My Trip to Los Angeles, 12/26-27/05

Monday I drove to Perris California with a stop in Hemet to see Ida and drive by Golden Era Studios. The studios now have so many trees and bushes growing along the highway that it's hard to see much, but I saw a few people working on the apartments on the south side. They're still not done by any stretch though.

In the morning I drove by a property outside Perris that is supposed to be a Scientology-related school, but it just looked like a house on a way-off road. In Riverside I looked up a few things at the county recorder's. I noticed somewhere in the records that Building Management Services owns or has the address 2618 Hyperion Road in Los Angeles. I drove into LA and got to the Sizzler on Hollywood Blvd. about 12:45. I had told Barb I'd try to meet her at 12:30 but wasn't sure when I'd get there. Barb wasn't there so I ate and was just leavng when I saw her driving up on her motorcycle. She said she'd been stuck in traffic. So I watched her eat and wind down from the trip.

To make parking easier, Barb asked the Sizzler manager if she could park her bike in back out of the way and come back in a couple of hours. He said fine. So we went to the Hubbard Life Exhibit on Hollywood Blvd.

First we drove by the Hyperion address. It's a small business building that seems to be divided by 3 businesses, the middle one (2618) being Allstate Insurance.

Xenu and I parked and picketed in front of the Life Exhibit from about 3-4:30pm. There seemed to be fewer pedestrians than normal, but I handed out about 2 dozen flyers perhaps, and Xenu handed out some too. The Scientologists called the cops again, so the female cop dutifully told us the rules of picketing and left. Several passersby videotaped and photographed Xenu.

As we were picketing, several Scientologists were going in and out of the building all dressed up, and other staff were carrying more formal clothes, no doubt for the New Year's event that night at the Shrine Auditorium. One younger woman in a beautiful gown carried an office box in and out with a label that said "CST Project." She walked about a half block down Hollywood Blvd and was apparently waiting there to be picked up.

At least 7 large buses came and parked right in the street beside the Life Exhibit, and we saw a few staff getting on before we drove away. I was wondering, why would so many Scientologists be at the Life Exhibit building before the New Year's event? Unless these were all staff? I don't know.

After we left the picket we decided to check out the Big Blue building on the way back to Sizzler to get Barb's bike, then go to the Shrine Auditorium to picket the event there (scheduled to start at 6:30pm). As we drove around the Big Blue on LRH Way, a white van pulled up along side us at the light and Ed Richardson yelled at us "I have a message for you!" The light changed and I drove off. Richardson followed us. In fact he followed us for several miles, through back streets and everything. When he got behind us at a red light he'd come up to my window with his cell phone out and say "I have a message for you!" I'd say "happy birthday to you too!" and drive off. But when we pulled into the Sizzler parking lot, apparently the important message wasn't so important anymore because Richardson just drove on by and we never saw him again.

At the Sizzler we discovered that Barb's motorcycle was gone. I at first assumed it was stolen. But we called the police and it had been towed "at the request of the Sizzler." So we talked to the Sizzler manager again. He said he never authorized that the motorcycle be towed. So... what happened? Apparently somebody posed as the manager and got the towing company to tow the bike. Who would do that?

While we were calling around with my cell phone in the car to figure out where the bike was, a guy came up to my window and said "are you through today?" I assumed this was a Scientology PI so I said "no." He then invited Barb and I to dinner, but we declined. We were kind of busy.

So finally we got the address and instructions to get the bike back.

We went to the yard and talked to the guy who towed the bike. He said that he went to the Sizzler after a call from there. A worker was outside and said she'd take the paperwork in for the manager to sign.

So the towing guy only dealt with an "employee" of Sizzler who was outside and went in briefly.

After paying the fee and asking directions, we headed off for the Shrine Auditorium, with Barb following me on her bike.

I went a few miles past the Shrine turnoff by mistake, so we stopped and got directions (and solicits from a few homeless people). By the time we got to the Shrine it was about 7pm. There was quite a bit of traffic there of Scientologists still driving in (remember the 6:30pm starting time?). But we decided it would not be wise to park our cars near the Shrine where we could not see them, especially because both have "xenu.net" bumper stickers. So we drove past and parked behind the Burger King to decide what to do. I saw a silver SUV park nearby that I was sure was a PI, though I'm not sure how I knew that (perhaps they were following us from our travels near the Shrine). Suddenly a smaller man in a suit approached Barb by her bike. I took his photo thinking it might be a Scientologist. He was actually a nice Italian guy, who was just asking directions and objected to having his picture taken. I showed him that I erased it and we had a nice conversation about the PIs following Barb and me. He seemed gung ho to go check out the PI with me, so we started walking toward the SUV. Suddenly the SUV slammed into reverse and shot back into the Denny's part of the parking lot. He even squealed his tires. So, with my camera out, we tried to approach the SUV, but he shot out of the parking lot and I didn't get a picture.

