Plaque on the former Ambassador College/Worldwide Church of God Headquarters
located by the Fowler Gardens (Lower Garden's) steps
Site of former Hall of Administration
Former Hall of Administration site. Now apartments and condos with an architectural feature in reference to the old Hall of Ad.
Looking across the Auditorium lake bridge towards the old Hall of Ad site.
Harvest Rock painted over the rich patina of the egrets in order to cover over the last vestige of Armstrong that they could. They dumped salt in the lake to cast out the demons of Armstrongism and used anointing oil on all of the bridges, walkways, and landings around the outside of the auditorium to keep the demons away. They also anointed each of the rooms inside, and laid hands on the fixtures and walls to cast out the demons that resided there.
Harvest Rock painted over the rich patina of the egrets in order to cover over the last vestige of Armstrong that they could. They dumped salt in the lake to cast out the demons of Armstrongism and used anointing oil on all of the bridges, walkways, and landings around the outside of the auditorium to keep the demons away. They also anointed each of the rooms inside, and laid hands on the fixtures and walls to cast out the demons that resided there.
Ambassador Auditorium, home of Pentecostal Harvest Rock Church
and Pasadena Symphony
Maranatha High School Student Center and offices.
Maranatha is a top-tier Christian College Prep school
Maranatha High School Student Center
Former Ambassador College Student Center
Fowler Gardens, former lower gardens of Ambassador College.
Home of graduation ceremonies, student dinners, receptions, and weddings.
Baptismal pool in lower gardens
Steps leading up to former college library site which was the Fowler estate home.
Now apartments and condos
Fowler Gardens balustrade with Student Center, Auditorium , and Mt Wilson in the background
Looking back from the former library steps towards the football field of Maranatha High School. Ambassador College track was removed and the surface extended to make a football field.
Bottom of the stream where Grove Street used to be.
Stream steps up the hill. Many of the exotic trees Ambassador had planted
are dead, dying, or totally missing.
Former men's dorm Grove Terrace, now a state-of-the-art classroom facility
for Maranatha High School
Former 360 Dorm, now apartments renting out for $4,000+ a month.
Each unit was extensively remodeled restoring them to their former glory after the college had stripped so much out of them. This is where Victor Kubik, Brian Orchard, and others dreamt up the United Church of God while still ministers and employees of the Worldwide Church of God
David Wynn Dove Fountain. The apartment building background is on the site of the former lawn in front of the old college library and Herbert Armstrong's private backyard.
Former 380 and 390 dorms. Now high-end apartments.
Herbert Armstrong's mansion. Now offices for Dorn Platz and the property manager of the site. The bottom corner was his TV room where watching Saturday afternoon Westerns and Laker's basketball was enjoyed. The top right of the house is HWA's former office.
Top left was his bedroom changing/closet area.
Looking towards HWA's mansion across what used to be a reflecting pool. Now filled in with sand.
HWA's mansion. His library was on the right, the first floor. Now a conference room for Dorn Platz.
"Pink" guest bedroom was on the second floor, right. The area to the right is now a parking lot for Dorn Platz. The grass area was removed and the garage was relocated into this area.
The apartment building where old carriage house of the Fowler estate was.
The college used it as the library annex.
Mayfair, the original student center and dorm for college in the first few years. Later was a women's dorm. Extensive restoration work had to be done to restore it after previous work had been done to remove so much detail to make it a dorm. Then, in the 1990's, a church woman who thought she was an interior decorator stripped all of the unique wood in the large living room and hallway and whitewashed it. Now a private home for a wealthy Pasadena businessman. The garage for the house is to the left.
This condo complex sits on the site of the Mediterranean gardens that was located
behind Terrace Villa.
Terrace Villa, former women's dorm. This also had to be totally refurbished to restore it to its former glory. Now being sold as a private residence. Presently looks empty and abandoned.
Outside looks rather run down.
This condo complex sits on the site of the former Science Hall
This picture of the condo complex is on the site of the former Fine Arts Hall and garden area.
Picture was taken on Green Street.
The driveway where old men's dorm Olcott was located. Now provides vehicle access to the super high-end condo complex in from of Merritt Mansion and the former Loma D Armstrong Academic Center area.
