One of my favorite (and most bizarre) places in Southern California to shoot has been the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove. Yes, this is the “Hour of Power Television Church”–don’t lie, we’ve all seen it. One of SoCal’s 200 “mega-churches,” or a church with at least 2,000 congregants, the Crystal Cathedral is a strange cross between a university campus and corporate headquarters. You can read more about this mashup of building types here. Frankly, I’d have had no idea I was on holy ground at Crystal Cathedral except for statuaries of Jesus, Mary, and a disciple or two–oh and a cross or two.
After aimlessly trolling around, and gawking at the enormous reflective surface surrounding me, I saw people heading into the cathedral where the service was starting, so Marsais and I popped in to catch a peek (and a picture or two). There wasn’t too much different from any other church service, except that a TV film crew was filming it, a jumbotron announced upcoming events, and the space…it was unlike anything I’ve ever seen.
Reverend Schuller spoke (who has been preaching there since the days he headed the first drive-in church out of a Neutra building, which now sits like a forgotten toy behind the towering glass cathedral) and pulled an amazing stunt when giant sized doors opened up behind him and a burst of water exploded for all in the pews to see. Wow, I was overtaken by a spirit of disbelief.
The Philip Johnson designed cathedral is built on a steel frame with 10,000 mirrored windows (one for every congregant!), for those of you wondering. Beautiful, odd, mesmerizing, and so SoCal…I suggest you go see it for yourself.
