Malibu Hidden Temple
Nazi Camp
Story and photos by Stephanie Geske
When traveling to a tourist destination like Hollywood, it’s easy to get caught up in the sights that have the highest traffic, like the Hollywood sign or the Walk of Fame. But if you take a drive 15 minutes out of the city, there are untouched sights to see.
Explore Los Angeles' Hidden Treasures
One of the biggest shopping centers in southern California is Third Street Promenade, which has been around since the late 19th century. A mix of fine dining and fast food, upscale shops and mainstream stores, most people don’t know an old Nazi compound is just a few blocks away on the side of the Santa Monica Mountain.
Building began in 1933 by Norman and Winona Stephens, who owned the property and saw it as a place where Adolf Hitler could take over and rule the United States. The 50-acre compound was built to be a self-sustaining nazi community, with blueprint for it showing an electricity generator, a massive mansion, a concrete wall power station and a 400,000 gallon water tank. The latter two are still intact but covered in graffiti.
Cecilia Rasmussen, an L.A. writer, says that in a “wonderfully poetic” twist, the blueprints and ornate, wrought iron gate were designed by black architect Paul Williams.
After the end of World War II L.A. police raided the camp, arrested those involved and shut down the complex. Today it is completely unsupervised and almost entirely defaced with graffiti.
The compound isn’t a secret to native Angelenos, who call it “the Nazi house,” and is a sightseeing stop on the Rustic Canyon hike, but its been called an “only in LA artifact” by the Huffington Post and featured on the Travel Channel’s show “Off Limits,” which uncovers hidden secrets about cities.
Calabasas is best known for being home to celebrities like the Kardashian’s, Justin Bieber and Drake, and Britney Spears had her 4-month-old son blessed in a large ceremony by Hindu priests in 2006, so visitors never know who they may rub elbows with at the “hidden” temple.
The temple has two complexes: the upper complex has Lord Venkateswara as a presiding deity, and a lower complex with Lord Shiva as the presiding deity. Venkateswara is the Lord who destroys the sins of the people and Shiva is the “Destroyer” or “Transformer,” also described as an omniscient yogi. However, the entire temple is for the Hindu god Venkateswara, and each building has shrines for the other deities within the Hindu faith.
Non-Hindus can enjoy picnicking, nearby restaurants or just spending the day learning about the Hindu faith. The temple has ornate and intricate decorations captivating to anyone interested in architecture.
Owned and operated since 1981 by the Hindu Temple Society of Southern California, the grounds has space for meditation, picnicking, ceremonies and a full stage for special cultural and Hindu events.
Ed and Lynn Hogan wanted to give back to their community by building a monument able to commemorate the various cultures of the world. They succeeded with the large, gated-in gardens built on Thousand Oaks Boulevard, across from the Civic Arts Plaza.
“We wanted to create a peaceful place that was more than a park,” Lynn Hogan said over a phone interview. “This is the best of both worlds.”
Appropriately named Gardens of the World, it features different examples of famous landmarks and plant life from around the world.
The Japanese Garden pays homage to Asian culture with an authentic Japanese Pagoda in the midst of a Koi pond, surrounded with bamboo and bridges.
The French Garden and Water Feature is the main attraction to the Gardens of the World, featuring a cascading waterfall that is the first sight when passing through the iron entry gates.
The Mission Courtyard tells the story of the early history of California with hand painted murals and a Spanish fountain, surrounded by olive and citrus trees.
The English Perennial and Rose Garden is a display of all different shades of roses with a trimmed hedge garden that creates a maze around the grounds.
The Italian Garden has grape arbors and cypress trees, indigenous to gardens of Italy. A “chain” fountain was also placed through the garden, inspired by historic Italian architecture.
The Bandstand is a replica of an American Bandstand, and provides a stage for concerts in the park. There is a grassy amphitheater for an audience and picnic tables and benches nearby.
This man-made landmark is located three hours south of Los Angeles, so if you’re looking for a day trip to escape the city, Salvation Mountain is the perfect spot for you. Although its been featured in the film Into the Wild, given a features spot on PBS and on magazines like Raw Vision, the mountain is still considered a local secret with few visiting tourists.
The mountain is actually a small hill which was made by Leonard Knight, who spent 30 years building it. His goal was to spread God’s message of love, and the mountain made of adobe, straw and thousands of gallons of paint has Bible verses painted all over it.
Knight’s first mountain was destroyed due to poor construction and inappropriate materials, but he restarted and has been a colorful landmark ever since.
Because it’s in the middle of a desert, bring plenty of water as during the summer the temperature can climb up to 110 degrees.
Gardens of the World
Salvation Mountain
Sunken City
Point Dume
Located in San Pedro, California, the Sunken City is the product of a landslide several decades ago that caused the houses on the cliff to fall into the ocean. Now the Sunken City is ruins of roads, broken pipes and graffiti art.
Roaming the ruins is actually illegal and considered trespassing, so any travel site will have to tell you to visit at your own risk. The city is also slippery and steep, so prepare for climbing by wearing proper hiking shoes with plenty of traction.
The address of the Sunken City is actually a park, where parking is free and plentiful. On the left side of the lot past the the cafe is a huge, locked gate and a fence preventing entrance. To the right of the gate there’s a hole that has been dug under it, which is the only way to get to the other side and down to the city.
Based on Yelp reviews, there aren’t many cases of people being fined.
California is full of beaches, from Zuma to Venice to Laguna. However if you’re traveling during the peak season of the summer, parking can be up to an outrageous $30, which is why Point Dume is a local favorite.
“I’ve been coming here since I was a kid,” said Dylan Carter, a surfer who grew up nearby in Simi Valley, California.
Jobsz said his favorite thing about Point Dume was how undisturbed it is in the mornings.
“People overlook it for big name beaches, which are just polluted tourist hotspots and, like, are way crowded,” he said. “There’s even a cove behind Point Dume that’s even more secluded.”
If you walk down the Point Dume beach away from the restaurant and parking lots, you can hike over the side of the mountain through rocks to get to a private beach.