Condos on site of former Fine Arts Hall area.
Merritt mansion, former Ambassador Hall. Now being marketed as a private residence, with ZERO privacy!
Yes! The Word of God is still there, blasting out a final warning to all of the heathen's now occupying the grounds! Once the house is sold as a private residence this will disappear. Hopefully!
Former location of Science Hall. Now high-end condos. Entrance to underground parking.
Former Sunken Gardens. It is now a swimming pool for the condo complex. Elephant Ears fountain is still there but painted black. The condos in this area sold out before each building was finished. They sold for between $2,000,000 - $2,500,000 each.
Looking down the steps from Ambassador Hall towards the bottom of the stream. The pristine gardening of the past is no longer being done. Cypress is very overgrown.
From in front of Ambassador Hall looking north towards where the old Television Studios used to be. More apartments.
Rolling lawns towards lower stream area.
The garden elements, gazebo, and urn fountain, of the old Mediterranean Gardens behind Terrace Villa have been moved to the lawn area between Terrace Villa and Ambassador Hall.
Stream looking towards Mayfair dorm
Double-click to enlarge.
These are all pictures that I took when Dennis Diehl came by for a visit. This is the future destiny of the campuses that splinter group leaders Dave Pack and Gerald Flurry have built in their honor and in vain attempts to copy the former glory of Ambassador College. From imitating building designs to imagining they have created world-class gardens that Jesus will return to and walk around on; they have instead created nothing more than dollar store imitations of what once was. Neither of these two men nor the leaders of ANY of the splinter groups will EVER come close to what was here on this campus nor will they EVER be able to preach and have a ministry like Herbert Armstrong did. From Living Church of God, COGWA and on to United Church of God, these groups are nothing more than vain little men trying to hold on to the past and to maintain their steady stream of income.
Money still continues to trump salvation.
Ah, the memories. It was a heady time.
ReplyDeleteI don't see a Giant Eagle anywhere...
ReplyDeleteNow with. Fuelperks +!
DeleteI think that they did an excellent job in monetizing the property, and still hanging on to a retro elegance.
ReplyDeleteKudos to the engineers and designers for doing a great job!
the truly sad part is that they should have demolished ever last building that the church owned for the number of lives it destroyed, the families broken apart, for the lives lost to suicide and the children molested and abused.
ReplyDeleteAmen to that
DeleteYep. And put a BIG sign up explaining what a cult is and why it destroys lives
DeleteThank you for the nice pictures. But isn't it interesting that your blog has visited the campus and snapped pictures far more than the spinoff groups that you claim "venerate" or still semi-worship it?
ReplyDeleteWaiting now for Dr. Thiel to declare the campus ceased to be "God's campus" when the high school football field was completed.
Enjoyed walking the campus and getting acquainted Gary. I found myself quite neutral on the whole thing where I might have not so in the past. Tis a good sign of moving on! Harvest Crock Church really screwed up the Egret Fountain with the white paint! Spent some time at Meteor Crater today on the way back East. Awesome beyond my expectations! Was great spending some time together in LA.
ReplyDeleteDave's campus is the most doomed to become a Drug Rehab center or perhaps a Bahai' Center in time. Dave's classic mistake is thinking he will live to walk with Jesus in Wadsworth. He will pass from the scene just as his mentor HWA did.
"Waiting now for Dr. Thiel to declare the campus ceased to be "God's campus" when the high school football field was completed."
ReplyDeleteThat's probably a worse "violation" then a cross, wouldn't it seem?
I agree Tonto. They did a great job in designing and engineering the changes.
ReplyDeleteOh, there is a cross there too. We did not walk around to the amphitheater on the south side of the gymnasium. It has a 12-foot tall cross in it now. Remember, these Maranatha folk are not true Christians. True Christians despise the cross like Bwana Thiel does.
ReplyDeleteI sprained my ankle on the lawn below the amphitheatre sneaking in a game of tackle football with some of the guys. Sounds innocent, but in the church you were only supposed to play touch or flag football.
DeleteR L said, "Thank you for the nice pictures. But isn't it interesting that your blog has visited the campus and snapped pictures far more than the spinoff groups that you claim "venerate" or still semi-worship it?"
