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Big Blue & bright colors from the 70s

TheOriginalBigBlue

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The blg was not built for earthquakes.

The blgs with lower floors are probably pretty much okay, but even when the complex was first purchased, the stairwells weren't level and some areas showed cracks in concrete.

They were repaired for aesthetics only so would still have flaws.

The building is most likely not level anymore. I would not trust it. Concrete cracks and crumbles and the salt air is ferocious on metal structures, too. I'd say it has a life of maybe 30 years before major structural damage, even less if there are more earthquakes.

The Main Building was constructed massively. But as we now know buildings must be designed to move with earthquakes in a way that neutralized and distributes the stress and if it is ridged then it will break. Some of the later buildings may have benefited from developments in engineering but I have to think that the Main Building and Lebanon Hall are vulnerable and have accumulated weaknesses after several large earthquakes.

Personally, I suspect the hospital people knew this when they sold it and they probably were sincerely surprised when they saw it being re-purposed.
 

TheOriginalBigBlue

Gold Meritorious Patron
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Thank you Little David. I know it takes time to put this together and with everyone's contributions we are building up a very nice reference.

Clearly they over planted the Main Building entrance but it looked great. One thing that strikes me with these hospital period images is how natural and people friendly everything is. Doors are open and available for use, windows are letting light in and people can see in or out, and they hadn't added some of the later construction or utility buildings that disrupted the architects original concept. I still don't see the fountain being used as a fountain though.
 

TheOriginalBigBlue

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Yeh, something warm. It is, after all, a tropical climate.

Yes, I remember the dark blue stripe. I vaguely remember when there were men doing graphics and the dark blue stripe was the only outer one. It was okay and it made the blue look more acceptable but apparently L Ron didn't like it, so when they did the repaint, it was painted over. :(

There were graphics down the long hallway between ASHO and LA org (inside). Hard to remember, but the doors used to be open then. I think yellow and green graphics.

I vaguely remember the main building graphics. AOLA also had graphics done later. All were repainted. As far as I remember, graphics were only on the first floors.

I'm not sure I remember the outside of the building correctly, sorry.

That is consistent with my understanding. But the dark blue stripe was painted over in the 90s, correct? So either LRH would have ordered it removed before his death many years earlier or someone else made a judgement call. If LRH ordered it then I suspect they would not have waited so long.

It would be nice to find some pictures of the interior bright colors and graphics. As you recall, this thread started with a question about how this happened so much for so long and then turned out so horribly wrong?

The impression I have from postings is that the re-painting of these was not thought of very well either but I could be mistaken. I have not seen any good pictures of the new color scheme.
 

TheOriginalBigBlue

Gold Meritorious Patron
Here's something for you guys to think about;

I vaguely remember the 'Child Care Org' that was -I think- across the side street from the AO (advanced org) by Big Blue.

This was terrible! They had a mirror operation going on in the old kitchen of the old hotel that they turned into the Wilcox Building married berthing. They had kids in these dumps! This was the cults handling of the children that resulted from Sea Org marriages. Cock roaches everywhere, dirty dishes, etc etc, it was pretty bad.

I remember being horrified when I walked through just out of curiosity to check them out. I'm not going to even try to describe these places any further. Just realize that none of the stories I've read exaggerate this scene. In fact, it downplays the horror, in my opinion.

They couldn't be bothered with these 'thetans' that were so downstat and not producing, so the parents had to spend all their time at their posts, rather than raising their children.

IF they were upstat, they got to spend, maybe, an hour a day with their kids. This got reduced later.

This, more than anything else, compels me to help destroy these sons of bitches.

I do believe the child care (or lack of) stories are becoming well known. It was just a matter of time.
 

In present time

Gold Meritorious Patron
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That's about the sky-blue colour of the Main Building and Lebanon Hall when I was there, 1986-1996. The current darker blue is much more attractive, in my opinion. The original was a real eyesore. Around 1980 someone obviously back from LA repainted the CO's office in the turret at Saint Hill the same colour: it was ghastly, far too cold a colour for chilly England. Most of the room colours in the castle were a warm cream or off-white.

Sorry the colour patch is so large. I don't have image-editing software on this computer.

Paul
Yes, this is the colour I remember.
I wonder when it was repainted?
 

Kookaburra

Gold Meritorious Patron
Yep! It was Ceders of Lebonon in 1974.. Imagine my surprise when I started reading about Scientology, years ago, and realized they bought the hospital with the name on my birth certificate.. Small world. My family was never associated with Scientology directly..I just knew a few as a child growing up..but I was born there when it was still a hospital.

That would be in the SHSBC courserooms on the second floor of ASHO then. It still had the glass between the rooms of the nursery, separating the theory and practical sections of the course. It was still there because the place was so solidly built that it was impossible to do any but superficial renovations. Not sure where the delivery room was, though.

AS for the colours. As I heard it, the original LRH advices for the colours were for graphics to be painted in PALE pastels. The idea was from a certain interior designer at the time. It was indeed to de-hospitalize it. And apparently the guy who did the paint order screwed up royally and ordered paint way too dark, and got RPF'd for it. An estates person told me this. The story rings true for me.

As we were repainting ASHO about 1990, we put a layer of sealer/under coat on the 4th floor hallway over the original graphics. A bit of the colour showed through. In the few hours before the new colour was applied, many people came up the stairs and exclaimed how beautiful it looked with just the hint of colours showing through......graphics in pale pastels. And it really did.
 

