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CELEBRITY CENTRE STORY OF ORIGIN

lkwdblds

Crusader
Originally posted by lkwdblds on 12/25/09
NEVER BEFORE TOLD STORY!


EXCLUSIVE - THE STORY OF CELEBRITY CENTRE'S FOUNDING


NOW TOLD FOR THE FIRST TIME ON THE INTERNET OR IN PRINT As promised by Lakey 3 weeks ago, his vast world wide research department has unearthed the exciting story of how Celebrity Centre came to be!! Now for the first ime anywhere - I encourage you to make a cup of java or a pot of tea and prepare to read a previously untold story. HERE IT IS, THE STORY OF THE DECADE: SIT DOWN, RELAX AND ENJOY!

RETURN WITH US NOW TO THOSE THRILLING DAYS OF YESTERYEAR WHEN OUT OF THE PAST AND ON TO YOUR COMPUTER SCREEN COME THE THUNDERING DEEDS OF THE GREAT S.O. MEMBER YVONNE AND HER LOYAL SIDEKICK "MYSTERY CRACKERJACK AUDITOR" The year is 1969, the place is Los Angeles, California, USA: After a brief message from our sponsor the story will begin.....Eat Wheaties, the Breakfast of Chamnpions, the favorite breakfast food of 3 out of 4 Olympic Medal Winners...and now on to our exciting story.

PROLOGUE - Supplied through the courtesy of Dart Smohen. In 1967 the UK passed a law that Scientologists who were studying Scientology at St. Hill , once they left England could not come back in to study Scientology. Furthermore, people from outside the UK would no longer be admitted in to England to study Scientology. Because of these bans, the upper part of the Bridge, delivered only at St. Hill would be shut off to thousands of Scientologists around the world. LRH at Flag therefore put the wheels in motion to establish new advanced Orgs around the world but the most critical of all places was the USA and Los Angeles was chosen as the home of the new Advanced Org, AOLA. Similarly, ASHO, the American St. Hill Organization had to also be created. Yvonne Gillham had been sent to Edinburgh to set up the AO there, Dart Smohen was to be Chief Officer and Mystery Crackerjack Auditor, hereafter to be called Tonto {for brevity} was to be crew with Dart who was a good friend and Yvonne, also a friend. Yvonne got called back to Flag, then on the ship Apollo, and was ordered to instead prepare the Celebrity Centre Program.

Yvonne was then fired to L.A. with her priorities now shifted because of the new law banning new Scientologists from studying in England and was told to first serve as Commanding Officer of AOLA and hold off working on the CC project. Tonto was drafted to go to L.A. and help Yvonne and after AOLA was going, Bill Robertson was brought in to take over from Yvonne. While working as C.O. of AOLA, Yvonne started on her next assignment of establishing a booking office for CC by appropriating a couple of file drawers of an AOLA filing cabinet and using them to conduct and file CC business. When she was replaced by Bill Robertson, Yvonne took an office next door to the AO and opened the CC Booking office there while Tonto returned to Flag. Once Bill robertson had gone, Wally Burgess, previously C/O OTL at ST. Hill, was appointed as C/O of AOLA. Late that year, 1968, Phyliss Stevens replaced Wally as C/O and stayed on until 1970. An AO then was established in St. Hill and Phyliss became C/O UK and Dart became Senior C/S for AOSH UK.

Supplied by Yvonne's daughter, Janice Grady - Yvonne was originally ordered to open the Booking Office next door to AOLA. On her own, Yvonne did not just stop there but actually began to form the CC Org. Janice is the one who told me that the filing drawers in AOLA were used for CCLA business so that CCLA was jump started while Yvonne was turning over her AOLA hats to Bill Robertson. Call it multitasking if you will. I do not think that term had been coined yet back in 1969/70.

A PERSONAL LAKEY INCIDENT RELATED TO SCIENTOLOGY HISTORY
Yes your humble correspondent, Lakey, was present to witness Scientology history in 1967, three years before I even heard the word Scientology. In the summer, I took a 2 month trip to Europe, given a non paid vacation by my employer, IBM. I left for Paris with my Brother and we spent a week there together. We had a spat shortly after leaving Paris for Germany and we decided to split up. I toured Germany, including a visit behind the Iron Curtain into East Berlin (that was a trip) and then on to Munich and Austria. On the way back, I wanted to see Holland and then spend a week in London. I spent a week in Holland, and encountered the friendliest people of any of the countries which I visited, and went to the Hook of Holland, which was their port to catch ships bound for England. It was at the English entry port of Harwich where a team of 3 Customs agents pulled me out of a line and took me to a questioning room. I was a 27 year old single male traveling alone and they were suspicious of something but they would not tell me what it was. They asked me who I was visiting in England and I stated that I did not know one person in the entire country. That really ran up Red Flags for them. They asked me if I had money. I was carrying about $700 which is $3.500 to $4,000 in today's money. That was a plus in my favor and then when I produced my IBM Employee ID card, that was enough to sway them. I told them they could call my boss and verify that I had to be back at work in two weeks or I would be fired. They said, no need to bother and approved me to enter England. The whole thing was a crackdown on young Scientologists entering England with the sole intent of studying Scientology. A new law had outlawed that from occuring. If I had no money and no Employee card, I would have been taken as a Scientologist and denied entrance to the U.K. so I actually lived a piece of scio history 3 years before I joined up.

NOW WE MOVE INTO THE MAIN BODY OF OUR STORY
CHAPTER ONE

Prior to leaving for Los Angeles, probably in 1967 or 1968, an innocent seeming event took place on the Apollo, an event that would forever change the history of Scientology. Yvonne attended a briefing by LRH given to senior Apollo management about Scientology's need to have a Celebrity Centre, a place for Opinion Leaders to congregate and receive Scientology Services, benefit from them and spread the word to the vast numbers of the publics who looked to their opinion leaders for guidance on how to live their lives. LRH described in general terms what such a Celebrity Centre should consist of and who would be elegible to join. Though general in overall nature, LRH probably got a little specific on a few points. We can only guess that the LRH talk struck some kind of nerve in Yvonne's phyche, rattled some basic purpose deep within her or rekindled some long held goal of hers. The LRH talk to Executives ended and for awhile it produced no effects...but only for awhile. NOTE: While on the Apollo in 1973 as Programs Chief, I was required to hear an LRH tape regarding CC. It was not of the original lecture which Yvonne had attended but rather a follow up tape to that wherein Hubbard comments on Yvonne and uses the phrase, "She ran with the ball" He also discusses who is eligible to do services at Celebrity Centres. Yvonne left on her mission to be the Commanding Officer of the Advanced Org in L.A. My research department has uncovered an interesting fact that Yvonne put early AOLA staff on 24 hour per day service. I was told by a guy on the Excalibur training ship in 1971 who was CC staff and had formerly been AOLA staff that the early AOLA was generating an income of $100,000 per week. When you think that the 1969 dollar was worth $5 in today's money, that is a hefty Gross Income (GI) for an Org of that time but the story, though hearsay, is likely true because L.A. was the only place in the Western Hemisphere where advanced Scientology Services could be obtained. Prior to its opening, the only place delivering the services was Saint Hill in England.

Sometime in 1969. Hanna Eltringham came to AOLA and assumed some of Yvonne's duties so Yvonne could concentrate on CC. Yvonne had set up the filing cabinet in AOLA having to do with the start up of CC and these files were moved into Yvonne's new private CC booking office, next door to AOLA. Yvonne worked that office from early 1969 to early 1970. This is when she must have been contacting celebrites and people such as agents who knew celebrities. It is awe inspiring to realize that this one woman was working alone on some basic purpose to help LRH and on a personal goal of hers to run an Org of Celebrities and Opinion Leaders. In that one year of unaccounted for time, she set into motion the wheels of progress that were to lead to the Celebrity Centre International of today. The life of every celebrity currently affiliated with Celebrity Centre Int would be vastly different today if it were not for this one woman, with her powerful intention, working away by herself in a small obscure office, unsupervised, making calls, setting up meetings with agents, etc. and doing whatever she had to do to get her Centre, which she considered LRH's Centre, up and running. There was no policy on what to do or how to do this but she knew what to do and nothing could stop her once she started to pursue her goal.

THIS IS WHAT GREATNESS IS ALL ABOUT. THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF A BIG BEING IN ACTION AND WHAT CAN BE ACHIEVED BY ONE PERSON.

