PERMANENT CALIFORNIANS An Illustrated Guide to the Cemeteries of California<i> by Judi Culbertson and Tom Randall (Chelsea Green Publishing Co., Chelsea, Vt.: $16.95; 310 pp.) </i>

Observing the North-South split appears to be de rigueur for absolutely anyone writing about California. Judi Culbertson and Tom Randall seem to press the point, however, by dividing the state’s cemeteries into two sections: Los Angeles and San Francisco. San Diego and Carmel might well be miffed to be lumped together thus with the metropolitan centers. Furthermore, from the language of the introduction, one would think that everyone in the South was buried in resplendent bathing apparel, and everyone in the North entombed with a complete set of the Great Works of Western Civilization. Will and Ariel Durant, authors of “The Story of Civilization” series who lie in Westwood Memorial Park, were certainly not buried with surfboards.

This native’s quibble aside, the body of the book offers lots of good stories, walking tours to orient the wanderer and photographs both beautiful and hilarious. Pet cemeteries are, of course, represented, as is that thanatological crown jewel, Forest Lawn, which occupies no fewer than four chapters here--a separate one for each of the Glendale establishment’s three tours. The authors, also producers of “Permanent Parisians” and “Permanent New Yorkers,” have done their legwork, whether lying face down and copying out epitaphs (“I’d rather be in Las Vegas” or Groucho Marx’s “I hope they buried me near a straight man”) or unearthing useful tidbits for the capsule biographies. (Carlotta Monti is quoted on the subject of her lover, W. C. Fields: “They have said he was crotchety, castigating, had a jaundiced eye, was larcenous, suspicious, shifty, erratic, frugal and mercenary. I can only confirm these accusations.”) With just the heft of a Michelin guide, “Permanent Californians” is just the book to slip into a pocket for a day of communing with the famous departed--and unlike with the “Maps to the Stars’ Homes,” one can be reasonably sure of visiting the actual abode of the star in question.