Cahuenga Cross

This week, crews -presumably on order by the Church on the Way in Van Nuys - were doing maintenance to the cross atop the Cahuenga Pass. (See the man on the ladder?)




Yes, this is the same cross that caused a controversy over the County Seal in 2004. In fact, in the 1980s, a Kiwanis Club bought the land under the cross from County to dismiss any church-state issues.





But why is it there? And why is the Church on the Way (presumably) doing maintenance?



In 1922, the cross was erected in memorial to Christine Wetherell Stevenson, the heiress to the Pittsburgh Paint fortune, who helped arrange the building of the Hollywood Bowl and was the author of the Pilgrim Play (a story of the life of Jesus). In 1941, the cross, along with the newly rebuilt mason "Pilgrimage Theater" (which would later be named the John Anson Ford Theater) was given to the County. Then in 1965, the cross was damaged by a fire, and the County soon replaced it with steel and Plexiglas structure that was routinely lit at Easter.

Government support was halted due to Church & State issues in the 1980s, so Marian N. Gibbons, president of Hollywood Heritage, bought the cross' site from the county. It went unused and unguarded, was damaged by vandals, and a windstorm knocked it over in 1984. Volunteers raised a 17-foot cross on the small plot in 1985, and 7 years later in 1993 High Adventure Ministries, a Christian radio station in Simi Valley, built the present 33-foot structure.

Fast forward a few years to 1997... the Church on the Way took over the maintenance and ownership of the truly landmark cross.

So, what are they doing? My guess: fixing the burnt out lights that have been forcing a half-lit cross since the holidays - oh, I mean Christmas.

So, after understanding all of this, I propose we officially name it the "Cahuenga Cross." Otherwise, it will remain nameless and people will say, "What's that cross in the Cahuenga Pass?"