A while later I walked to the street corner to see which streets we were on so we could see how to get to the freeway. As I was walking over there a guy walked up to me and said "Hi, Jeff. Remember me?" He looked kind of like the actor William Hurt but I said no. I looked at the street signs and he asked why I was there. I said I'm fighting a cult that kills people, bye, and walked back to my car.

Barb decided to try to stay at a friend's for the night, and I decided to head home. So I followed her out with the idea that she would go one way and I'd go another, and the PI could only choose one of us. And indeed, an SUV (or maybe 2) followed us out. But then Barb got confused about directions so we did a u-turn, which slowed the tail. By the time the PI was back up to us, Barb was quite a ways down the road. I don't think she was followed. I was. So I stayed on back streets. I saw a cop car parked at a gas station, so I pulled in there and talked to the cops about stalking laws and such, and tried to point out the SUV that was following me as he u-turned. We talked for about 5 minutes or so, and when I left I don't think I was followed from then on. I drove to an undisclosed location and spent the night, and had a flat tire in the morning. I then drove home.

This is true.

http://www.lisamcpherson.org/images/xenu1.jpg
http://www.lisamcpherson.org/images/xenu2.jpg
http://www.lisamcpherson.org/images/hyperion_property_LA.jpg
http://www.lisamcpherson.org/images/life_exhibit_buses.jpg

From: "Quaoar" <quaoar@tenthplanet.net>
Subject: Re: Jeff's LA Picket KR
Date: Wed, 28 Dec 2005 23:18:14 -0700
X-RFC2646: Format=Flowed; Original Message-ID: <NK6dnVkmFJg64i7eRVn-ig@comcast.com>

"cultxpt" <cultxpt@ev1.net> wrote in message news:1135833663.419576.204500@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...

You and Barb are, well, courageous for doing essentially a solo picket, especially at this event. Fortunately, except for the cost of recovering Barb's Beemer, neither of you came to physical harm, although it might have been close had you both not become aware of the threat. I think this points out the need for camera and cell phone backup to thoroughly document any miscreant activity on the part of the kult and to call for 911 assistance if necessary. I think the Brits have non-participant backup at pickets just for this kind of eventuality.

Perhaps they can comment on their practices.

A wounded animal can be extremely dangerous, and the kult might fit the model. 2005 has been the Year of the $cientology Footbullet, and they might be waking up to the fact that there is not much they can do to handle their self-inflicted embarrassments except on a visceral, personal level, back to the period ten years ago when personal attacks on many fronts was the name of their game.

Your experiences might be the opening gambit in a return to overt, physical, and legal attacks against critics after several years of remaining quiet, believing that they had 'won'. I'm not suggesting that anyone decline to picket, but that more and better organization is necessary. Easy for me to write from where I reside far away in a relative kult-free zone, but worth considering nonetheless. Keith Henson became entangled through what seemed at the time to be innocuous comedy in which he was a minor participant in the "Tom Cruise Missile" event. Critics cannot be too careful with a frustrated $cientology and a megalomaniacal, angered DM.

Q

From: "cultxpt" <cultxpt@ev1.net>
Subject: Re: Jeff's LA Picket KR
Date: 28 Dec 2005 22:35:55 -0800
Message-ID: <1135838155.007848.53970@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>

There were potentially other picketers coming, though that didn't work out. I do think this was pretty scary after we left the Life Exhibit. I mean, everywhere we turned, there was a Scientologist! very creepy.

I did try to take photos of the PIs but it didn't work.

Also, we definitely decided that we would be in too much danger if we picketed the Shrine that night. I do believe that either our vehicles or perhaps ourselves could have come to harm had we picketed.

This event gave me the willies more than almost any other Scientology activity I've been in, even including the Mad Picket in Clearwater.

There was just something very, very strange about how Scientology dealt with us. And notice, all that happened was 2 people picketed for 1 1/2 hours! That's all we did!

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