In the Beginning ...
The site of St. Alban's Chapel, built in 1931 as a mission of the
Diocese of Los Angeles, was chosen because of its proximity to the newly
established campus of the University of California, Los Angeles, which
has provided an important focus of the parish since then. The Rev'd John
A. Bryant was called as its vicar, and he conducted the first service on
Christmas Eve of that year. The new mission was named in honor of St. Alban,
known as the first
Christian martyr in England. His feast day is June 22.
St. Alban's was to be a memorial to the late Joseph Horsfall Johnson,
who served as the first Bishop of Los Angeles from 1896 to 1928, and
whose interest in education and students formed a great part of his
life's work. Bishop Johnson's son Reginald D. Johnson, a noted architect
of the time, designed St. Alban's Chapel and many other buildings in
Southern California, including the chancellor's residence at UCLA, All
Saints Church in Pasadena, St. Saviour's Chapel at Harvard-Westlake
School, and the main post office and the Biltmore Hotel in Santa Barbara.
The 1940s and 1950s
On January 25, 1941, St. Alban's was designated a parish, meaning that
it was now a self-sustaining congregation no longer subsidized by the
diocese, and could form a vestry and call a rector. The main
church building was dedicated on
March 2 of that year; its architect was P.P. Lewis, who also designed
the Fox Theatre in Westwood Village. As World War II loomed, the parish had almost 500
members and a large Sunday School. It continued to grow during the war
and after. To accommodate such growth in the 1950s, a second story was
added to the office wing of the church, primarily for use of Sunday
School classes.
Except for several years' service as a U.S. Army chaplain, the Rev'd
John A. Bryant continued as rector until his death in 1953. He was
succeeded by the Rev'd R. Parker Jones, whose tenure marked a period of
great growth for the parish. The Sunday School grew to 700 children,
filling the newly constructed rooms, the parish hall and the YWCA next
door. The mortgage was paid off; there were four Sunday morning
services; the chapel was enlarged with the addition of the narthex; over
forty parish organizations were active and the Parish Reporter
(later The Good News) began publishing to provide better communications among all these
diverse groups. Christmas bazaars were held and a Parish Decorating Day
was inaugurated, which has become a yearly tradition.
In the area of outreach, St. Alban's sponsored resettlement of a
Dutch Indonesian family, and lay people virtually operated a parish
mission at the Eastern Star Home formerly near Sunset and Barrington.
The first of many acclaimed Spring Art Festivals was held, featuring
works of 150 established contemporary artists and gifted amateurs.
The 1960s
In 1960 the Rev'd John V. Farnsworth joined the staff, doing much of
his work with the youth of St. Alban's, training acolytes and lay
readers, and working with an enthusiastic and growing youth group. He
remained until 1967 when he left to become rector of St. David's in
North Hollywood. Ongoing parking problems threatening the continuing
life of the parish were partially solved by the purchase of adjoining
property.
In the mid-1960s a nationwide decline in church attendance started
affecting St. Alban's. The national economy was weakening, the Vietnam
war with its divisive effects was escalating, and St. Alban's suffered
decreasing attendance and reduced financial support.
In 1968 the Stephen S. Wise congregation completed its new temple on
Mulholland Drive, thus concluding three years of holding their Friday
night worship services at St. Alban's. During their stay they made
generous contributions to our church, and we still maintain a warm
relationship.
In 1969 Dr. James H. Vail, then an assistant professor of music at
the University of Southern California and now professor emeritus, became
St. Alban's organist and choirmaster. Thus began his many years of
inspired leadership of our magnificent choir which sings at the 10:00
a.m. service every Sunday and presents four or five Sunday afternoon
concerts each year.
The 1970s and 1980s
After a long battle with heart problems, the Rev'd R. Parker Jones
died in October of 1971 after twenty-two years as a devoted priest of
this congregation. He gave unselfishly of his time and caring for his
parishioners. The assistant rector, the Rev'd Norman Y. Ishizaki, was
named priest-in-charge and in 1973 was selected as the new rector to
succeed him. Father Norm held this position until 2002, guiding the
congregation through crises and good times, some of the time without an
assistant priest to share the burden.
In continuing outreach, St. Alban's sponsored two Vietnamese
families, helping them to resettle and become independent.
In 1979 the Rt. Rev'd George W. Barrett, retired Bishop of Rochester,
New York, began his close association with St. Alban's as our "bishop in
residence," traveling monthly from his home in Santa Barbara to preach and
assist with services.
Since the mid-1980s, brown bag lunches have been assembled by
parishioners and distributed from the church office to the homeless and
hungry.
Also in the 1980s, when neighborhood parking became restricted, an
arrangement was made with UCLA to use a parking structure on Sundays in
return for use of our lot on weekdays for student parking.
In 1989 the congregations of St. Alban's and Stephen S. Wise Temple
formed the Wise Saints Corporation and worked together to rehabilitate
two hotels on skid row, now used for low income housing.
The 1990s to the Present
During the 1990s, Father Norm was joined by the Rev'd James E.
Williams as his assistant. Father Williams instituted a drama program
which presented several lively plays, reorganized the church school, and
developed a chapel service for children. He left in 1996 to become
rector of St. Martha's in West Covina.
Because of failing health, Bishop Barrett ended his visits to
St. Alban's early in 2000. He died in December of that year at age
92 after deciding to discontinue dialysis treatments.
The most important outreach has always been to students at UCLA,
successfully carried out around the turn of the 21st century by the addition of the Rev'd
Winnie Varghese to serve half-time on the clergy staff and half-time as
Episcopal chaplain to UCLA. After three years with us, Winnie left in
the summer of 2002 to accept a call to be the Episcopal chaplain at Columbia
University in New York.
In September 2002, Father Norm Ishizaki retired after some 35 years of ordained ministry and 30 years
as St. Alban's third rector. He was named Rector Emeritus by the vestry. The Rev'd Lorne E. Weaver
became our interim
rector as the parish entered a period of transition. At about the same
time, the Rev'd Mark W. Speeks joined the staff as associate for campus
ministry; in the summer of 2003 he left to return to his native England.
In the fall of that year, this position was filled by the Rev'd J.R.
Lander, who left in the summer of 2004 to accept a post in Atlanta.
To honor the connections across the generations of our parish family,
a columbarium was added to the south transept of St. Alban's Chapel in
December 2003.
In September 2004, the Rev'd Susan Webster Klein began her tenure as
St. Alban's fourth rector. Her previous posts included fourteen years at
St. Aidan's, Malibu, first as vicar and then as rector.
As we move into the future, we do so
with gratitude that St. Alban's remains where it is despite shifting
demographics and sometimes heavy financial burdens. We especially offer
a prayer of thanksgiving for the dedicated clergy who have served this
parish in the past and who serve it at the present time.
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