This is What Happends When you Visit - Be Concerned, Very Concerned!

This article is written by a conservative journalist who tragically passed away at a young age.

The observations here are spot on.

Particularly this:

"None of the three church employees whom I spoke with at length had an education beyond high school. Our two tour guides both started working for the church at 17 years old and have no other professional experience outside of the church. 

All came to the church with low self-esteem and a lack of necessary social skills. The church, its courses, and its auditing sessions gave them the confidence they so desperately lacked, they said. The church’s recruitment methods all seemed to be directed at finding a specific kind of person: someone who was vulnerable, overwhelmed by his or her shortcomings, someone who had poor communication skills, who lacked confidence, and was desperate for help."

I Visited The Church Of Scientology. Here’s What Happened

Asians and Scientology

So here is something of interest; apparently sourced from one of the Old Town Scientologists. 

Asians might like Scientology.  Maybe they also like peanut butter, good books, and new carpeting.  The possibilities seem limitless.

Well now, this is embarassing.....

The Head Short Guy at the Old Town Org Opening

Things are not looking up for L. Ron's make believe world. 

A recent article has been published that exposes what may be the beginning of the end of Scientology as we know it.

I recall when the Old Town Pasadena building was dedicated a number of years ago, the street was entirely blocked off - in order to isolate a significant number of protesters who showed up to protest the opening of the building.  At the time, I found this rather odd and ironically tragic.

Today, Pasadena's Ideal Org is occupied daily by a small handful of 5 to 10 people.  The chain smoking among staff members is at an all time high.  At least two of these folks are the rather confused and shaggy looking uniformed children of Scientology members - these adolescents are sent out to the streets of Old Town to hand out the pathetic "personality test" promotional tracts used to lure the unsuspecting and dim witted into the Ideal Org building.  Most other kids this age are attempting to pass algebra, play on school sports teams, or loiter at the shopping mall.   This form of self promotion is not the sign of massive growth of a religion, this is the sign of something tragically sad slowly dying.

Now this article is making more sense to me, in light of the efforts of those protesters.

Scientology it seems is neither a religion or a business.  It is a sad joke.

Oops! Don't Ask This Guy for your Opening Ceremony Speaker!

Here is a little discovery quite revealing and emblematic of Scientology leadership and the type of image they profess to promote.  Its somewhat old news, but worthy of posting here as a reflection of things related to the Scientology folks in Old Town Pasadena.

First, the image this group attempts to portray to the public; Scientology is a good thing, and respectable people endorse it.  Even famous narcissistic actors!

Several years back, when the Pasadena "Ideal Org" Scientology office was opened, amongst much soon forgotten fanfare, the event featured a speaker at the Grand Opening who has turned out to be, well, a complete fraud.  Actually, he has become more than a fraud, he has graduated to become a criminal. 

I am speaking here of the Right Pretend Reverend Dr. (Not Really) Nicholas Benson. As it turns out, recent press articles have exposed that Dr. Nicholas Whatshisname Benson is neither a Doctor or a PhD., or even Nicholas or Benson.  Read more about all this here.  Turns out he is none of anything he has said he was.  He even attempted to run for Pasadena City Council.

And to top it all off, and add insult to injury for the Scientology folks, Pretend Never Mind Reverend Whatchamacallit proceeded to get himself arrested last May for five outstanding traffic violations.

The moral of this short story?  Think twice, or perhaps five times, before believing anything you hear at a Scientology event.  Particularly a Grand Opening.

The Beginning of the End?

For a little more than two years now, a building close to mine in Old Town has been a renovated "church" of Scientology.

I have never understood what the religious or business model was of a building in which millions of renovation dollars have been spent, and yet, only 8 people show up everyday in bartender uniforms.  They spend the breaks and lunch hour all (every last one of them) chain smoking in the alleyways of Old Town. 

It all seems so entirely.....empty.

And now, this article finally explains what I have long suspected.  Its all a hoax.

This quote sums up exactly what I have feared for these poor people, deceived by a false religion:

As elsewhere, after its grand opening, the Orange County building remains empty but for a few staffers, said Garcia. "There's nothing happening in those orgs," he says "They're dead: six people in 65,000 square feet." Former executive Nancy Many calls churches like Seattle's and Santa Ana's "Ideal Morgues."

Sad Ideal Org Persons - A Poem

After two years of observing the casual behavior of Scientologists in a building near my work in Old Town Pasadena, this attempt at a poem (of sorts) has developed.