CHAPTER 2 - HELP ARRIVES IN THE FORM OF ANOTHER BIG BEING


Yvonne's plan was to first expose celebrities to auditing and then after achieving their wins, they would use their opinion leader status to encourage their publics to join Scientology, therefore Yvonne needed an auditor, a Class VIII, kha khan, Crackerjack auditor who just by happenstance happened to walk through her office door at that very minute just to say hello on her way out of town to handle personal affairs.

Sometime later, in early 1970 Tonto had some personal business to pursue and was granted permission by LRH to do it. Tonto was not planning on working in an Org while she was on leave handling personal business and just stopped at the AOLA to say hello to old friends and particularly Hanna Eltringham. As she was about to leave and start on her personal business, Hanna suggested that Tonto stop down in Yvonne's CC office and "just say hello." Since my opening to this story is patterned on the radio and television program of the old days, "The Lone Ranger", the "Lone Ranger" is represented by Yvonne and her first Celebrity auditor is called Tonto, just to avoid writing myster crackerjack auditor everytime. This off chance request of Hanna's turned out to be key in the opening of Celebrity Centre. FOOD FOR THOUGHT - DID YVONNE JUST POSTULATE THAT THE NEXT PIECE OF HER PUZZLE, A TOP CELEBRITY AUDITOR, WOULD JUST APPEEAR AT HER FRONT DOOR?

THE BUILDING Frank Dunn found the wooden framed building for the Centre at 1809 W. 8th St. in Central Los Angeles and the landlords were Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Freistadt. Frank made all the arrangements but Yvonne had to go in and sign the papers and got many more concessions from the Freitstadts with her incomparable charm. Nobody would know the name Freistadt if it weren't for yours truly working in Treasury. I had to write the rent check to them every month, it was for $800, a steal at twice the price. Twice I had to drive out and pay the couple in person and both times they reminisced about their experiences dealing with Yvonne. I dutifully took notes knowing that 38 years later, I would be writing the story of CCLA (just kidding of course). I speak fair German and I liked the name Friestadt which means Free City. Actually they appeared to be Jewish and not German but many Jewish people have German derived names. Once the building was acquired, Yvonne and Tonto opened for business. This occured in early 1970, I was not able to ascertain the exact date.

SOME COMMENTS ABOUT TONTO I knew Tonto only slightly in those early years I was on staff, just on a saying "hi" when passing in the hall basis. She posted recently on my thread, "The Old Days - Aboard the Apollo -1973" that she was very aware of who I was then and that I had a glow of a willingness to help and a wanting to contribute which made me shine. Well, for about a week, I was walking around about 3' off the ground after reading that compliment from TONTO. This person was so fantastic in the ability to handle Celebrities it was unbelievable. No matter how big the Celebrity was, Tonto could always relate to them. In most of the Celebrities' eyes, as PC's, Tonto was the real Celebrity and not them. Possibly no other auditor on Earth could have handled celebrities the way Tonto did. It's as if TONTO was born to audit celebrities, the hat fit like a glove. Tonto deserves status as Co-FOunder of CC !! Tonto was there with Yvonne from day 1 and at first all CC did was audit celebrities so Tonto hanled all Tech, scheduling and delivery functions. As with many great people in history, they ususally had a person of comparable magnitude working with them to help them generate their power. Yvonne and Tonto formed such a team.

For a while it was just Yvonne and Tonto. The first addition had to be a C/S (Case Supervisor) for Tonto and shortly after opening, Ellen Jones, Class VIII became the C/S. For awhile there was just the three of them auditing and C/Sing Celebrities but new staff began to be added. Hector Carmona was one of the early non technical people, see Chapter 4 for more of his story and how he rose to be chief Registrar. Within 6 months there were at least 50 on staff. My first experience going there was at about that time, around August of 1970. I was then a newbie , only two months into Scientology and on lines doing the Dianetics Course at L.A. Org. I went there to hear a Mario Feninger concert because I am a lover of classical music. I remember a staff member named DIck Hubbard, no relation to LRH. We arrived early before the concert and told Dick that we would be back in an hour. Though tickets were free, he gave us our tickets because he said seating was limited and we would need the tickets to get in when we came back. We came back and saw the concert. Of course Mario was great. He wore a black cape and as was typical of all his concerts, he opened with 2 pieces by the Father and Son composers of the Baroque era, Allesandro and Domenico Scarletti, there was intermission and my first experience in the CCLA snack bar and then Chopin for the second half of the program. I believe there was an encore which was a piece by Mario's Mother, Teresa de Rogatis. As always Mario was spectacular and the concert very memorable.

SOME OF THE EARLY CELEBRITIES WHO WERE THERE - In 1970 the biggest four Celebrities were Stehphen Boyd, who had recently starred with Charleton Heston in the Epic Movie, Ben Hur, Karen Black a young and developing star at that time, Candice Bergen who was well known as being the daughter of ventroloquist Edgar Bergen and Ernest Lehman, a major Director, having just directed a major Academny Award Winning movie plus having recently worked very closely with Alfred Hitchcock. Stephen Boyd made the Intro movie which I saw but both he and Candice Bergen had already just left Scientology or were just in the process of leaving when I first showed up. Tonto auditied all of these people with the exception of Stephen Boyd. One time Ernest Lehman was there for a session and Tonto was not available and they tried to assign another auditor to him and he refused. He said it would have to be Tonto or he would leave and come back the next day. He left for the day because Tonto was not available. I was standing just a few feet away and heard the entire interchange. (I edited in this paragraph and the one below it on January 15, 2010)

Other top celebrities on lines were Chick Correa, Geoffrey Lewis who was already getting top supporting actor roles in big films and on TV and Robert F. Lyons, who had just had a big movie hit in "Downhill Racer". A Latin singing star named "Lisette" who was known as La muchacha con los ojos triestes" {The girl with the sad eyes) was huge in Latin America at the time. We even had big 7'2" Richard Kiel who played the role of "Jaws" in some of the James Bond films, though he did not show up until 1972. Of course Mario Feninger, the classical pianist was there as well. While I was on staff there, through October, 1973, Anne Francis did one class and Shelly Winters came down and spoke to the staff. Besides Ernest Lehman, who only showed up to receive auditing, another well know director and drama coach, Milton Katselas became a fixture there, heavily particpating in many ways. Rock Hudson, was brought in for an intro session which did not go well. John Travolta was still about 3 years away from joining and was not yet famous.


CHAPTER 3 TONTO'S CONTRACT IS EXTENDED
Six months had passed and there were more auditors and C/Ses on staff and Tonto wanted to move on and resume the personal projects which had been shelved as per the original agreements with Yvonne As was typical with Yvonne, she begged Tonto to stay longer and Tonto agreed and eventually stayed about another year and a half.

CHAPTER 4 MORE ABOUT THE EARLIEST DAYS AT CCLA - Initially, the Org consisted only of Yvonne and Tonto and the staff was formed around Tonto. For example, Ellen Jones was the third staff member and was Tonto's C/S. This practice of building up the staff around Tonto continued. Originally, Tonto was paid the entire auditing fee of $25 per hour (about $125 in today's money) directly by the celebrities. After a few months, CC began collecting the money and Tonto was paid a pay check from CC. Sea Org base pay at the time was $10 per week. After 6 months, the number of staff was up to around 50 and there were other auditors and C/Ses on staff and Tonto's pay was down to $5 per hour. As covered earlier, Tonto wanted to leave and was talked into staying by Yvonne. Eventually, in mid 1971 the Org moved up to a mansion in the hills near the Griffith Park Observatory. At that point the Org was a year and a half old and had plenty of Celebrity auditors and C/Ses and Tonto's pay was down to $5 per hour and she decided it was time to leave. Yvonne put up a fight but could not prevent Tonto from leaving and Tonto went off into the sunset, her mission at CC completed in her usual Kha Khan fashion. She left for the San Francisco area with Frank Dunn and Frank and Lee Blumer. FOOD FOR THOUGHT Would Scientology have done better in the long term, in its stated mission, if the Sea Org had paid certain key people what they were worth. Tonto, was the entire tech delivery team of the Org and was on authorized leave from the Sea Org to handle some personal business. When she started audting at CCLA she received $25 per hour (in 1970 dollars) and within 6 months she was down to $5 per hour and wanted to leave as per her initial deal with Yvonne. Had her pay been kept higher due to her unique status in the Organization, she mentioned to me that she would have wanted to stay longer, perhaps indefinitely. This is a personal insight that just occured to me and I edited it in on 8 Jan 2010.