ReplyDeleteWhat? PCG and RCG both plaster their pictures all over the place as proof that they are God's college. Their buildings are designed to look like Ambassador College. As much as they can imitate to do.
I attended an HRC church service when they first moved in the Auditorium. Creepier than hell! Armstrongism has nothing on these people!
ReplyDeleteI had to laugh when I saw the lower gardens pools. All three of them are painted the same color of blue that I painted them in 2002. The paint is faded and peeling. Whoever maintains the pools have not been maintaining the Ambassador quality way! :-)
ReplyDeleteI was not able to appreciate the grainy black and white pictures of the college.
ReplyDeleteI didn't believe that it's really pretty not until today, thank you!
The college was like a white washed sepulchre. Nice to look at, but death peoples bones beneath.
ReplyDeleteA very good description. Nice to look at but death within. Was almost sickening looking at it all.
DeleteVery interesting. My first experience there was in May 1961 when we had gone to have my brother circumcised. Mrs. Luttrell the RN walked us around the campus. My parents were baptized in an inside pool somewhere in there.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't it be uncanny if Mrs. Luttrell was related to lead singer of Starcastle, Terry Luttrell
DeleteThank you for posting these photos. I was a student at AC from 71-73 and worked with Dave Unfred, a longtime gardener in the Italian Sunken Gardens area. He was a member of the local Nazarene Church but worked for the WCG for many years. I proposed to my wife to be on one of the benches in the area that was parallel to the wall and W. Green Street. A very pretty setting. I was a member of the WCG for only four years, two before AC and then I left shortly after graduation. Thank you to Ernest Martin whose publications helped me to see the errors of Armstrongism.
ReplyDeleteYes Ernest was a help to many. Also many chose to ignore as the apostle had everyone pretty well brainwashed.
Delete"This is the future destiny of the campuses that splinter group leaders Dave Pack and Gerald Flurry have built in THIER honor"
ReplyDeleteAh, come on, Gary, neither Flurry's nor Pack's little empires will ever produce a $2,500,000 condo.
I remember a PCG minister giving a sermon advising members to not go inside the auditorium as it is full of demon possessed people now. In the sermon, the minister was relaying his experiences from his visit inside the auditorium - his encounters with demon possessed people worshiping inside and other strange experiences with the people there.
ReplyDeleteHeh, that had to be quite the tale!
DeleteI remember that too. I think it was Brian Davis who claims to be expert on demons. From memory some person sitting outside auditorium said “I know who you are. You are Brian Davis of PCG”. That was a demon talking apparently.
DeleteAlso we heard a weird Sermon about how we know all about the red letter bible but let’s focus on Satan. Then all these scriptures were read out about the power of Satan etc . Seemed like it was to make us fear Satan. It was weird. I think that was Ryan Malone or Joel Hilliker. They are a bit obsessed with Satan and the demons. One person even rang a friend of mine who stayed in for a while longer after we left, warning them against us because we finally woke up to the problem being with Gerlad Flurry himself and his delusions of grandeur. She called them saying “don’t talk to them because they are of the devil”. The friend had the good sense to call us and find out what it was all about. Grand stories were spread about us which was a lie to scare people away, when we were just people who woke up and now have peace without men thinking you have to sit down, shut up and listen to what they have to say.
I was there when they were filming Tom Ford's "A Single Man"...... It was the strangest of experiences with lots of people walking past in sixties outfits and old timer cars outside...... Also the what I later saw homosexual innuendo in the former Rader and GTA offices.... It was all very wierd and I walked along to see the lighting of the Christmas Tree.
ReplyDeleteYou can imagine that experiencing all of this brought full closure... It was all over.
Nck
I have my own set of memories associated with the grounds. In retrospect, I'd say that you can have quite a bit of fun in spite of any repressive corporate culture. Seems to be an unwritten law of human life. Not going to share them here, though. We'll just allow the tone and image set forth in the various Envoys prevail. Still, it'd be entertaining to learn of the shenanigans of certain members of the student body during the ✌️'70s, when I understand a certain herb 😒 (NOT W. Armstrong!) made it's entry into campus life!
ReplyDeleteBB 😇
I love thumbing through those old Envoy yearbooks anytime someone brings them around, like Mr. Nelson did at 2019 FOT.