Unhealed Pain

Each day
they are there moving through town
the People of the Ideal Org
There are so few in that big building on the Avenue

Walking slowly down the street, eyes invariably downcast
or staring blankly, as if no one is home
or theirs souls are not with them
maybe they have already been transported to another dimension

Holding their lunch soft lunch containers and purses
walking to their Ideal Org from the Metro stop
its the same every day, this small skeleton crew
That slow march of obedience
Falling in line to the cadence of the Wild Sailor of old


From my perspective they seem devoid of independent thought
Something seems to have been sucked from them
Shuffle-marching slower than the rest of their sidewalk companions
As if they are running on one-half power
the life in them seems out of focus.

Most seem devoid of smiles
But some have a permanent smirk
as if they know a joke we can never comprehend
Or an unspeakable secret they are prohibited from uttering
It is too cosmically profound for us earthlings

They stand at the corner of Colorado and Raymond
attempting half-hearted smiles and handing out
their free personality test postcards
that promise a life free from psychiatry
the healer of multitudes
yet their self proclaimed Satan
or maybe its just competition for income

Those same cards litter the floor of the parking structure
minutes later, tossed aside by the other sidewalk people who were
only being polite

They look like Bartender School patrons in their
uniforms of matching conformity and bad fashion
They seem lower to the earth, like something is weighing them down

Why did they join?
Why are they here?
What is the point of this?  Eternal life on another planet with aliens?

Maybe its some deep unhealed pain from their past
Just like the Old Happy Sailor himself
So perhaps they are broken
Just like the rest of us
Except they have uniforms that point it out.

Hey La Le La!

This video just surfaced on the web, from sometime in the 80s or 90s. 

My favorite is 1:39 or so.....I love that meetings in Scientology centers involve sitting in a circle with your eyes closed, pointing and the ceiling, smiling, and talking.

I also find the archival footage of L. Ron at the end both amusing and quite haunting.

Blazer Man's New Buddy

I have an update to my prior post.  Turns out Blazer Man has an off-hours buddy.  This cheery fellow typically is seen only in the early morning or early evening hours.  I think he may have a real day job, and only gigs at the Scientology building in his off hours. 

The new guy?  Its Santa.

I am not medicating.  My recent trips past the lobby of the Pasadena Scientology building reveal there is a new fellow sudo-guarding the lobby area.  Sometimes he is alone, other times he is with Blazer Man (noted below in this blog).

Several weeks ago I first spotted a relatively stout gentleman standing beside Blazer Man in the lobby, and I had to chuckle out loud.  This new lobby addition was a spitting image for Pere Noel!

I will add that this version of Kanakaloka does NOT have a generally cheerful demeanor.  Rather, he sort of seems like a cross between Santa and Clint Eastwood; with a look on his face that says "Feeling lucky today?"  He chooses to wear some sort of semi-admiral's outfit, though.  Interesting, in a sad way.

This addition to the crack security staff certainly makes the whole vibe of the building more interesting.  And creepy.

Mysterious Blazer Man

Not the real Man.

Something new is up at the Scientology building in Old Town Pasadena.  I call it "Man in Plaid Shirt and Blue Blazer".

I pass by the entrances to this building every weekday, sometimes four or more times a day.  And over the past month or more, every single time I pass by, there is the same man pacing around in the lobby of the building.

Its Man in Plaid Shirt and Blue Blazer.  All day, every day.  Pacing.  Looking nonchalant, seemingly content.  The entire circuit of his lobby movement appears to be around 50 feet.  This is all he seems to do.  All the time, all day.

Who is this mysterious man, and why is he pacing?  And, more importantly, why does he not ever change his shirt?

The real lobby.

All I can make of this is that he is there for some kind of security, given all the reports of paranoia related to the Church of Scientology.  So he may be Security Man in Plaid Shirt and Blue Blazer.  But I don't think he is packing heat, rather I think he hopes to disarm intruders with his overwhelmingly average fashion sense.

There used to be a uniformed, paid, off-hours security guard in the building, but he seems to have disappeared, along with the vast majority of bartender school-clad Scientology workers.

Does anyone know the identity and purpose of Man in Plaid and Blue Blazer?  If so, leave a comment.  Inquiring minds want to know.

Quick Update

I have noticed that this blog has been visited a total of 16 times.  Stunning news.  My hopes of worldwide recognition have been dashed......

By way of an update, there now seem to be a total of about 15 people still employed at the Scientology "church" in Pasadena.  By casual daily observation, it is my estimate that 95% of these employees are chronic smokers.

Very few people ever seem to visit the building, although the "Open House" signs are placed outside the doors daily.  The books by L. Ron Hubbard lining the windows on Raymond Avenue remain untouched, unmoved, and unsold since the very day of opening.