Walk #35 of the Secret Stairs book was heavy on the religion front. It took us through an area of Hollywood that had in the twenties been the home of a number of religious movements that had also developed housing for their followers.
First up was the Vedanta Temple, an attractive if slightly forbidding edifice. We encountered a foreign gentleman outside who informed us that the Temple includes living quarters for about ten persons. He stated that he himself had been a guest there for the previous two weeks, but gave no additional context.
From the Vedanta Society we moved on along some steep hills and past some interesting architecture.
After going up a short flight of stairs, we ended up to my surprise on Alcyona Terrace, right in front of the home that Thomas' friend Daren had lived in when the two of them met as four-year-olds.
I sat on the steps and reflected on the passage of time.
Before it could turn into another Proust moment, we moved on up the street to see a number of buildings all related to the Theosophical Society, an eastern religion whose southern California headquarters, named "Krotona", were located here from 1912-1926.
The original bungalows and apartments erected for Theosophical Society followers are still there. The original Krotona building is also now an apartment complex. We walked in and saw an attractive central courtyard with one lone koi manning a pond.
Thinking that we might bond around the common experience of being pets, I tried to make eye contact with the koi, but I wasn't sure whether he (she?) noticed me. Koi tend to be inscrutable.
Leaving the koi, we continued our walk past more former Krotona buildings, and then past a Spanish Revival castle that had once been the home of Barbara Stanwyck.
In a yard, we noticed a gorgeous egg sculpture.
At the end of the loop, we continued on to Gower and walked in the direction of the Hollywood sign to Carmen Place, so that we could stop at the Monastery of the Angels, a Dominican nunnery where Teresa bought some pumpkin bread baked by the sisters.
My owner initially cruelly required me to wait outside, but the kind ladies running the gift shop insisted to her that she go back out to get me and carry me inside with her. You can always trust a religious order to stand up for the small and powerless.
