“Mother of all estate sales” is quite the phrase but it was once used to describe the scene inside Bethany Presbyterian Church. The church stands at 1629 Griffith Park Boulevard. It whispers tales of community, change, and adaptation.
Designed by architect Scott Quintin in 1930, Bethany Presbyterian Church was built from 1931 to 1932. The cost was around $75,000 then which is roughly $1.15 million today. The name Bethany Presbyterian Church comes from the purported hometown of Simon the Leper, Lazarus, Martha, and Mary of Bethany.
Initially, the congregation and the neighborhood were exclusively white due to racist housing covenants. These covenants remained in place until 1948. After the landmark United States Supreme Court case, Shelley v. Kraemer, Silver Lake opened to non-whites. The neighborhood became a hub of Asian-American modernism. Architects like Eugene Choy and David Hyun designed homes for Asian-American clients.
Bethany Presbyterian Church extended its membership. Delbert E. Wong, the first Chinese American judge in the continental US, became a member. He even chaired the National Conference of Christians and Jews’ Asian Pacific American Focus Program.
In 1965, Bethany Presbyterian Church became the first home of the East-West Players theater company. This pioneering Asian American theater group included actors like Beulah Quo and James Hong. Delbert E. Wong helped secure the church for them. In 1972, the East-West Players moved to East Hollywood.
By 1980, the congregation dwindled. It merged with a Korean congregation, becoming Bethany United Presbyterian Church. Eventually, it was completely Korean. The name was transformed into Korean.
Church services ended in the mid-2000s. Dana Hollister purchased the building around that time. In 2008, she announced plans to convert the church into a boutique hotel.
Hollister is a locally known bar and restaurant owner. She also owns the Sunset Pacific Motel, known as the “Bates Motel.” Hollister supposedly amassed her fortune making and selling decorative pillows.
Adaptive reuse has been a recurring theme for many churches. It would be nice to see Bethany Presbyterian resurrected. The former St. Ann’s Melchite Church was converted into residences. The Church of Christ became a live music venue. Bethany Presbyterian Church has potential as a cultural space, hotel, or something other than a semi-permanent estate sale site.