Update 12/23/23: with the disturbing announcement that the Monastery will close to all public access on January 1, 2024, we repeat our demands for a change in how the future of the spiritual landmark is decided, and by whom.
Gentle reader,
In our historic preservation advocacy work, we come up against some of the biggest, baddest developers and land use attorneys in the world.
And while we strive always to maintain an atmosphere of decorum and respect when we encounter these folks at public hearings or site visits, we never expect them to behave with integrity or grace. They’re in it for the money, and if it’s more profitable to lie or cheat or illegally gut a potential landmark, they will.
But when we engage in advocacy for the protection of a sacred space like Monastery of the Angels in Hollywood, our expectations for how our adversaries will comport themselves are naturally much higher.
That’s why it brings us such a profound sadness to inform you that the Dominican Federation, the religious order that owns the property and has been exploring its options in the aftermath of the Vatican’s suppression of it—news that we broke last August—is behaving as if money matters more than honesty, community or faith.
This bad behavior has included the use of high value commercial California real estate comps to “value” the property (see page 13), the refusal of real estate agent Dominic D. Dutra to share information or provide site access to all interested parties, the violation of aspects of Canon Law that dictate how church property is to be disposed of and who must be consulted, and engaging in a deceptive national publicity campaign that made the false promise that the Dominicans intended to preserve the historic Wallace Neff-designed buildings, even as a second RFP was being prepared that invited market rate senior housing developers to come in and demolish everything—including the Chapel of Perpetual Adoration!
The video embedded in this newsletter was made in the Monastery’s Stations of the Cross garden on Saturday, September 16 during a neighborhood history walking tour. As the tower bells pealed, we were joined by our preservation pal Father Dylan Littlefield to share for the first time with concerned Angelenos news of the shocking second RFP that called for everything around us to be destroyed for upzoned Transit Oriented Community (TOC) senior housing towers.
That is, simply, wrong. And it is why we are calling for an immediate halt to the ongoing, failed and fatally flawed Request for Proposals (RFP) for the four-acre site above Hollywood.
Moving forward, the process of determining the future of the Monastery of the Angels must be handled in a more ethical and transparent manner, with the clear aim of finding the best solution to preserve the sacred Catholic space, honor the sisters who lived and worked here, protect, maintain and reactivate the historic buildings, care for the trees, grounds and artwork, and serve the Hollywood community.
The Monastery of the Angels no longer exists as a home to spiritual sisters who live in seclusion and pray for all mankind. But the remarkable property which was their home has been an oasis of peace and faith for nearly a century in the very heart of Hollywood.
The city has grown up around the Monastery, and we believe that they need each other now, more than ever. The core beliefs of Christianity are equity and social justice, concepts that created an explosion in consciousness almost 2000 years ago and spurred the growth of the Church and its independent monastic orders.
We look now to the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life and the Dominican Curia to put a halt to the RFP process. We look also to Archbishop José of the Los Angeles Archdiocese to join in the discussions about the future of Hollywood’s most precious and vulnerable sacred Catholic space.
If you share our concern, please send an email to these decision makers, letting them know that you care about Monastery of the Angels and don’t want to see it demolished: Office.Archbishop@la-archdiocese.org, s.usa@curia.op.org, carmenros@vitaconsacrata.va, Isolde.cambournac@curia.op.org (and please cc us, tours@esotouric.com).
Maybe the best use will, in fact, include housing for senior citizens. But the path to get there must be a more honorable and thoughtful one than has been taken to date.
As Friends of the Angels, we remain hopeful that this beautiful, peaceful property will be remain so for centuries to come.
yours for Los Angeles,
Kim & Richard
Esotouric
Psst… If you’d like to support our efforts to be the voice of places worth preserving, we have a tip jar and a subscriber edition of this newsletter, vintage Los Angeles webinars available to stream, in-person tours and a souvenir shop you can browse in. We’ve also got recommended reading bookshelves on Amazon and the Bookshop indie bookstore site. And did you know we offer private versions of our walking and bus tours for groups big or small? Or just share this link with other people who care.
UPCOMING BUS & WALKING TOURS
• Angelino Heights & Carroll Avenue Walking Tour (Sat. 10/7) • Eastside Babylon Crime Bus Tour (Sat. 10/14) • The Birth of Noir: James M. Cain’s Southern California Nightmare Bus Tour (Sat. 10/21) • The Real Black Dahlia Crime Bus Tour (Sat. 10/28) • Evergreen Cemetery, 1877 Walking Tour (Sun. 10/29) • The Run: Gay Downtown History Walking Tour (Sat. 11/4) • Downtown L.A. is for Book Lovers Walking Tour (Sat. 11/11) • Alvarado Terrace & South Bonnie Brae Walking Tour (Sat. 11/25) • Know Your Downtown L.A.: Tunnels To Towers To The Dutch Chocolate Shop Walking Tour (Sat. 12/2) • Highland Park Arroyo Walking Tour (Sat. 12/9) • Miracle Mile Marvels & Madness Walking Tour (Sun. 12/17) • Human Sacrifice: The Black Dahlia, Elisa Lam, Heidi Planck & Skid Row Slasher Walking Tour (Tues. 12/26)
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