Pacific Jewish Center
| Pacific Jewish Center | |
|---|---|
| 350px
The Pacific Jewish Center on the Venice Boardwalk
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| Basic information | |
| Location | 505 Ocean Front Walk, Venice |
| Geographic coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. |
| Affiliation | Orthodox Judaism |
| State | California |
| Municipality | Los Angeles |
| Status | active |
| Heritage designation | City landmark |
| Website | pjcenter |
| Architectural description | |
| Completed | 1925 |
The Pacific Jewish Center, also known as The Shul on the Beach or PJC, is a synagogue in Venice, Los Angeles, California, known for its outreach to unaffiliated and disconnected Jews.[1][2] The Shul remains the last of the synagogues built in Venice during the first part of the 20th century. Although an Orthodox synagogue,[3] due to its location in an eclectic neighborhood worshippers who identify themselves as many different denominations are all welcomed when attending services and other events.
The 1925 building, originally a power station, was identified as a City of Los Angeles landmark.[4]
History
Pacific Jewish Center was established as Bay Cities Synagogue in the 1940s.[5] The congregation was one of several synagogues established in Venice Beach in the 1920s (two others also on the Venice boardwalk).[5] All except this one had disappeared by the late 1960s. The membership had gradually dwindled until there was hardly a minyan available. However in 1977, a group of young, Orthodox Jews led by Michael Medved, and Rabbi Daniel Lapin re-established the community and it soon became the nexus of Orthodox outreach in Los Angeles for the next decade.[6] Lapin was the unpaid rabbi of the congregation from 1978 to 1992.[7]
The Bar Mitzvah of Jason Gould, son of Barbra Streisand and Elliott Gould, was held at the shul.[8]
Controversy
An attempt led by the Pacific Jewish Center to construct an eruv in the Venice Beach neighborhood met with opposition from the Sierra Club and others concerned with impacts to birds or disruption to esthetics of the beach.[9] The California Coastal Commission conditionally approved the project in late 2006.[10]
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Religion and Prime Time Television By Michael Suman, UCLA Center for Communication Policy, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1997, p. 116
- ↑ Wade Clark Roof (ed.), Religious pluralism and civil society, Volume 612 of Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Sage Publications, 2007, ISBN 978-1-4129-5987-2, p. 144. "... the Pacific Jewish Center, an Orthodox synagogue in Venice Beach,..."
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Religious Leaders and Faith-based Politics: Ten Profiles, By Jo Renee Formicola, Hubert Morken, Published by Rowman & Littlefield, 2001, p. 98
- ↑ The Barbra Streisand Scrapbook, By Allison J. Waldman, Citadel Press, 2001, p. 26
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
- Official website
- KCET Departures: Pacific Jewish Center further history of PJC and Los Angeles Jewish community