Added May 18, 2010 - I spoke by phone twice with the old lead registrar, Hector Carmona about 6 weeks ago. Hector was one of the earliest non technical staff to join up with Yvonne. He told me that at the beginning, he was not a registrar. On one occasion he filled in for the Recruiter and he recruited somebody and then recruits in general started picking up. Next he filled in somewhere else and then some major and unexpected positive result occurred there. One day, the registrar was out and Yvonne asked Hector to fill in and someone walked in and Hector signed this person up for a sizeable service. Everyone was joking that wherever Hector went, the statistics connected with the CCLA Organization increased. Yvonne told Hector that he was somebody special and she was going to make him the head registrar. That happened in early 1970, probably in the Spring. Hector stayed on that post for 12 years, I believe, until 1982. Hector related something to me that I did not previously know. While the Org was up on La Brea Blvd., Yvonne was demoted from being the Commanding Officer. It was done in a way so as for her to save face. It was determined that there would be two commanding officers, Yvonne and someone else, I believe it was Irene Derman but I am not sure. Irene was to stay up at La Brea and run the main organization as Commanding Officer. Yvonne was also called a Commanding Officer but was sent to the beautiful Chateau Elysee, where Celebrity Centre is currently located. Yvonne did not contol a complete Organization but focused instead on only promotional actions. Her post was more of a titular post rather than a post with real power. It is odd that this happened to Yvonne because in the 1980's her husband Heber Jentzsch was made the President of Scientology and in the same manner his post was mainly to serve as a public relations figurehead but he had absolutely no actual power. My Opinion is that Yvonne knew she was being demoted and it probably broke her spirit because within a year or so, she died of brain cancer, in the early part of 1978. She was only in her mid 40's. Getting back to the main line of the story.....

Tonto and Yvonned connected again in the beginning of 1976 for one last time when Tonto opened a cafe on Fairfax Ave. and catered to CC students at lunch break when CC was on La Brea Blvd., not too far from Fairfax. I bet those lunches were health food lunches and were very tasty. Tonto got to see Yvonne almost every day during this period up in Yvonne's office. The two shared a nice communication line as equals. You see, it was Yvonne's daughters, Janice and Teri, who brought Yvonne to Tonto's cabin when Tonto was setting up getting ready to leave on a mission to set up the AO in Edinburgh, Tonto had been the career tutor to all the children without any troubles for the entire month, with Mary Sue as the Captain, but that is another story. At this point Tonto exits the CC story permanently.

CHAPTER 5 - THE OLD MANSION IN THE HILLS
Scientology Management and City Building Codes and Regulations mix like oil and water. Scientology Int management, at least at that time, read only LRH. Nothng else was deemed worth reading and was labled as False Data. Tell that to the officials who wrote the Los Angeles City Building and Zoning Codes. They couldn't know a Secondary from a Second Martgage, a GPM from an IBM, or an auditing assessment from a tax assessmeent. An E meter was something affixed to one's house to register the amount of electricity being used. In fact if someone told them an auditor was going into session, they would think that a bookkeeper was going to play jazz with a liitle group of like minded buddies.

The mansion was a grand old estate home in an area of luxury estates in the hills just south of Griffith Park Observaory in Los Angeles. To get there from the Celebrity Center, one would have to take Vermont Blvd north 3 to 4 miles to Los Feliz Blvd., drive a good mile or so East and then turn left at Hillhurst Ave. and head up into the hills. If one went straight up he would pass the Greek Theater in about a mile and then another mile would find him at the L.A. Observatory. To get to the Org mansion, one would have to turn left about half way to the Greek Theatre and then wind around the streets for 4 or 5 blocks and wind up at the mansion. The mansion was situated on about 1 1/2 acres of land. The problem was that this land was zoned R1 which meant that it was for single family Residences. LRH did not write that in policy so no one knew or suspected that such a thing existed. The mansion consisted of a large house, perhaps 4.500 square feet plus a basement and an attic. It was probably built in the late 1920's. Scientologists have a habit of quickly gobbling up every square inch of usable space and shorly the attic and basement werre claimed as berthing by various staff members. This brought the square footage up to about 6,000 plus there was a garage and some other out buildings. Total usable space was perhaps 7,000 square feet. Into this footage were shoe honed berthing for about 65 staff, several course rooms, a galley (large kitchen for staff meals) and archives for all the pc folders plus an HGC with its large waiting room and lots of small individual auditing rooms. There was an entry room or parlor when you first walked in and a large living room where I believe a piano was placed. There was a formal dining room as well. These 3 front rooms were furnished nicely and kept at low traffic volume to make the place appear more like a home than an Org.

The flaw in all this was that the neighborhood was zoned single family residences and the neighbors, old staid, wealthy families of tradition objected vehemently to us being there runing an operation that seemed like some sort of business enterprise. The neighbors complianed to L.A. City Council that their peaceful neighborhood was being invaded by some group of flamboyant people not the family people typical of the neightborhood and that further, most all of the parking spots on the adjoining streets were being taken up all day by visitors of this strange group whcih had moved in next door.


CHAPTER 6 - TOO LITTLE TOO LATE
Either Flag Management or the brain trust at CCLA hatched a plot to try and keep us in the building. It was a typical Sea Org shore story. We were to pretend to be some kind of discussion group that met regularaly and discussed art. The most conventional looking people were picked who were a little older and wore suits and ties and had shorter hair, etc. I was not staff then but public but I was picked to serve, another person chosen was my good friend, actress Beverly Carter who was also public. Our chaplain, Andrik Schappers was chosen (he is still in the Church and leads crusades in Europe to expand Scn). Dick Hubbard had that All American look and may have been choosen, I believe that Ellen Jones was chosen and perhaps her husband Mark plus we had Irene Howey and also Henry Baumgard and others for a total of 12 or so "Art Critics". The day the official from the City of L.A. showed up, Yvonne acted as the host and showed him in. We were all discussing art and the men wore suits and ties and the women all wore nice dresses. We picked an artist such as Monet or Picasso or van Gogh and we all read up on his bio and drilled it a litttle. When the guy from L.A. showed up, Yvonne acted as the host and showed him in. We were all discussing art when he walked in and this fellow was well groomed, quite charming and very cordial to us. He stuck around for 20 to 30 minutes observing us and then shook hands with everyone and left smiling. We thought we had done very well but it really did not matter. Even if we were an art discussion group visiting Yvonne, the amount of traffic going in and out on a a day to day basis and the amount of parking taking place in a residental neighborhood ruled out any chance we had to stay. We were ordered to move out within some prescribed time such as 30 or 60 days. A new house on 9th Street and Lake St. about 3 blocks from the Centre was chosen and the Mansion was vacated on schedule and the move to 9th and Lake went smoothly. That completes this phase of the story. Other things may be added from time to time as they become known to me.

I have this story up on another site but Janice Grady suggested that I make it a separate thread of its own.
Lakey
 
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FinallyMe

Silver Meritorious Patron
The Mansion was on or just off of Inverness in the hills - really gorgeous space but impossible to find! Me and my 1967 Chevy helped move stuff from the 8th St. CC over to the Mansion (I was sort of "seeing" Randy McDonald at the time and was actually helping him.) I never knew what happened that they were out of there so soon - thanks for the story!
 

lkwdblds

Crusader
How about a PM telling me more about yourself.

The Mansion was on or just off of Inverness in the hills - really gorgeous space but impossible to find! Me and my 1967 Chevy helped move stuff from the 8th St. CC over to the Mansion (I was sort of "seeing" Randy McDonald at the time and was actually helping him.) I never knew what happened that they were out of there so soon - thanks for the story!

Glad I could help out in solving your 38 year old mystery of why they moved out so fast. Any chance of sending me a PM of who you are? All of us guys from the real old days of CC seem to have a common bond or brotherhood of affection built up. So far of the 200 staff who I knew pretty well, I have done the following: Met Chris Many about a week ago, received an email from Hector Carmona, met mystery Class VIII crackerjack auditor at a New Years' eve party, exchanged emails with Colorado Girl about 10 months ago which unfortunately ended up in an ARC break, PMed with Rae from ESMB and got an email through to Soo Forbes from a proxy and got a messge back from her that she was not communicating at this time with any of her old friends from those days but she was happy to hear from me and know I was doing well. That's 6 people out of 200. Add Pam Lancaster and Kathy Garcia who I saw about 3 years ago and thats 8 out of 200.

