Gold Base
Coordinates: 33°50′3.25″N 116°59′5.85″W / 33.8342361°N 116.9849583°W The Gold Base is the international headquarters of the Church of Scientology[1][2][3] on a 700-acre (2.8 km2) parcel of land in unincorporated Riverside County, California, outside of San Jacinto, and north of Hemet.
It is at or near 19625 Gilman Springs Road, Gilman Hot Springs, California, 92583. The area is the home of Golden Era Productions, the media and publications division of the church, which is the largest of the many organizational units there. David Miscavige and other top leaders of the church live and work on the Base.[4][5][6]
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[edit] History
The Church of Scientology bought a former resort, which had been popular with Hollywood figures, in 1978.[7] For several decades, the location was not disclosed to many members of the church, even church insiders.[8] Until the mid-1990s the location of the base and the presence of international management there were kept secret, even to Scientologists at lower organizations.[3]
[edit] Facilities
The 700 acre (2.83 km²) compound, surrounded by hills, is home to all of the highest level management units of the Church of Scientology,[2][3][7] all of which are staffed by Sea Organization members. Among the organizations there are the Religious Technology Center, the Commodore's Messenger Organization International and Golden Era Productions. Golden Era Productions manufactures the E-Meter and produces and distributes all church audio-visual materials, both internal and promotional.[9] The two-lane Gilman Springs Road bisects the Gold Base. The on-site film studio, with conical turrets and a sky blue tiled roof, was designed in the likeness of a castle in Scotland. All of the other buildings share the same motif.[7]
The Gold Base is also referred to as the "Int Base"[6], sometimes as the Hemet base.[2] About 800 Sea Org members live on the base.[8]
In an article published in the LA Weekly, Gale Holland wrote that there are critics of the Church of Scientology who say that Gold Base "houses the church's highly secretive security apparatus".[10] The fences feature inward-facing spikes, in addition to motion sensors every several feet and mounted video surveillance cameras.[6][11]. It has also claimed that the base serves as a place of detention and discipline for wayward Church members. "The Apostate". Members were said to be held against their will. A man named Marty Rathbun is said to have had to escape by ramming a car through the security fence. Id.
Currently, most base personnel live in Hemet at the Vista Gardens Apartments or the Kirby Apartments and commute by base-owned bus.[12][13] About 500 Scientologists work in the Gold Base, while 100 non-Scientologists also work in the Gold Base.[7]
[edit] Features
Notable buildings and features in Gold Base include:
- Upper Villas—RTC offices and housing, where David Miscavige and other high level Scientologists live and work
- BonnieView—L. Ron Hubbard's fully furnished mansion, still maintained and staffed in the belief that he will return in another body.[14]
- Cine Castle—main film studio in the shape of a castle, for producing church A/V materials
- OGH buildings—Old Gilman House. Formerly "isolation" space for physically ill staff. Possibly now used for auditing or solo auditing.
- Del Sol—CSI offices, and auditing rooms for staff.
- Staff berthing—four buildings where staff live.
- Qual Gold—Headquarters for Qual Sec, in charge of "quality control" as per the Hubbard organization policies. In practice this mostly means facilities staff auditing and training.
- MCI—This large building is the staff dining hall, known as "Massacre Canyon Inn" from the building's pre-Scientology name when the property was a resort.
Gold Base also has recreational facilities, including basketball, volleyball, and soccer facilities, an exercise building, a waterslide, a small lake, two beaches, and a golf course.[12][15][16][17][18]
[edit] Picketing at Gold Base
Keith Henson picketed Gold Base compound to protest the deaths of a Scientologist, Stacy Moxon Meyer, and a non-Scientologist, Ashlee Shaner.
Meyer, the daughter of lead Scientology attorney Kendrick Moxon, died in an underground electrical vault at the Gold Base at about the same time that picketers above ground were protesting the previous death of Ashlee Shaner. Shaner died in an auto accident on the road fronting Gold Base when a contractor working for the Church was moving a piece of construction equipment across the highway after dusk without adequate lighting.[19]
[edit] References
- ^ Associated Press (August 13, 1991). "Rural studio is Scientology headquarters". San Jose Mercury News: p. 6B.
- ^ a b c Affidavit of Andre Tabayoyan United States District Court, Central District of California case no. CV 91 6426 HLH (Tx)
- ^ a b c Affidavit of Jesse Prince United States District Court, Central District of California, San Jose Division case no. C-95-20091 RMW (EAI)
- ^ "Scientology from inside out" by Robert Vaughn Young, Quill magazine, Volume 81, Number 9, Nov/Dec 1993.
- ^ "Tom Cruise and Scientology", Los Angeles Times, December 18, 2005: "voter registration records list the Gilman Hot Springs complex as Miscavige's residence since the early 1990s and as recently as the 2004 general election"
- ^ a b c Reitman, Janet. "Inside Scientology." Rolling Stone, Issue 995, March 9, 2006, pp. 55–67.
- ^ a b c d McGavin, Gregor. "Scientologists' presence in Inland area dates back to 1960s." The Press-Enterprise. Tuesday January 15, 2008. Retrieved on October 9, 2009.
- ^ a b Wright, Lawrence. "The Apostate." The New Yorker. February 14, 2011. 16. Retrieved on May 10, 2011.
- ^ Tobin, Thomas C (1998-10-25). "A place called 'Gold'". St. Petersburg Times. http://www.sptimes.com/TampaBay/102598/scientologygold.html. Retrieved 2007-03-18.
- ^ Gale Holland (2001-06-20). "Unfair Game: Scientologists Get Their Man". LA Weekly. http://www.laweekly.com/news/news/unfair-game/4713/. Retrieved 2007-08-25.
- ^ Baca, Nathan (2009-03-11). "Scientology official responds to 'Anonymous' booklet, taped arrest". KESQ-TV. http://www.kesq.com/Global/story.asp?S=9990429. Retrieved 2009-03-11.[dead link]
- ^ a b Perry, Rebecca; Kelsen, Don (2005-12-17). "Scientology's inland empire" (PDF). Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/media/acrobat/2005-12/21006726.pdf. Retrieved 2007-08-25.
- ^ Staff (August 16, 2005). "After spending half of her life in Scientology, she found truth & freedom in Jesus Christ". Baptist Press. http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=21407.
- ^ "Kevin and Bean's Podcast". KROQ-FM. 2008-04-08. http://www.kroq-data.com/kevinandbean/podcast.asp. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
- ^ Scientology - Ex-INT Base Staff Interrogatory - Interviews
- ^ Satellite photograph of "Gold base", Gilman Hot Springs, California
- ^ Hoffman, Claire; Christensen, Kim (2005-12-18). "Tom Cruise and Scientology". Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-scientology18dec18,0,2963052.story. Retrieved 2008-01-24.
- ^ Gilman Hot Springs
- ^ Nove manslaughter case (Ashlee Shaner)
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