This month I have spent sometime at The Central Library Downtown in the The Octavio Media Center working in the Memory Lab. What’s a memory Lab you ask? Well it’s a Lab that contains all the equipment needed to digitize many media formats to preserve Historical media. And I happen to have a ton of historical media.
These are the formats the can convert:
- Compact Audio Cassettes’
- Reel To Reel Audio Tape
- Super 8 mm and 8mm Film
- VHS and VHS-C
- 3/4″ U -Matic
- DV and MiniDV
- CD/DVD
- 3.5′ Floppy
- Documents
- Photos, Slides, Negatives
- Vinyl Records (LP and 45)
- Minidisc
Visit LAPL Memory Lab for a complete list of supported formats.
What have I been doing at the memory Lab?
Well I have in my possession the History of my old Church from 1951 to present. If you can imagine the box contains a variety of different media formats that covers almost 75 years.
The items were left in an unmarked box sitting on a chair in the middle of the wide open office. The Church had removed everything they wanted to take to a new location 2 weeks prior. All the doors had been removed from the church and office by the people authorized to take what could to be sold. I was shocked that after the church removed what they wanted to take they left this behind.
They took the Doors, but left a closet full of 10s of thousands of Sheet Music from decades of music performed by the Choir. They left their church history in an unmarked box. What great stewards they were. I remember telling the Moderator a year before the sale to contact a historical salvage company that would have taken every nail and every door and categories it and sell the pieces at auction.
But no, she had her brother in law strip the property of things like chain link fence, doors, fixtures, sold the marble alter, and left the place wide open for any scavengers and the homeless to make camp. It was utterly disgraceful the way the historical building’s were so unceremoniously destroyed and left for the trash. They took the doors, cut up the pews for the wood and left the history. I have all sorts of Pictures to show this.
I even recall telling them months prior that they should donate the archives to the local library. They even left the blueprints and original architectural drawings for when the historical building was built.
You may be aware that I released a 27 page synopsis for a non fiction Book based on my time spent at Prince Erik Hall that details the final 14 years the church was open. This is the first part of the book, The End . The second part of this book is going to be about Stewardship, the Beginning and the history of the church from the early 1950’s using the media to tell the story.
If the church organist took all the historical vintage lighting fixtures from the church and left the organ.. well I think its safe to assume that stewardship was the last thing on some peoples minds. What is really sad is I know for a fact that there were many voices that did not like this, but kept quiet to avoid confrontation with the overbearing and loud moderator. What a nasty piece of work she is. So it happed.
The Organ was destroyed by vandals (Police report was filed) and the Historic House of Prince Erik of Denmark was set on Fire burned to the ground. (Fire Marshall determined it was accidental, probable a homeless person trying to keep warm… In the middle of April.?) A matter of Public Record. I wonder if the insurance paid out a claim on the organ and the house?… I mean if it wasn’t convenient enough that the buildings could now be demolished without going through any public permitting process to take down the historical buildings.. that would have added a year and a half to the process for the developer. Meaning the church wouldn’t get the money from the sale.. LUCKY. Blessing?
Turns out it was almost 2 years in escrow before they saw a penny. except for several advancements made by the developer so that the church had the money to use a loop hole that the church could tear down the buildings..so they got an advance for the money it cost to get the property bulldozed and in condition to sell to the developer. That was roughly $37,000 according to public records, Funny that they claimed money was such an issue since they applied for and received pandemic grant money that covered the expenses, like payroll and utilities. What a joke. For 2 years they got grants..
Oh well, I know I have a clear conscious when I stand in front of the gates of heaven. Others not so much. What was done by a handful of people was utterly disgraceful and simply disgusting.
So the history of the congregation is in my possession. I just hope that i can do the memories and history justice, and make the images available for all to see.
The 27 page synopsis Part 1 is now available as a digital download for $4.99. Click here to buy your copy now.
The images are a great way to look at the past and see what life was like. I also have the blue prints from building the church, journals of notes from social clubs, old pamphlets, postcards and more. The Goal being to make this media accessible to others and to share with others the history before it is all but forgotten.
In the end, they tried to have my name removed from the Facebook pages that I published for the Church and for Prince Erik Hall. All of which contained images I shoot images and video that were my intellectual property. I produced a years worth of Facebook LIVE worship services, and they tried to have my name removed as the administrator. Well Facebook notified me and my response was simple. I spent 14 years building the Facebook page and filling it with media I created. Since they were so bent on removing me from their history, I gave them 14 days and permission to use any of the media they wanted to take down, but the Facebook page they wanted was being deleted. I have all the media anyway. Until the pandemic they were never interested in social media..so i deleted it and they had one week to figure our how to do the next Sunday broadcast.
What I find absolutely Hysterical about the Facebook LIVE is that even though the handful of remaining members of the congregation still meet at a chapel on another church property. After the pandemic they still continue to invest in a live broadcast. For the maybe 3 people who watch at home.. I have popped in occasionally just to see the broadcast, and if it wasn’t so pathetic..it would be a comedy shit show. Check out this video the 1st Pentecost Sunday on Facebook LIVE after the last Pentecost in which I made the place look like it was on fire…
You tell me. .. Did I make the difference?
In the end, the Property was Sold to the Developer of Very expensive mansions. For a property that sold for somewhere in the 8 million dollars, they built 32 Mansions worth 2-3 million dollars. All of which sold almost immediately. 96 million Dollars and a while lot of property tax revenue for the City of Arcadia.