I knew Randy Mc Donald pretty well but the only 2D I remember became his wife, Ronnie Johnson, Irene Howey's sister but that is not you because Ronnie would have known why they had to move out so fast, having a sister who was third in command behind Yvonne and Joyce Myers.
Lakey
P.S. Visit my thread "The Old Days - Aboard the Apollo - 1973" Chapters 4 thru 7 are all about CCLA with incredible details about the people and the happenings going on there and then Chapter 8 through maybe 15 are an appendix of everything having to do with CCLA and other PAC Orgs such as the best restaurants to hang out at, best staff members, a little blurb on each staff member, you are probably mentioned and so forth, almost endless amounts of data.
 

freethinker

Sponsor
It's a great story but once again points out that the only purpose of Scientology is to expand Scientology. Helping mankind was never part of the equation. Pleasing LRH was though.
 

lkwdblds

Crusader
Thanks for your comment.

It's a great story but once again points out that the only purpose of Scientology is to expand Scientology. Helping mankind was never part of the equation. Pleasing LRH was though.

Thanks for the comments about the story. Certainly, everyone involved in the origin of Celebrity Centre believed that they were helping mankind by doing what they did to establish this very colorful Organization. That I can vouch for because I was right there working just months after opening day and the espirit de corps there was extremely high, just out the roof and we all, to a man and to a woman, believed with all our hearts AT THAT TIME that we were helping mankind.

The purpose of this thread is to just tell a story and let you viewers reach your own conclusions. The origin of Celebrity Centre is part of history now and it is an important enough event that it should be chronicled in the historical record as acurately as possible. That is my main concern and a strong secondary concern is to make the story fast paced and interesting and entertaining to read. All comments are appreciated.
Lakey
 
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FinallyMe

Silver Meritorious Patron
Lakey, I'm thoroughly enjoying the history lesson and revving of memories! I wasn't at CC for very long - I got in about June/July of 1971, Hector found my ruin, and I did the Comm Course there, on 8th St. (At the time, I thought the "carpeting" made of sample squares was such a cool idea!) Loved just being there, so I volunteered every week night as the receptionist -- mostly answering the phones and trying to find people in the HUGE crowds that were there. The very short "relationship" with Randy didn't last long, probably because he was SO and I was public, and didn't have a CLUE what Scientology was, or anything about it AT ALL! I had been encouraged to visit CC in order to "see lots of celebrities" and that's all I was told - huh! After that, I started working with a start-up company owned by Scientologists Roger Bernot and Maggie -- I forget her last name -- called Entertainment Information, Inc. Then, I have no recollection of how it started, but I began stopping by ASHO to pick up letter reg tapes to transcribe at home at night. I quit working with Roger and went on staff at ASHO Day as a full-time typist, and then was promoted to letter reg -- and therefore, I did the rest of my training at ASHO Foundation. I loved the people I worked with - Naomi Shiroma (Alexander), Holly Drinnan (Funnell), Leslie Burrell (Thompson), Steve Thompson, Jim Williams. Stayed on staff until "Captain Bill" decided to throw out all of the non-SO people in 1976.

One thing for sure stays with me from my time at CC- Yvonne was one personable, DYNAMIC lady!

Patte Monaco
 

lkwdblds

Crusader
Thanks for the memories!

Lakey, I'm thoroughly enjoying the history lesson and revving of memories! I wasn't at CC for very long - I got in about June/July of 1971, Hector found my ruin, and I did the Comm Course there, on 8th St. (At the time, I thought the "carpeting" made of sample squares was such a cool idea!) Loved just being there, so I volunteered every week night as the receptionist -- mostly answering the phones and trying to find people in the HUGE crowds that were there. The very short "relationship" with Randy didn't last long, probably because he was SO and I was public, and didn't have a CLUE what Scientology was, or anything about it AT ALL! I had been encouraged to visit CC in order to "see lots of celebrities" and that's all I was told - huh! After that, I started working with a start-up company owned by Scientologists Roger Bernot and Maggie -- I forget her last name -- called Entertainment Information, Inc. Then, I have no recollection of how it started, but I began stopping by ASHO to pick up letter reg tapes to transcribe at home at night. I quit working with Roger and went on staff at ASHO Day as a full-time typist, and then was promoted to letter reg -- and therefore, I did the rest of my training at ASHO Foundation. I loved the people I worked with - Naomi Shiroma (Alexander), Holly Drinnan (Funnell), Leslie Burrell (Thompson), Steve Thompson, Jim Williams. Stayed on staff until "Captain Bill" decided to throw out all of the non-SO people in 1976.

One thing for sure stays with me from my time at CC- Yvonne was one personable, DYNAMIC lady!

Patte Monaco

To quote Bob Hope, Thanks for the Memories! What a lovely little story you told. I did not know that Capt Bill got rid of all the non Sea Org staff en masse in 1976.

Yes, I was on a carpet detail one day with my Brother and about 20 others, glueing the carpet strips on the floor. My Brother, was one of the best stand up comics and jokesters that ever lived. He took a look at the carpet, all those little remnants made into a patchwork quilt and he said, "Yes, I have to admit it looks pretty good, very avante garde and artsy. If only the celebrities knew that we were using this for carpet not because we wanted to make an Artisctic statement but only because this is all that we can afford!

Yes, regarding Yvonne, all who came into her vicinity were overwhelmed by her sheer presence of beingness. She had a way of looking at and talking to people which implied that she really "knew who they were" and "who they were" was always someone very special and unique with special talents and gifts and that only Yvonne. among all people, could see that and recognize it.
Lakey
 
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fisherman

Patron with Honors
Lakey,

I enjoyed your history lesson as well! You have quite a flair for writing. Your prose is always descriptive, nicely balanced, and engaging. Really a pleasure to read!

Reading this and other early accounts, I'm always struck by the quality of some of the personell in those days. It does seem scientology attracted a few talented and independently minded individuals -- even after allowing for a (slight) bit of 'rose tinted' nostalgia in the author's glasses! :)

Not that everyone in Scientology was of such high caliber, as your honest account of the characters on the Apollo makes clear, but many like Vaughn and Stacey Young seem quite impressive. That feature of early scientology seems a stark contrast to the present day. I can't attest to this personally, but Mr. Tommy Davis does not strike me as a modern Vaughn Young.

As you know, I have no positive regard for Mr. Hubbard, but it's appears he 'lucked out' in captivating a number of resourceful folks in those formative years. Yourself included, I suspect.

This may seem like a wild comparison, but the movie version of "The Godfather" came to mind. In the sense that, as the Corleone 'business' becomes larger and more corporatized it shuns the individuals and loyalties that created the success of the original, 'en famile', enterprise. 'Things fall apart' with the decadence accompanying that progression. A 'morality play' that may have parallels to Scientology.

I certainly enjoyed your story, but I'd be remiss for not stating my hope that thirty odd years from now - there will be no-one writing a similar reminiscence!

My very best,

fisherman
 
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lkwdblds

Crusader
Always nice to hear from you.

Lakey,

I enjoyed your history lesson as well! You have quite a flair for writing. Your prose is always descriptive, nicely balanced, and engaging. Really a pleasure to read!

Thanks very much. I am starting to take pride in my writing and it is nice to get a compliment from a well read person such as yourself. One area where I can still improve is on saying things more briefly. Some people have the knack of condensing major thoughts into a few well thought out words. I want to do with words what my idol Mozart did with musical notes - from the movie Amadeus, when he responded to the Emperor of Austria's comment that his new opera had too many notes, Mozart said, "I don't understand Sire, there are just as many notes as are required, neither more nor less."

Reading this and other early accounts, I'm always struck by the quality of some of the personell in those days. It does seem scientology attracted a few talented and independently minded individuals -- even after allowing for a (slight) bit of 'rose tinted' nostalgia in the author's glasses! :)

They sure did! I ran into a lot of fine people as a youth, in the Cub Scouts, the Boy Scouts, the PTA moms, the school teachers. Somewhere, perhaps in college, the caliber of people I met started to decline and in the corporate world it just flat degenerated to the point where many people were dishonest and corrupt. IBM Corp. was sort of an oasis, a throw back to the fine people of my Youth. The early Orgs were teeming with people of the highest order, both in intelligence and decency plus the willingness to help others. For years I was convinced I had found my group for life. As to rose tinted glasses, I plead guilty! When I think of the early days and who the people were and what we were trying to achieve and to a large degree did achieve, I think of a lyric from the Harry Belafonte song, "Come Back Lisa, Come back girl" and I "wipe a tear from me eye."

