Waking the Dead: Sea Breeze Pet Cemetery

See Breeze Pet Cemetery - Huntington Beach, CA

Sea Breeze Pet Cemetery & Crematory is Huntington Beach, CA's premier destination for pet burials and cremations.  Without diminishing its stellar credentials, a rather perfunctory scan of the Yellow Pages reveals that Sea Breeze is the only pet crematorium in Huntington Beach.  Nevertheless, Sea Breeze has been faithfully serving bereaved pet owners since 1961.  Calling our lighthearted cemetery jaunts "Waking the Dead," visiting a pet cemetery is generally a novelty for us; understanding the solemnity of the grounds, however, we do our best to be respectful and follow the rules.

The rules.
Is it wrong to love the sign-painter fonts as much as I do?

In flagrant violation of bullet-point number five, we saw plenty of "standing decorations."
It is always a surprise to see pet cemeteries so lovingly tended and so flush with flowers
in stark comparison to overgrown people plots that so often look completely abandoned.  

Please don't think that the absurdity of the neighboring businesses has escaped me - that's a fast food joint next door.
"Where pets go to die and people go to eat!"  Is that a tag line or a deterrent?
And why do all of Sea Breeze's promotional materials proudly state, "We're Carl's Jr. adjacent!" (okay, not really)

As we wandered the manicured rows of lovingly-maintained markers, I decided to see if there might be some celebrity pet graves at Sea Breeze (we'd seen more than our fair share at Los Angeles Pet Mortuary).  Disappointed after finding no leads, I quickly perked up when I heard a distant voice mention, "two famous stars."  My mind raced wondering which celebrities would have their pets memorialized forever in Huntington Beach - Studs Terkel?  Una Merkel?  It took a moment before I realized that what I was hearing was the Carl's Jr. (Hardee's for those of you east of the Rockies) drive-thru where the "Famous Star" hamburger is a rather cruel joke for celebrity-hungry grave hunters.

We did happen upon one dog who achieved fame in his life;  Old Sarge was a highly-decorated US
Marine Corps dog who received the Purple Heart after saving the lives of nine marines during WWII.
Now that's a celebrity pet worth celebrating!!!

We didn't see the pets of any Hollywood stars but we did see the pets that left stars in the eyes of their owners.  The pet names which humans spend so much time and thought determining are always good for a chuckle.

Sometimes they are ridiculously precious.

And sometimes they are a little "on the nose."

The names can be funny but the breeds can be even funnier.

Call me old-fashioned, but I always thought guinea pigs
and rats were relegated to backyard shoeboxes.

Based on the engraved portrait, I think we're left to assume
that "Coors-Z" was a well-behaved, if bedraggled, Skunk??? 

My favorite grave markers are always those that strike me as odd.

Whether it's a slightly deluded view of the situation ("just asleep"), an alliterative epitaph, a questionable pet-human relationship, or a portrait of a demon cat that looks like it's ready to come back from the grave to eat my face, I never fail to get a kick out of the fascinating choices owners make when it comes to memorializing their pets.

Thousands and thousands of dearly-departed pets have been laid to rest on the grounds of See Breeze Pet Cemetery, but just like Disneyland's Haunted Mansion...

"There's always room for one more."
What?!?!!  Precious Poopy needs an otherworldly playmate.

Sea Breeze Pet Cemetery & Crematory
19542 Beach Blvd
Huntington Beach, CA
(714)962-7111

seabreezepetcemetery.com


Cheers!

Mr. Tiny