A church, a casket and My Chemical Romance: inside L.A.s fan tribute

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Set us as preferred The tune of “Famous Last Words” reverberates throughout the Immanuel Presbyterian Church, a high-ceiling Gothic structure in Koreatown, on a rainy October morning.The anthemic, life-affirming final track from My Chemical Romance’s 2006 album “The Black Parade” has taken on a new sound here.It’s being played on the church’s organ.

Mallory Haney, the musician at the keys, also plays “Disenchanted “ and “Mama,” other songs from the same album celebrating its 20th anniversary, throughout the morning.What connects this place of worship to a band known for its macabre aesthetic, however, is its music video for the song “Helena” from the album “Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge.”Filmed here in 2005, the video sees frontman Gerard Way belt the sorrowful lyrics at the front of church with his bandmates and a group of dancers around him.Behind them is a black casket with the body of the eponymous Helena.She eventually rises from the dead and dances her way through the congregation.Now in 2026, several men wearing all black with red ties, like Way does in the music video directed by Marc Webb, trickle in as soon as the doors open.

Later, a young woman in a black dress, mimicking what Helena wears on screen, makes an entrance and heads straight to the front to take photos with the casket and flower arrangements that re-create the scene.“Helena: An Immersive Tribute,” as this experience is dubbed, also features multiple photo ops around the church’s premises that reference the band’s emblematic art (including a statue of Pepe, the marching skeleton on the cover of “The Black Parade” album).Behind this fan-focused event are Sam Gomez and Kimmy Perez, a Mexican American married couple who make a living putting on pop culture-inspired events, and, in the case of Perez, selling her...