Not that everyone in Scientology was of such high caliber, as your honest account of the characters on the Apollo makes clear, but many like Vaughn and Stacey Young seem quite impressive. That feature of early scientology seems a stark contrast to the present day. I can't attest to this personally, but Mr. Tommy Davis does not strike me as a modern Vaughn Young.

Tommy D. and Stacy and Vaughn are cut from totally different cloth.

As you know, I have no positive regard for Mr. Hubbard, but it's appears he 'lucked out' in captivating a number of resourceful folks in those formative years. Yourself included, I suspect.

It was not just luck, not by a longshot! His early work in Dianetics seemed to center about helping other people individually and benefiting the lot of mankind as a whole. This is where you will find the finest people, the Mother Teresa's, the Ghandi', the idealistic young men and women in nursing and med schools, the missionarys saving sickly native children in Africa. I include myself only because I feel the highest calling a person can have is to help others (including the nurturing of children by the way).

This may seem like a wild comparison, but the movie version of "The Godfather" came to mind. In the sense that, as the Corleone 'business' becomes larger and more corporatized it shuns the individuals and loyalties that created the success of the original, 'en famile', enterprise. 'Things fall apart' with the decadence accompanying that progression. A 'morality play' that may have parallels to Scientology.

I think you make an excellent analogy here, perhaps you might develop this theory further in a future post.!

I certainly enjoyed your story, but I'd be remiss for not stating my hope that thirty odd years from now - there will be no-one writing a similar reminiscence!

My very best,

fisherman

You seem like a fine young man, one who is bright, inquisitive and who wants to understand and better the human condition. I probably will not be around in 30 more years, at least not in this body, but you will be around and Mark my words, you will remember your days researching and writing on ESMB and you will think of 2009/2010 as the "good old days" and you will never forget your good old pal Lakey who always told it like it was!
Lakey
 
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lkwdblds

Crusader
This site already has big presence on Google!

Its amazing, modern computer search engine technology!! There is no other history of Celebrity Centre anywhere on the internet nor in any other form so far as I can tell. No one has ever tackled the subject before and probably no one ever will. I've done the work and done it thoroughly and done it professionally. I have the advantage of corresponding with many of the major players who participated in CC''s early history and I myself, though not a major player, participated heavily as a key player. These events took place 40 years ago and most people participating were between 20 and 30 years of age so we are all now 60 to 70. We will still be around for awhile.

I fulfilled a concept I first thought of iin 2000 and again in 2005 when no historical information was given of about how CC got started in the Official 30th and 35th anniversary editions of a big CC magazine put out by the Church . Yvonne's name was not even mentioned. I thought somebody should do something about this omission. I called Kathy Garcia, still head registrar at CCLA who has been there since 1970 or 1971 and asked her if there was a reason why Yvonne was left out of those magazines. Kathy said, "No reason that I know of, just probably that it was so long ago that nobody remembers Yvonne any more let alone the history of how the Org got started. She said that she thought Yvonne should be mentioned in the mags but that nobody writing the mags knows about her." I wanted the story to be told but never thought that I would actually tell it. The idea was not hatched in my mind until perhaps in November, two months ago. I had a thread about my experiences at CC going on which was attracting a lot of readers and I was encouraged by some to keep the thread going. I was trying to think of something interesting to write about and came up with writing this story just two months ago.

I came to CC in October of 1970 perhaps 9 months after the Org had started. I wanted to get the story of those first 9 months. I asked a few people and nobody seemed to no how I could get the story. I knew that I could and would get it and I wrote on my thread that I would have it in 3 weeks and release the story as a Christmas present to all. Out of nowhere, on Dec. 21, I obtained an email from someone who knew the opening story of CC and was actually there on day one. That event, was one of the major events of my life. I wrote up the entire story including the first 9 months and and put it up on my thread Dec 25 as promised. As a result, I heard from Dart Smohen who filled me in on what happened before CC opened, when he was a participant and a leading Sea Org member, and he also straightened out my timeline. Janice Grady, Yvonne's daughter also filled in some data and is the one who recommended I release it on its own thread.

After only a day or two after first being posted, the story comes up on the Google Search Engines, just by entering Celebrity Centre history. Whamo, this story comes right up on the non sponsored portion of page 1 with a link right to the site.

MY LEGACY: I sort of have a legacy now of a piece of truth which I investigated, lived through myself and accurately and with style wrote up for anyone interested in the subject to read. This will forever be the definitive source for this particular topic and as time goes on, its stature as THE only source ever written on this subject and all one needs to read to fully know the subject will be further strengthened. I found a little hole in the fabric of the physical Universe, a little niche where I could take responsibility and rectify an ommission and I plugged that hole with a piece of truth. I am very proud to have found a niche, where I could make a unique contribution to something which, though not a gigantic area of importance, is something which is important and has a following and in which I believe interest will grow.

Since December 21, when I received that piece of information from a mystery contributor, and in fact since November when I decided to do this story, so many incredible things have happened to me that I am no longer the same person I was last October, I have made a complete metamorphosis in life. You talk about epiphanies or going exterior from the body. Whatever you want to call it, I unexpectedly achieved those phenomena by finding a purpose, deciding I was going to do something and then doing it as a professional. If someone does something like this, even on a small or medium sized scale, when your decision comes to fruition in the physical Universe, you become exhilerated, as I can attest to! Now, I see why there is a physical universe and why we agreed to be in it and play its games. We were promised that if we came in and played "the game", we could attain states which we could not come close to in our own Universes, just operating our own little game.

We all bought into this but later claimed to be victims of a trap we fell into. I am here to tell you that playing the game of the physical universe is not automatically a trap; it is only a trap if you make it so and agree to it being a trap. The beings who we thought sold us a "bill of goods" and tricked us into playing their game were not completly suppresive as we were taught to believe, actually, in a way, they were telling the truth.

If you find a worthwhile goal, make a decision that you will make something beautiful and truthful and add it to the physical universe and you pursue your goal ethically with dilligence and industriousness and actually bring your goal to fruition in the physical universe, you will have met with, worked with and become friends with many incredible beings and right here, in this physical universe, you will be freed of your self inflicted bondage and the bonds which held you will melt away as predicted by some of history's greatest philosophers. No matter whatever happens to your body, you will be a free being!
Lakey
 
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lkwdblds

Crusader
Re: MAJOR REVISION TO THE CELEBRITY CENTRE STORY OF ORIGIN

Lakey, I'm thoroughly enjoying the history lesson and revving of memories! I wasn't at CC for very long - I got in about June/July of 1971, Hector found my ruin, and I did the Comm Course there, on 8th St. (At the time, I thought the "carpeting" made of sample squares was such a cool idea!) Loved just being there, so I volunteered every week night as the receptionist -- mostly answering the phones and trying to find people in the HUGE crowds that were there. The very short "relationship" with Randy didn't last long, probably because he was SO and I was public, and didn't have a CLUE what Scientology was, or anything about it AT ALL! I had been encouraged to visit CC in order to "see lots of celebrities" and that's all I was told - huh! After that, I started working with a start-up company owned by Scientologists Roger Bernot and Maggie -- I forget her last name -- called Entertainment Information, Inc. Then, I have no recollection of how it started, but I began stopping by ASHO to pick up letter reg tapes to transcribe at home at night. I quit working with Roger and went on staff at ASHO Day as a full-time typist, and then was promoted to letter reg -- and therefore, I did the rest of my training at ASHO Foundation. I loved the people I worked with - Naomi Shiroma (Alexander), Holly Drinnan (Funnell), Leslie Burrell (Thompson), Steve Thompson, Jim Williams. Stayed on staff until "Captain Bill" decided to throw out all of the non-SO people in 1976.

One thing for sure stays with me from my time at CC- Yvonne was one personable, DYNAMIC lady!