ReplyDeleteAnd in the 1994 Envoy, Sasha Veljic's wonderful smile is shown, what a nice memory of a nice fella.🎓
Jeannie C. Riley should have re-worded her lyrics for Harper Valley PTA to be : Harper Valley GTA.
Our beautiful campus in Edmond, Ok will not go the way of Pasadena. We have That Prophet, our King, Gerald Flurry leading us. Soon, everyone will see, as the New Stone and New Throne that Mr Flurry sits on is magnified on the world scene. His newest book, the prophesied flying scroll of Ezekiel, called America Under Attack, proves he is the prophet this world needs. You Laodiceans can’t see this of course, but one day you will. Hopefully it won’t be too late.
ReplyDeleteIf HWA had not died, the Pasadena campus would still remain intact. Most likely the Edmond campus will remain so long as Jerry lives. I don't feel quite as safe in making a similar observation about the Wadsworth campus and Dave.
DeleteDeath or stupidity can kill empires. The stupidity can kick in during the first generation, or with the heirs.
Flying scroll? That was Zechariah.
DeleteHi 4:56/PCG,
ReplyDeleteWhy did your exalted G. Flurry marry that young chick Vicki Barreiro? Was it conveniently because she became a widow after her 1st hubby Lou committed suicide? Won't Mr. Flurry's son be roughly her age? How can Mr. Flurry Sr.'s grandkids honestly feel snuggly with such a young new step-gramma?
Why do y'all @ red clay dirt Edmond facsimilie A.C. auditorium put up with space-ball-white-non-pupils-eye-ball-hex-gaze Cal Culpepper? Should Laodiceans languishing out here put up with his edicts?
And do y'all still have dictatorial top-down hierarchy telling you which aisle to use @ svcs. on your way to the restrooms?
"Footnote:
1 Gerald Flurry announced on October 20, 2020 in a Special Announcement that he was getting married to Vicki Barreiro on November 16, a woman he had been counseling. She is 59 years old (born (born 07/22/1961). Note: Read: “Husband of Vicki Barreiro Committed Suicide” (1-10-22 letter)."
"January 12, 2022
It was around November 2017 when he [Vicki’s husband] committed suicide.
We’ve been suffering since at least 2017. My husband and I were put out at that same Feast after I’d spoken with Vicki about where was Lou. She said “They’re working with him.” He had been put out. I guess it didn’t go too well. I’d gone to AC with Lou and I thought it sounded a bit too cavalier. Then we were put out at the Feast, then let back in 12 weeks later; asked regional director about Lou and he admitted he’d killed himself. We were put out again in July 2021 for not coming back immediately after our building opened up for cv19. Still don’t know what to do. Have read your site several times and found it helpful. –Kind regards, –Ex PCG [name withheld]
Told Baptism Wasn’t Valid:
(3rd email from person above:)
January 12, 2022
There’s so much that I guess I’ve got stored away, and if you don’t mind I’ll get some of it off my chest. Gerald Flurry decided Lou Barreiro [Vicki Barreiro’s husband] hadn’t been baptized–his baptism hadn’t been valid–so that would mean he’d still have a chance at eternal life. That’s handy as a way out. It wasn’t that he’d been tormented in his mind by being kept from the Feast and probably told he’d have to be re-baptized. They tried to do that to me, too (the same minister)–that maybe my baptism hadn’t been valid simply because I’d been baptized at 18 at AC [Ambassador College]. But I quoted Herbert Armstrong’s booklet that if you have been truly baptized it would be wrong to redo it. So the regional director (Brian Davis) decided mine had been valid."
If you have to be spoke to to by the ministry for any issue at all the first thing they do is question your conversion. When you believe it to be the “true church” it can send you into a tail spin. I have heard of and seen these a few times. It’s great to be free of all these men who think they can read your heart and mind. The conversion question should be directed at them. Rarely do you see a minister ordained take on the role of servant leader. I also met Lou and Vicky and they seemed lovely people and a lovely family. I was shocked to hear of the suicide and then so soon after a wedding to Gerald Flurry. Something so weird and wrong about that. I wouldn’t be surprised if she married him to be the nurse. Imagine being married to a man who thinks he is a literal king who is going to hand over the throne to Jesus Christ!
