Peace Pole Dedicated, Aldersgate Celebrates 80th Year in Palisades

Residents and visitors gathered on Saturday to help Aldersgate Retreat and Cultural Center celebrate the lodge’s 80th year in
Pacific Palisades. In the background is Buerge Chapel, built north of the lodge on Haverford Avenue in 1992.
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Residents and visitors gathered on Saturday to help Aldersgate Retreat and Cultural Center celebrate the lodge’s 80th year in
Pacific Palisades. In the background is Buerge Chapel, built north of the lodge on Haverford Avenue in 1992.
Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer

“Building community while fostering inner peace” was the theme Saturday as six speakers helped the Aldersgate Retreat & Cultural Center celebrate the lodge’s 80th year on Haverford Avenue.
Built in 1892, the Mission Revival style Aldersgate was once a private home on Harvard Street in downtown Los Angeles that later housed a fraternal association known as the “We Boys.” In 1928, the main house was cut in two and moved on a three-day trek across Los Angeles to arrive at its present location.
Today, Aldersgate is part of the California Pacific Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. Its doors are open to all for group retreats (with accommodations for up to 44 persons), banquets, weddings, memorial services and special events. The dining room seats groups up to 50.
Saturday morning’s program featured a dedication ceremony for the Center’s new 7-foot-tall peace pole in the meditation garden adjacent to the Buerge Chapel (on the north side of the lodge). The pole has “May Peace Prevail on Earth” written in 12 languages, including English, Spanish, Korean, Hawaiian, Chumash, Swahili, Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Hebrew, French, Japanese and Braille.
“We purposely chose languages from each continent, to honor the local Native American tribe, and added Braille to be universally inclusive,” said Sandra Beckwith, program consultant at Aldersgate and producer of the event. “We also looked at languages that honored our regional traditions. Alas, there are only so many sides to the pole!”
The speakers included Paul Cogger, director of camping for the California-Pacific Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church (which operates six other camp sites similar to Aldersgate); two out-of-town Methodist ministers, Rev. Gary Keene and Rev. Sam Yun; Palisadian-Post editor Bill Bruns; and Lt. Col. Colleen Turner, a native of Pacific Palisades who now works as a communications analyst for the Department of Veterans Affairs on its Brentwood campus.
Beckwith presented certificates to the winners of the first Noble Awards in the children’s art and essay contest. The contestants addressed how they would create peace in our hearts, homes, communities and world.
“Aldersgate wants to offer the Noble Awards annually,” said Beckwith, “and we’re looking at next May for our next event. It will have a particular theme, offered to all local faith communities.”

“Building community while fostering inner peace” was the theme Saturday as six speakers helped the Aldersgate Retreat & Cultural Center celebrate the lodge’s 80th year on Haverford Avenue.
Built in 1892, the Mission Revival style Aldersgate was once a private home on Harvard Street in downtown Los Angeles that later housed a fraternal association known as the “We Boys.” In 1928, the main house was cut in two and moved on a three-day trek across Los Angeles to arrive at its present location.
Today, Aldersgate is part of the California Pacific Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. Its doors are open to all for group retreats (with accommodations for up to 44 persons), banquets, weddings, memorial services and special events. The dining room seats groups up to 50.
Saturday morning’s program featured a dedication ceremony for the Center’s new 7-foot-tall peace pole in the meditation garden adjacent to the Buerge Chapel (on the north side of the lodge). The pole has “May Peace Prevail on Earth” written in 12 languages, including English, Spanish, Korean, Hawaiian, Chumash, Swahili, Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Hebrew, French, Japanese and Braille.
“We purposely chose languages from each continent, to honor the local Native American tribe, and added Braille to be universally inclusive,” said Sandra Beckwith, program consultant at Aldersgate and producer of the event. “We also looked at languages that honored our regional traditions. Alas, there are only so many sides to the pole!”
The speakers included Paul Cogger, director of camping for the California-Pacific Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church (which operates six other camp sites similar to Aldersgate); two out-of-town Methodist ministers, Rev. Gary Keene and Rev. Sam Yun; Palisadian-Post editor Bill Bruns; and Lt. Col. Colleen Turner, a native of Pacific Palisades who now works as a communications analyst for the Department of Veterans Affairs on its Brentwood campus.
Beckwith presented certificates to the winners of the first Noble Awards in the children’s art and essay contest. The contestants addressed how they would create peace in our hearts, homes, communities and world.
“Aldersgate wants to offer the Noble Awards annually,” said Beckwith, “and we’re looking at next May for our next event. It will have a particular theme, offered to all local faith communities.”