SANTA ANA 6/2/2012: About six years ago, at the height of the real
estate market, Orange County Scientologists purchased this once great building
48,000-square-foot building. Originally a Masonic Temple and recently
marketed as Santa Ana’s eminent Performing Arts & Event Center, the
ultra-plush renovation features Gothic Revival interiors, arched ceilings,
leaded glass doors, glass and alabaster chandeliers, plush a hand-carved
mahogany staircase. Then the cult did nothing.
They
couldn't afford to renovate for years. They had to simultaneously
pay for upkeep and utilities of the
Tustin Org (at right). Eventually in June 2010
they could
not even pay their own water bill and the grass was getting high all
over the Tustin compound.