In the ‘City of Souls,’ the living don’t fear the dead

With only about 1,700 residents, the Northern California town of Colma considers itself small — but that’s only if you count the living. Add the dead, and it becomes the Bay Area’s largest “city,” home to more than 1.5 million eternal residents buried across 17 historic cemeteries.

Maureen O’Connor, president of the Colma Historical Association, talks about a casket sample donated by Duggan’s Serra Mortuary at the Colma Historical Museum in Colma, Calif., on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)

Known as the “City of Souls,” Colma is shaped as much by its dead as its living. Children play among headstones, and locals see ornate mausoleums daily on their way to run errands; the graveyards woven into public life as parks and libraries are in other cities.

A longtime