Skip to main content

It's Spooky: CA Scenario

Support Provided By

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.)

Support Provided By
Read More
Gray industrial towers and stacks rise up from behind the pitched roofs of warehouse buildings against a gray-blue sky, with a row of yellow-gold barrels with black lids lined up in the foreground to the right of a portable toilet.

California Isn't on Track To Meet Its Climate Change Mandates. It's Not Even Close.

According to the annual California Green Innovation Index released by Next 10 last week, California is off track from meeting its climate goals for the year 2030, as well as reaching carbon neutrality by 2045.
A row of cows stands in individual cages along a line of light-colored enclosures, placed along a dirt path under a blue sky dotted with white puffy clouds.

A Battle Is Underway Over California’s Lucrative Dairy Biogas Market

California is considering changes to a program that has incentivized dairy biogas, to transform methane emissions into a source of natural gas. Neighbors are pushing for an end to the subsidies because of its impact on air quality and possible water pollution.
A Black woman with long, black brains wears a black Chicago Bulls windbreaker jacket with red and white stripes as she stands at the top of a short staircase in a housing complex and rests her left hand on the metal railing. She smiles slightly while looking directly at the camera.

Los Angeles County Is Testing AI's Ability To Prevent Homelessness

In order to prevent people from becoming homeless before it happens, Los Angeles County officials are using artificial intelligence (AI) technology to predict who in the county is most likely to lose their housing. They would then step in to help those people with their rent, utility bills, car payments and more so they don't become unhoused.