Patte Monaco

WELL, HERE WE ARE 2 1/2 YEARS LATER 3/10/12. I JUST RAN INTO ONE OF THE KEY FOUNDERS OF CELEBRITY CENTRE IN LOS ANGELES ON FACEBOOK, RICHARD ROYCE. HE HAS GIVEN ME A LOT OF NEW INFORMATION ABOUT HOW CCLA GOT STARTED. I WANT THE STORY TO BE HISTORICALLY ACCURATE SO I AM GOING TO ADD THE DATA HE GAVE ME.

The first correction is that Celebrity Centre did not open for business in the Spring of 1970 but it actually opened in July, 1969! The date of Spring, 1970 was the date when CCLA started delivering auditing. Candy Swanson, who is the person called Tonto, in my earlier story had mentioned that she started auditing for CCLA in early 1970. She believed that Ellen Jones came on as the first Case Supervisor a couple of weeks after Candy and Yvonne began offering auditing at the Org.

About 6 months ago, I ran into former Class VIII C/S for CCLA, Don Keeler, and he insisted that he was the first Case Supervisor who C/Sed for Candy. He said that Ellen Jones came on as the second C/S about 2 months later. Don also said that they opened to deliver auditing in early Spring, 1970, probably April. I brought Candy over to talk to Don and Don insisted he was the first C/S, not Ellen.

CCLA OPENED IN JULY 1969 BUT THEY DID NOT OFFER AUDITING AT THAT TIME

Richard states that the pianist, Mario Feninger, was one of the key figures in the opening of Celebrity Centre. I had no idea that this was the case. Mario, who is still living and is approximately 100 years old was offering Scientology and Dianetics classes in Paris, France at a small centre for artists and musicians which he was running. Hubbard found out about this and he had already assigned Yvonne the task of developing a Celebrity Centre so he encouraged Yvonne to make contact with Mario. Yvonne did so and Mario came to Los Angeles.

Frank Dunn was affiliated with Yvonne and he found the building at 1809 W. 8th St. near downtown L.A. Candy says their was also a staff house on Beacon St. between 8th and 9th streets about 2 blocks from the Centre when she first got involved. Richard Royce stated that One of the first things which CCLA offered was something which Mario was offering in Paris, the HSDC (Hubbard Standard Dianetics Course). At first Mario was the Supervisor of the Course. Richard was given the course for free for his help in founding CCLA. Shortly thereafter, Richard became the Course Supervisor to free Mario so he could concentrate on being a pianist. Candy added today that Frank gave the first intro lectures at the new Centre. He was not staff but just did volunteer work.

So we have in July of 1969, a Celebrity Centre operating giving intro lectures and the Dianetics Course. I would guess they also had the communication course (HAS) and probably also the second course (HQS). Using this limited format, they were in business and operating but they didn't have the capacity to deliver auditing yet. That capacity arrived in the Spring of 1970 and involved Candy Swanson as the first auditor, Don Keeler as the first Case Supervisor and Ellen Jones as the second C/S.

In 1969 before the advent of auditing, a lot of work was done, mainly by Richard, creating the 8th Street building into being a gallery for arts and crafts as well as being a venue for live performances virtually every single night.

I am going to copy some of Richard's emails of the last two days so that people can get an idea of what was going on:


" "Below is a non E posting I did on the Indi Facebook group. Iprobably will get it onto Marty's site soon. I want to set you straight on how CC Got started I was there shortly after the beginning in June of 69 and talked to Mario Fenniger at length about it's origins. Mario had a mission in Paris France where he catered to artists. He brought the mission to 8th street and Yvonne got permission from Ron to do the Celebrity thing. I don't know exactly how the transition happened but I do know that Mario and Yvonne were on great friendship basis and Mario was helping in the very beginning. He was not in the immediate picture when I arrived in June 69 but the word was he had just turned it over to Yvonne. At first no one knew what to do with it. There was the HSDC course being delivered and maybe Mario delivered the first one. Not sure. I was put on it very soon after my arrival as an award. Then on graduating Yvonne asked me to sup it which I did. On the course my twin was Joan Breeding wife of Don Breeding the engineer who put together the Mark 5 Meter. She had a back brace andneck brace from past car injuries and was told she would never be able to take them off by the doctors. 38 hours of Standard Dianetics that I ran on her and she removed them never to piut them back on. I passed the course as we had to have a miracle to pass.


You guys are the group I joined in June of 1969. I feel like I have come home.
I guess a little non Existence would be in order here:

I had been going through some things and I was ready for a paradigm shift. I got a call for someone I didn’t know but I said don’t hang up. There is something about your voice that tells me you might be able to help me with what I’ve been going through. She said meet me tomorrow at noon at the Old World Café on Sunset Boulevard. Her boyfriend stayed into 20 minutes of my discussion and when he felt I was harmless he left. I explained the strange experiences with telepathy, other world languages etc and she said It could be that you and this other person mutually keyed into something from another time and place and that there was this new thing called Standard Dianetics that could help you sort it out. Karen Black the movie star took me to the LA Org the next day where I signed up for 5 hours of Dianetics. 2 hours into auditing and I went whole track and all was explained!

Hitchhiking to the Org one day we got to talking and the driver said since you are an artist you should go check out this new Org on 8th Street which is for Artists. As soon as I had a chance I went to Celebrity Center and Met Yvonne. Life as I knew it changed!

I started hanging around there and helping out in any way I could. I was in the middle of carving the wood blocks for Roy Lichtenstein’s “Modern Head #1” which I was commissioned to do for Ken Tyler at Gemini Gel and Yvonne said why don’t you use this table over here to carve the blocks on and by the way when you have a moment could you knock out a piece of promo for us! One day Yvonne introduced me to Chick Corea and I got him onto the radio station at USC where I had just finished teaching at.

We started having weekly meetings Yvonne called Opinion Leader Meetings of all the local celebs where we would work out how we could help each other in our careers and at the same time help CCLA get stronger. Someone came up with the idea to build a theater so we scrounged wood and built a stage and started having Friday evening Poetry By Candle Light events where anyone with a talent would show up and perform. Tom and Clark did the Bags there, Jeff Lewis did his stories. In our OL meeting I got the bright idea to bring the Improve Group “The Committee” to perform. They ran classes in Improv and I had been a student of theirs. I got them to come over and perform and Tamera Wilcox, one of their troop, got interested in some of the books in our bookstore. She went on to open an Improv school in NYC where Jim Meskamen and a bunch of name Scios got involved. Meanwhile I started the Keyout Players, our own Improv Group at CCLA and we use to perform at the Poetry By Candlelights. I ran the class in the beginning and the Robert F Lyons (Bobbie) came along and we taught together. The group got bigger and Bobbie headed up the guys that wanted to go Pro and I taught the guys that just did it for fun.

....... I had gotten involved with trading Commodities and had become the disciple of Ted Warren who wrote “How to Make the Stock Market Make Money For You”. I ran a small stake up to a very large amount of money and wanted to share this technology with others wanting to go up the bridge so I started the Westlake Investment Club where the principals were taught. I even had Ted show his travel movies in his sea plane up in Alaska at CC.

A great pleasure moment was my weekly meetings with Yvonne where Joyce Meyers was giving me a back rub while I sipped fresh squeezed orange juice and I would find out how the stats for the week were. When they needed help I would write a check for one or two thousand and buy more XDN auditing. I got 300 hours of XDN (after Clear) But I had wins anyway. It was a grand old time. The best investment I made was writing a check for $27,000 to David Light for Kristina’s (wife) SO debt from AOLA where she had been working. She wanted out and wanted a family. We’ve been married now for 39 years with 3 boys. Of course the boys have disconnected from us since we have seen the light but that’s all part of the game!

About 1974 I started my own studio where I printed etchings for others. The story behind that had to do with Knox Martin! I had been corresponding with Knox and I was a fledgling artist just out of College and 2 years living in Paris followed by 2 years of teaching Printmaking at the University of California. I asked him for advice on “how to make it” in the art world and he responded “help other artists”! We had the studio in Santa Monica till 87 and went up to Delphian Fnd for a bit before moving to NYC where I got into the big time Art Scene.

So here I am, OT7, CL4 XDN auditor, Ethics Specialist and holder of a Kha-Khan Certificate from Yvonne Jentzch at CCLA and a goldenrod Declare which I snatched from Kathy True’s hands much to her chagrin!
Hello everybody!"