In present time

Gold Meritorious Patron
Talking about the Scn CROSS. . .

You know what's really funny?

In the entire "religion" of Scientology, with all its ecclesiastical posturing, sacred "scripture" and use of the prominently displayed holy cross--not one Scientologists anywhere actually gives a shit about the stupid cross. And if their life depended on it, they couldn't tell you what the cross is supposed to mean.

Because it doesn't mean anything whatsoever in Scientology.

It's just a prop, to keep evil government misdirected and to hold onto cash that would otherwise be taxed.

Honestly, is there even one (1) Scientologist who has ever lived that doesn't think that the Scientology cross is a complete joke?
I was told it was based on an ancient cross and the 8 points represented the 8 dynamics. Later I discovered that their were some cool upper dynamics, but I forget why they didn't rate enough to get their own prong. I suppose a cross that looks like an octopus would have been a little too truthful a depiction.
 

In present time

Gold Meritorious Patron
It's almost pretty in this view. So much easier on the eyes without that hideous blue. The front is so much more graceful. And no little-man-syndrome Scientology sign on the front.
Yes, for the first time ever that building makes sense to me.
It is a logical design for a hospital and it doesn't look at all intimidating.

Also, I have learned on this thread that the most photographed entrance is not the entrance we used.
This has been confusing me for years. Forever asking myself why I would not remember those
smothering arms.
 

Intentionally Blank

Scientology Widow
They replaced the original Main Building sign which was kind of amateurish and constructed a fake facade as a back drop for the new sign which is more professional. They replaced those stately high windows on the 8th floor with regular windows. I am seeing pictures that show the new sign is now down. I saw a another picture where the outer wall of the cupola facing Fountain Ave. was removed and you could see all the interior framing. I remember a posting saying they were performing earthquake repairs or retrofits and they tarped it because they ran out of funds or something. The original sign was very amateurish compared to the new sign but it would be interesting to see an updated public opinion survey about the whole idea of having a lit sign of that size on that historic building which can be seen all the way from the freeway. We have had decades to adopt ordinances and develop public opinion that opposes excessive ambient light, bill boards and overbearing signage.

The whole sign thing could actually be working completely against any positive PR effect.

Pretty sure there is no sign possible that could overcome the straight down and vertical negative PR effect.
 

MrNobody

Who needs merits?
I don't understand why they buy all these buildings and equip 'em with all this glitzy pseudo-bling anyway.

Wouldn't tents be so much more practical?
 

MrNobody

Who needs merits?
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:buzzin:


Hallelujah brother! Come on in and empty your wallet!


:buzzin:


Exactly! And since tents don't have real toilets, they don't need real toilet paper either, so the cult could save gazillions of bucks on that alone.

Oh wait, I've heard they already do that....
 

TheOriginalBigBlue

Gold Meritorious Patron
No, it is not true. I worked in Estates when it was painted.

L Ron personally approved the colour, based on small samples.

It came out much brighter than originally anticipated. A few years later, it was repainted, and the shade it is now is only slightly less bright and abrasive than the first shade, which was even worse.

So were the interior colors and graphics from the 70s and the exterior blue designed by different people?
 

TheOriginalBigBlue

Gold Meritorious Patron
It is so ugly! The longer I look at it I convince myself the problem is the solid color. As a hospital white was logical..but had the deco designs been left a nuetral color and the solid walls painted blue..it would be far more attractive to me. The building should be two colors.

And the AOLA building WAS apparently designed with two colors. There was a large darker blue stripe that wrapped around it. So what was the story with that? Why would LRH approve just that one stripe only to have it painted over the next time? These things don't just happen. I can't imagine LRH would approve all that light blue and then somehow one big dark blue stripe gets tossed in, "out of the blue".
9k=
 

TheOriginalBigBlue

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It had central AC, as you said. I worked in the vents with other crews cleaning them. The air handlers were in a small room at the top of the main building (Catalina side) but weren't maintained and were very old. The central heating and AC were never used and got dirty again so at this point those vents are just rat runways. They are metal, but at their age, would have plenty of rusted out areas. There was already some rust in '77.

AOLA had a courtyard with a building in the center. That building and basement had been used for dog experiments.

I was told the tunnel to/from the AOLA building and the building itself were the last additions to the hospital. There were originally lockers down there. (I saw them)

MB second and third floors had all the heavy duty hospital equipment in the rooms, like heart monitors and such. They were left there and had to be taken out.

Below the MB was the morgue, cremation and sump room. Catalina Street side.

That's all I remember for now. This is hurting my brain! lol

If there was asbestos wrap around the duct seams everyone who worked on them should ask their doctor about requesting a NIOSH B-Reader to review their X-rays. This is someone who is specifically trained and certified to look for early signs of illness due to asbestos exposure. Regular film readers can miss it.

Any discussion of the Complex if carried on long enough always ends up in the tunnels. Except for the Publications Building, a person can live in there and get from one place to the next 3-4 different ways without ever stepping outside.

The morgue and tunnels clearly deserve their very own thread.

A sump pump is a pump that sits in a cement well and when water reaches a certain point it turns on and pumps into a drain inlet that is on a higher level. Buildings that have a roof drainage system that goes down the interior of the building to the basement have these. Everything is right in the world until you discover the sump pump quietly stopped working during a downpour.

I have also heard that the hospital did conduct research on dogs in the Research Building behind AOLA. This became the CMO Building circa 81.
 
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