DeleteYou mean Flurry (instead of Charles III) hands the throne to Jesus? Does Flurry believe he is the ex-oficio, exiled King of U.K. ruling in absentia?
Deletewhat if it's dementia
Does Bob think that Lou Barreiro's suicide hastened the man's own time "to die at the time best for him" too? A prophet might take more time to consider suicide deaths before proclaiming all die "at the time best for them".
ReplyDeleteIf a prophet ever counselled someone contemplating suicide, would he exhort the client to halt it, or hasten it? Which time is best, now, or later? Or would he rule, "...(it may be) that both now &/or later, are (possibly) just as good as the other!"
"The college was like a white washed sepulchre."
ReplyDeleteThe same was true at church services. They had a veneer of virtue, but the real moral code and ministerial behavior was very different. Gang morality was the dominant (but disguised) church culture, with the ministers being the gang leaders.
Judging from the sign at the pool at the former sunken gardens............
ReplyDeletethe new owners have made it pretty clear that no Christians will trespass their property........or anyone for that matter who carries a "communicable disease spread by water immersion....."
nck
Does Bob think that Lou Barreiro's suicide hastened the man's own time "to die at the time best for him" too? A prophet might take more time to consider suicide deaths before proclaiming all die "at the time best for them".
ReplyDeleteSatan is the god of this world, in this present age, and he believes he is ruling it ideally. Therefore, if you believe that all deaths in this present age happen "at the time best for them" you are validating Satan's rule. Bob may not realize it, but he has shown us who his true lord actually is.
There's another group who thinks they can read your heart & mind...it's risky if you question their Overseer or conduct yourself as a Berean trying to prove all things or search the scriptures to prove what the presiding COG leader there utters is either truth or glorified hogwash. Much of what the man writes is decent, but on occasion he will go off on a tangent like any human would, then cautions you to not analyze such an anointed one with too much scrutiny.
ReplyDeleteThey have a hierarchy junior postion Youtuber speaker ready to label folk as grumblers or as the Big Bad Wolf after they smugly read your heart & mind too like you said, 7:30 p.m. anon.
Hey, Dr. Jack Kevorkian invented a device, & should he have had a series of timer buttons on it for the client to push at their sayonara?
ReplyDeleteOne button says, Best Time To Go. Another says, Prematurely Hastened Time To Go. Another says, Russian Roulette Wheel Delayed/Random Time To Go Button.
Honestly, how can any of the tragic school shooter casualties have been done at "the time that was best for them"? Would Dibar Apartian have accepted the idea of his son going at his best time too?
How does a Berean prove all things like when a prophet claims all die at their "best time"?
nck said:
ReplyDelete"Judging from the sign at the pool at the former sunken gardens............
the new owners have made it pretty clear that no Christians will trespass their property........or anyone for that matter who carries a "communicable disease spread by water immersion.....""
You say a lot of stupid things, but the Ambassador Gardens operating company has no such sign around their pool keeping Christians out. One-half of the campus is dominated by Christians in the Auditorium with Harvest Rock Church and the rest is filled with Maranatha students and teachers in one of Pasadena's premier Christian college prep schools. Plus, every pool in California carries a sign that says if you have open sores, diarrhea, or any other kind of infection to NOT use the pool. Even Ambassador College had a huge sign stating that. It is a Health Department requirement.
Hey 7:40.Have a look at the picture again and know why I'm wetting my pants with laughter right this moment.
DeleteNck
nck
ReplyDeleteThat is exaclty the same kind of sign that Ambassador College had on their pool. It is a California Health Department rule for all public pools. You woud not be allowed in with your urine stained pants. LMAO!
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ReplyDelete“The Future Destiny of Dave Pack and Gerald Flurry's Campuses”
ReplyDelete“Harvest Rock painted over the rich patina of the egrets in order to cover over the last vestige of Armstrong that they could. They dumped salt in the lake to cast out the demons of Armstrongism and used anointing oil on all of the bridges, walkways, and landings around the outside of the auditorium to keep the demons away. They also anointed each of the rooms inside, and laid hands on the fixtures and walls to cast out the demons that resided there.”