Here is another email from Richard which I received this morning:

"First of all I don't think I have anything to hide. I am already declared and have no intention of making nice to the Suppressive organization that exists now and I have posted under my name on Marty's site. So go for it. Secondly, I'm pretty sure I met Yvonne at 8th st org in June of 69. I was already Clear by December of 69 and I was hanging at CC. Frank Dunn grabbed me as I was coming off the boat arriving at CCLA and took me under his wing. Frank Dunn and Frank Bloomer had a band together. Dunn was the vocalist and Bloomer was the guitar player. Dunn became my official FSM.


I had heard something about his finding the building as you said. When I arrived it was just a shell. I think the OL meetings came up with the idea to have various shops in the building. Can't remember the names but the tall guy Bruce did caligraphy and his sister did a candle making booth. That didn't work out and we then went for the theater buildout. I remember supporting the stage floor with my back while a post was put under it!


Kris was on staff at AOLA during this time and said Yvonne wasn't there. The dates must be off somehow.


I first met Heber out at Jinny Dunas' beach house in Malabu. a lot the the CC crowd would hang out there on the weekends. Jinny was doing a 2D with Heber. That's where I met him. later in time they ended the 2D and Heber showed up at CC. He was doing GO stuff and he asked me to do some research into the Occult and the Third Reich. I read The Sword of Destiny and did a book report on it for him. It was around that time Heber got into the 2D with Yvonne.


Hey if you see Don Keeler give him my email and phone I would like to get back in comm with him. We used to go diving together and cooked some mean Abalone. Is he still married to Barbara?"


SO THERE WE HAVE IT, A MUCH MORE COMPLETE AND ACCURATE STORY OF HOW CELEBRITY CENTRE WAS FOUNDED. TWO MAJOR PLAYERS CAME TO LIGHT WHO WERE INSTRUMENTAL IN CC'S START UP, RICHARD ROYCE AND MARIO FENINGER AND THE OPENING DATE WAS JULY, 1969 AND NOT APRIL, 1970. OTHER THAN THAT THE REST OF MY STORY IS STILL ACURATE.Lakey
 
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lkwdblds

Crusader
MAJOR CHANGE TO MY ORIGINS OF CCLA STORY

I just got a lot of new information on how Celebrity Centre in L.A. came into existence from an old friend, Richard Royce, who left the "church" recently.

HWELL, HERE WE ARE 2 1/2 YEARS LATER 3/10/12. I JUST RAN INTO ONE OF THE KEY FOUNDERS OF CELEBRITY CENTRE IN LOS ANGELES ON FACEBOOK, RICHARD ROYCE. HE HAS GIVEN ME A LOT OF NEW INFORMATION ABOUT HOW CCLA GOT STARTED. I WANT THE STORY TO BE HISTORICALLY ACCURATE SO I AM GOING TO ADD THE DATA HE GAVE ME.

The first correction is that Celebrity Centre did not open for business in the Spring of 1970 but it actually opened in July, 1969! The date of Spring, 1970 was the date when CCLA started delivering auditing. Candy Swanson, who is the person called Tonto, in my earlier story had mentioned that she started auditing for CCLA in early 1970. She believed that Ellen Jones came on as the first Case Supervisor a couple of weeks after Candy and Yvonne began offering auditing at the Org.

About 6 months ago, I ran into former Class VIII C/S for CCLA, Don Keeler, and he insisted that he was the first Case Supervisor who C/Sed for Candy. He said that Ellen Jones came on as the second C/S about 2 months later. Don also said that they opened to deliver auditing in early Spring, 1970, probably April. I brought Candy over to talk to Don and Don insisted he was the first C/S, not Ellen.

CCLA OPENED IN JULY 1969 BUT THEY DID NOT OFFER AUDITING AT THAT TIME

Richard states that the pianist, Mario Feninger, was one of the key figures in the opening of Celebrity Centre. I had no idea that this was the case. Mario, who is still living and is approximately 100 years old was offering Scientology and Dianetics classes in Paris, France at a small centre for artists and musicians which he was running. Hubbard found out about this and he had already assigned Yvonne the task of developing a Celebrity Centre so he encouraged Yvonne to make contact with Mario. Yvonne did so and Mario came to Los Angeles.

Frank Dunn was affiliated with Yvonne and he found the building at 1809 W. 8th St. near downtown L.A. Candy says their was also a staff house on Beacon St. between 8th and 9th streets about 2 blocks from the Centre when she first got involved. Richard Royce stated that One of the first things which CCLA offered was something which Mario was offering in Paris, the HSDC (Hubbard Standard Dianetics Course). At first Mario was the Supervisor of the Course. Richard was given the course for free for his help in founding CCLA. Shortly thereafter, Richard became the Course Supervisor to free Mario so he could concentrate on being a pianist. Candy added today that Frank gave the first intro lectures at the new Centre. He was not staff but just did volunteer work.

So we have in July of 1969, a Celebrity Centre operating giving intro lectures and the Dianetics Course. I would guess they also had the communication course (HAS) and probably also the second course (HQS). Using this limited format, they were in business and operating but they didn't have the capacity to deliver auditing yet. That capacity arrived in the Spring of 1970 and involved Candy Swanson as the first auditor, Don Keeler as the first Case Supervisor and Ellen Jones as the second C/S.

In 1969 before the advent of auditing, a lot of work was done, mainly by Richard, creating the 8th Street building into being a gallery for arts and crafts as well as being a venue for live performances virtually every single night.

I am going to copy some of Richard's emails of the last two days so that people can get an idea of what was going on:


"Below is a non E posting I did on the Indi Facebook group. Iprobably will get it onto Marty's site soon. I want to set you straight on how CC Got started I was there shortly after the beginning in June of 69 and talked to Mario Fenniger at length about it's origins. Mario had a mission in Paris France where he catered to artists. He brought the mission to 8th street and Yvonne got permission from Ron to do the Celebrity thing. I don't know exactly how the transition happened but I do know that Mario and Yvonne were on great friendship basis and Mario was helping in the very beginning. He was not in the immediate picture when I arrived in June 69 but the word was he had just turned it over to Yvonne. At first no one knew what to do with it. There was the HSDC course being delivered and maybe Mario delivered the first one. Not sure. I was put on it very soon after my arrival as an award. Then on graduating Yvonne asked me to sup it which I did. On the course my twin was Joan Breeding wife of Don Breeding the engineer who put together the Mark 5 Meter. She had a back brace andneck brace from past car injuries and was told she would never be able to take them off by the doctors. 38 hours of Standard Dianetics that I ran on her and she removed them never to piut them back on. I passed the course as we had to have a miracle to pass.


You guys are the group I joined in June of 1969. I feel like I have come home.
I guess a little non Existence would be in order here:

I had been going through some things and I was ready for a paradigm shift. I got a call for someone I didn’t know but I said don’t hang up. There is something about your voice that tells me you might be able to help me with what I’ve been going through. She said meet me tomorrow at noon at the Old World Café on Sunset Boulevard. Her boyfriend stayed into 20 minutes of my discussion and when he felt I was harmless he left. I explained the strange experiences with telepathy, other world languages etc and she said It could be that you and this other person mutually keyed into something from another time and place and that there was this new thing called Standard Dianetics that could help you sort it out. Karen Black the movie star took me to the LA Org the next day where I signed up for 5 hours of Dianetics. 2 hours into auditing and I went whole track and all was explained!

Hitchhiking to the Org one day we got to talking and the driver said since you are an artist you should go check out this new Org on 8th Street which is for Artists. As soon as I had a chance I went to Celebrity Center and Met Yvonne. Life as I knew it changed!

I started hanging around there and helping out in any way I could. I was in the middle of carving the wood blocks for Roy Lichtenstein’s “Modern Head #1” which I was commissioned to do for Ken Tyler at Gemini Gel and Yvonne said why don’t you use this table over here to carve the blocks on and by the way when you have a moment could you knock out a piece of promo for us! One day Yvonne introduced me to Chick Corea and I got him onto the radio station at USC where I had just finished teaching at.

We started having weekly meetings Yvonne called Opinion Leader Meetings of all the local celebs where we would work out how we could help each other in our careers and at the same time help CCLA get stronger. Someone came up with the idea to build a theater so we scrounged wood and built a stage and started having Friday evening Poetry By Candle Light events where anyone with a talent would show up and perform. Tom and Clark did the Bags there, Jeff Lewis did his stories. In our OL meeting I got the bright idea to bring the Improve Group “The Committee” to perform. They ran classes in Improv and I had been a student of theirs. I got them to come over and perform and Tamera Wilcox, one of their troop, got interested in some of the books in our bookstore. She went on to open an Improv school in NYC where Jim Meskamen and a bunch of name Scios got involved. Meanwhile I started the Keyout Players, our own Improv Group at CCLA and we use to perform at the Poetry By Candlelights. I ran the class in the beginning and the Robert F Lyons (Bobbie) came along and we taught together. The group got bigger and Bobbie headed up the guys that wanted to go Pro and I taught the guys that just did it for fun.

