This building on Via de la Paz used to be the site of a church for the Vedic Society of America.
A Design Review Board (DRB) notice was posted on the wall next to Loomy’s Toy Store at 833 Via de la Paz in April. It was a final review for a change of use from a 2,880 square-foot Church, Library and Reading Room to a 1,487-sq.-ft. retail use and 1,393-sq.-ft. medical office in a multi-tenant commercial development.
One reader panicked and reached out to CTN: “Apparently the Methodist Church is going to be torn down and replaced with retail space and a medical building. Is the church going to stay in town? Where will it move?”
Those who have lived in the Palisades know this wasn’t the Methodist Church being considered by the DRB. Instead, the Vedic Society had a church at that location for decades, which included three store fronts 833-837. One could look in the window and see pews, and through another window one could see books stacked. There was a tall, white-haired elderly man who routinely went into the building.
According to the Vedic Society of America in California, the church was registered in December 1964 and dissolved in 2015.
The building was built in 1948, according to the LA. County Assessor.
At one time, in the Palisadian-Post’s heyday, the owners had inquired about buying the 3,500-sq.-ft building on a 7,399-sq.-ft. lot.
Former Post Editor Bill Bruns remembers that the owner didn’t want to sell at that time.
The head of the church aged, and eventually went to live in Arkansas where his son had settled.
After the father had passed, the building was put up for sale and according to the L.A. County Assessor, sold in December 2022 for $3,650,036.
At an April DRB meeting, new owners Purna and Rajesh Chopra asked for a change of use from a church to retail and to remodel the façade with a ADA ramp, storefront and landscaping.