques and veterans memorial STOLEN from oldest Jewish cemetery in Los Angeles

The bronze plaques and a veterans memorial were stolen from Home of Peace Memorial Park and Mortuary in East Los Angeles by scrap metal thieves.
This site is the oldest operating Jewish cemetery in Los Angeles, and its historic cemetery gates had for a long time bore distinctive bronze stars of David. As I arrived for a tour this week I immediately noticed they were gone.
The cemetery management tells me that in addition to the plaques, a sizable bronze veterans monument which was heavily weighted down in concrete was also stolen. This was reported to the sheriffs office.
It is my understanding that the local metal recyclers were approached by cemetery workers and asked if they had received a bunch of plaques, and it was confirmed that they had in fact received and scrapped them.
The cemetery management is already working with a foundry on replacing the bronze plaques. And the veterans monument is being replaced by the veterans group.
Though it’s really upsetting to have to confirm our suspicions on what has been happening to local monuments.
Last fall I had unfortunately discovered that the plaque was stolen from the historical marker for the Hebrew Benevolent Society Cemetery - near Dodger Stadium and the Navy and Marine Armory - the site of our original Jewish cemetery founded in 1855. It was forced out by city redevelopment in 1897, resulting in over 350 souls from the “Old Jewish Cemetery” in the ravines being relocated to it's replacement site of Home of Peace Memorial Park in East Los Angeles.
Home of Peace management has for some time been working with local partners such as Friends of Elysian Park and Los Angeles City Council District 1 to replace the ravine monument. It’s sad to see that in the interim, they were also targeted here as well.
It is well known that from the Pueblo de Los Angeles on Olvera Street to the ravine, from the Sixth Street Bridge to the Mexican American veterans monument at Cinco Puntos, our local monuments have been stolen by metal thieves.
While it is true that there are recently increased fines in the City of Los Angeles for the receiving stolen metal such as copper wire, the problem is that most of the local recycling plants are not within city jurisdiction. The vast majority of local recycling plants are located in the cities of Vernon, Commerce and Montebello. In order for such fines to make any difference this issue must be raised by the County of Los Angeles.

[@jonfreedman9069]

very sad and disappointing. keep up your great work!

[@mayabairey]

oh no, how rotten!