....... I had gotten involved with trading Commodities and had become the disciple of Ted Warren who wrote “How to Make the Stock Market Make Money For You”. I ran a small stake up to a very large amount of money and wanted to share this technology with others wanting to go up the bridge so I started the Westlake Investment Club where the principals were taught. I even had Ted show his travel movies in his sea plane up in Alaska at CC.

A great pleasure moment was my weekly meetings with Yvonne where Joyce Meyers was giving me a back rub while I sipped fresh squeezed orange juice and I would find out how the stats for the week were. When they needed help I would write a check for one or two thousand and buy more XDN auditing. I got 300 hours of XDN (after Clear) But I had wins anyway. It was a grand old time. The best investment I made was writing a check for $27,000 to David Light for Kristina’s (wife) SO debt from AOLA where she had been working. She wanted out and wanted a family. We’ve been married now for 39 years with 3 boys. Of course the boys have disconnected from us since we have seen the light but that’s all part of the game!

About 1974 I started my own studio where I printed etchings for others. The story behind that had to do with Knox Martin! I had been corresponding with Knox and I was a fledgling artist just out of College and 2 years living in Paris followed by 2 years of teaching Printmaking at the University of California. I asked him for advice on “how to make it” in the art world and he responded “help other artists”! We had the studio in Santa Monica till 87 and went up to Delphian Fnd for a bit before moving to NYC where I got into the big time Art Scene.

So here I am, OT7, CL4 XDN auditor, Ethics Specialist and holder of a Kha-Khan Certificate from Yvonne Jentzch at CCLA and a goldenrod Declare which I snatched from Kathy True’s hands much to her chagrin!
Hello everybody!"


Here is another email from Richard which I received this morning:

"First of all I don't think I have anything to hide. I am already declared and have no intention of making nice to the Suppressive organization that exists now and I have posted under my name on Marty's site. So go for it. Secondly, I'm pretty sure I met Yvonne at 8th st org in June of 69. I was already Clear by December of 69 and I was hanging at CC. Frank Dunn grabbed me as I was coming off the boat arriving at CCLA and took me under his wing. Frank Dunn and Frank Bloomer had a band together. Dunn was the vocalist and Bloomer was the guitar player. Dunn became my official FSM.


I had heard something about his finding the building as you said. When I arrived it was just a shell. I think the OL meetings came up with the idea to have various shops in the building. Can't remember the names but the tall guy Bruce did caligraphy and his sister did a candle making booth. That didn't work out and we then went for the theater buildout. I remember supporting the stage floor with my back while a post was put under it!


Kris was on staff at AOLA during this time and said Yvonne wasn't there. The dates must be off somehow.


I first met Heber out at Jinny Dunas' beach house in Malabu. a lot the the CC crowd would hang out there on the weekends. Jinny was doing a 2D with Heber. That's where I met him. later in time they ended the 2D and Heber showed up at CC. He was doing GO stuff and he asked me to do some research into the Occult and the Third Reich. I read The Sword of Destiny and did a book report on it for him. It was around that time Heber got into the 2D with Yvonne.


Hey if you see Don Keeler give him my email and phone I would like to get back in comm with him. We used to go diving together and cooked some mean Abalone. Is he still married to Barbara?"


SO THERE WE HAVE IT, A MUCH MORE COMPLETE AND ACCURATE STORY OF HOW CELEBRITY CENTRE WAS FOUNDED. TWO MAJOR PLAYERS CAME TO LIGHT WHO WERE INSTRUMENTAL IN CC'S START UP, RICHARD ROYCE AND MARIO FENINGER AND THE OPENING DATE WAS JULY, 1969 AND NOT APRIL, 1970. OTHER THAN THAT THE REST OF MY STORY IS STILL ACURATE."
Lakey
 

lkwdblds

Crusader
More New Data revealed on Celebrity Centre's Origin!!!

I was at an Indy party yesterday in L.A. and Don and Barbara Keeler were there. I gave Don Richard Royce's phone number. The Keelers were thrilled and Don and Richard talked by phone last night.

Meanwhile, I got some new data from Don Keeler. Don said he joined CCLA in 1969 but was not there on opening day but perhaps a few weeks later, still in the summer of 1969.

THE BIG NEWS - DON SAYS CC WAS AT FIRST JUST A SKELETON OF AN ORG BUT THAT ON OCCASION AUDITING WAS GIVEN IN 1969, WELL BEFORE CANDY BECAME THE FIRST PERMANENT AUDITOR AROUND APRIL OF 1970.

According to Don, the way this happened was that somebody would tell Yvonne that they wanted or needed a session. Yvonne would scurry around the Centre looking for someone, anyone, who was qualified and who was willing to give a session on the spur of the moment. Sometimes, she found an auditor who was available and sometimes she didn't. What this amounts to is that some auditing was given in at CC in 1969 and in early 1970 before Candy showed up. Candy became the first permanent auditor, probably in April and Don became the first permanent C/S in May according to what he told me last night. Candy and Don deserve a tremendous amount of credit because until Candy show up, the Org remained skeletal and did not grow much. Candy started in April and I showed up there permanently in October of 1970 and when I arrived, the Org already had perhaps 115 - 120 staff members. It was the fine auditing provided by Candy and C/Sed by Candy at first and then by Don which ultimately initiated the first huge rapid expansion. The entertainment offered nearly every night for free in the form of "Poetry by Candlelight" did not hurt either but the auditing had to be firmly in place before real expansion could take place.

I think this may do it for me as far as finding new discoveries about CC's Origins. I think there might still be some further details available by consulting Mario Feninger. However, he is 100 years old and doesn't know me any longer, although I did meet him a couple of times in the '70's. It don't believe it is appropriate to attempt to see him at this time so I am going to finally call it a wrap, as far as researching CC's Origins.
Lakey
 
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this is the 1809 8th St. building. The sign that says Celebrity Centre was designed and made by yours truly. The words were Yvonne's.
 

lkwdblds

Crusader
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this is the 1809 8th St. building. The sign that says Celebrity Centre was designed and made by yours truly. The words were Yvonne's.

Thanks Carmelo. I forgot that you made the sign. Well Done! That sure is a good picture of Yvonne.

I drove by there recently. The building is still there. They are selling refrigerators and other appliances. They may be second hand refrigerators. The place looks pretty shabby. All the big glass windows are sealed up.

The Indy party I attended on Sunday was not too far from there. The foot traffic on Alvarado Blvd. near Wilshire Blvd. (across from McArthur Park) is just teeming with people, walking 4 or 5 abreast, taking up the whole sidewalk for blocks. The Ethnic mix looks 3rd world. It used to be primarily Hispanic in the 70's but now that has expanded to a wide variety of peoples.

Don't get me wrong, the people are well dressed and nicely groomed and most of them are high spirited, doing their shopping and having fun. It is a multi-national, multi cultural and multi racial crowd. I think most of them are very happy to be in Los Angeles and in the USA enjoying the unseasonably warm weather and the abundant food and material goods for sale in the hundreds of Mom and Pop shops which line the streets.

For me, I don't like being there because of the tremendous auto traffic, the difficulty parking and the enormous crowds. Sure, the City of L.A. was running their parking meters even on a Sunday. I pulled up to the party at 5:45 pm on Sunday, on a residential street, only to find my parking meter still had to be fed.

I'll say this, the meters only operated until 6:00 pm. I put 25 cents in to take me up to 6:00 pm and then didn't have to worry about the meter.

Perhaps the worst city for parking which I have encountered is Laguna Beach, a swanky and artsy Beach Resort in Orange County. I believe that every piece of sidewalk in the whole town has a parking meter and they run 7 days a week including Sundays and Holidays. I don't believe they run for 24 hours a day but they work way into the evening hours. The only areas with no meters are some of the residential areas but far from all of the them.

Newport Beach has a similar set up, especially on Balboa Island.

It must be even worse for you up in the S.F. Bay area!
Lakey
 
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