No amount of anointing by the Pentecostal Harvest Crock church could ever get all the demons out of the PCG cult or the RCG cult. These splinter cults are too satanic.
The relatively minor demons behind the Pentecostal Harvest Crock church are simply no match for, and cannot possibly cast out, the major demons and Satan behind the PCG cult and the RCG cult.
I remember reading something forever ago about them anointing the buildings and thinking that sort of practice sounded silly, but maybe they were just doing it for show.
DeleteBless'd the bldgs.? Did they splash on olive oil, avocado oil?
DeleteDid it look anything like the Pope's blessing of the Harleys 🏍️
https://www.jacksonville.com/story/lifestyle/auto-guide/2013/06/21/pope-francis-blesses-harley-davidsons/15825022007/
I don't know how it is now in California, but back in the 1980s, there was a big problem with many of the recreational aquatic sites. The lake and swimming area at Santa Fe dam, as an example, had to be closed due to the presence of e coli or coliform bacteria. This was not due to urine. Who amongst us has not had cold water affect us in that way? It was due to significant numbers of people taking care of function #2 in the water. The news papers were careful to mask the language in their reports soas to avoid racism, but these were free venues where massive numbers of immigrants took their families to enjoy a day of sun, water, and barbecued foods.
ReplyDeleteYou think of the ocean as being so massive that it could take care of anything humans could do to it. But there were also frequent news reports about sewage treatment plants being overworked, and thousands of gallons of raw, untreated sewage being dumped in places such as the Santa Monica Bay. There were occasional beach closures, and reports of sickness amongst the life guards.
Keeping recreational waters safe for humans is no joke.
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DeleteHey Surfer Joe, our old man had us watch Jacques Cousteau a lot on one of our 1970s 3 antenna channels oops we had 4 including PBS from the college. The Calypso ship that John Denver sang about was warning us about this dippy society we have now.
ReplyDeleteGuys in church often scoffed at environment concerns, global warming, because "the millenium was going to clean it all up soon" so go ahead and feel free to dump and rip & tear. But now the clear rivers in Alaska are turning brown from melting tundra releasing iron or rust or silt or gunk up there already.
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ReplyDeleteAnd according to the church's own teaching, AC is a type of America. The country will experience AC's fate. Time will tell.
ReplyDeletelike Michael Corleone said in G. Father 3
ReplyDeletejust when I think I'm out, they pull me back in
“This is the future destiny of the campuses that splinter group leaders Dave Pack and Gerald Flurry have built in their honor and in vain attempts to copy the former glory of Ambassador College. From imitating building designs to imagining they have created world-class gardens that Jesus will return to and walk around on; they have instead created nothing more than dollar store imitations of what once was. Neither of these two men nor the leaders of ANY of the splinter groups will EVER come close to what was here on this campus nor will they EVER be able to preach and have a ministry like Herbert Armstrong did. From Living Church of God, COGWA and on to United Church of God, these groups are nothing more than vain little men trying to hold on to the past and to maintain their steady stream of income. Money still continues to trump salvation.”
ReplyDeleteThe various different Worldwide Church of God splinter groups initially got their members from the Worldwide Church of God. There is now great division on the so-called Church of God scene.
None of the splinter groups is currently even one-tenth of the size of the Worldwide Church of God at its peak when there were about 150,000 people attending the Feast of Tabernacles.
The main goal of some splinter groups like the UCG seems to be to collect paychecks. They are working for the money.
Other splinter groups like Gerald Flurry's PCG and David Pack's RCG are doing much more than merely trying to collect paychecks. They are also trying to completely, totally, absolutely, utterly pervert everything that Herbert W. Armstrong had ever taught in truly unbelievable ways while pretending to be following HWA's teachings more faithfully than anyone else. They are working for Satan.
How come nck removed the comment about being ready to fade off the thread, until Surfing J. pulled him/her back in?
ReplyDeleteHe realized from the writing style who Surfer Joe is!
DeleteI thought it didn't add anything. Yet I now realize it makes SJ's comment look out of place.
ReplyDeleteApologies accepted......;-)
nck
Darn it all to heck. I was really looking forward to some deeper discussions with celebrity poster nck!
ReplyDelete