In high school I knew “California Scenario” as “Satan Park.” The rumor growing up went like this: now-deceased Church of Satan High Priest Anton LaVey owned a sedate Costa Mesa office complex and constructed a garden in the middle that would give employees a rest area by day... and Satanists a perfect worship ground by night.
Having just heard the rumor, six or seven of us headed for the park one late Saturday night to see for ourselves. The park was strange, to be sure. At night, especially, it had this surreal quality: a giant stone table (perfect for beheadings??) surrounded by an equally tremendous granite bench. It suggests that one could sit at the table - if the bench wasn't a good five feet away. Compound that with the giant shadows projected on the parking garage walls, the stark pyramids, the giant green hill to nowhere. Nothing here makes sense on the surface, it's an enigma.
Of course, we totally disregarded the enormous signs identifying our would-be worshipping ground as “California Scenario” by late Japanese landscape architect and sculptor Isamu Noguchi (also the creator of this memorable and iconic table). The satanism rumor was probably sparked by nearby Anton Blvd, kind of a stretch but forgivable for kids. Maybe the uneasy feelings I got (and still get) are all tied to how incongruous the garden is in the context of the reasonably normal mall and office complex that surround it: it doesn't belong there. Sometimes I get the feeling that I don't, either, but that's a story for another post. (Not to mention a good subject for a blog.)
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There is a patch of undeveloped hillside near my house up in the Hollywood Hills, most will say the reason it stayed undeveloped is because of the Live Oaks and Walnut trees, but I believe it's the neighborhood ghosts. My reason? The grouping of three boulders, not quite natural, yet still natural enough. About 500 years ago there was a Native American tribe that lived in the canyon, I bet they put the boulders there as a marker of their existence. And it's magic is still working. Its the one clear patch of untouched earth that shows us what the hills used to look like before the concrete and asphalt.
wow, this rumor is still around? I heard that when I was in high school in '95