St. Charles Borromeo Church (North Hollywood)

St. Charles Borromeo Church is a Catholic church and elementary school located at Moorpark and Lankershim in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California

North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California

North Hollywood is a district in the San Fernando Valley region of the city of Los Angeles, California, along the Tujunga Wash. It is bounded on the south by Moorpark Street and the Ventura Freeway, on the southwest by Burbank Blvd...

. It is one of the oldest parishes in the San Fernando Valley

San Fernando Valley

The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of southern California, United States, defined by the dramatic mountains of the Transverse Ranges circling it...

dating back to 1921. It has long been a parish with celebrity members and was the site of funerals for Bob Hope

Bob Hope

Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...

, Dorothy Lamour

Dorothy Lamour

Dorothy Lamour was an American film actress. She is best remembered for appearing in the Road to... movies, a series of successful comedies starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope .-Early life:Lamour was born Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton in New Orleans, Louisiana, the daughter of Carmen Louise Dorothy...

, and Robert Urich

Robert Urich

Robert Urich was an American actor. He played the starring roles in the television series Vega$ and Spenser: For Hire...

among other notables.

History

The parish was founded in 1921 with the purchase of an existing Methodist church structure at Weddington and Bakman. The parish was known as Immaculate Conception Church until 1925 when it was renamed Saint Charles Borromeo

Charles Borromeo

Charles Borromeo was the cardinal archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Milan from 1564 to 1584. He was a leading figure during the Counter-Reformation and was responsible for significant reforms in the Catholic Church, including the founding of seminaries for the education of priests...

. Before the parish was established, Catholics in the central San Fernando Valley shared a priest with St. Robert Bellarmine (then known as Holy Trinity). By 1936, the parish had outgrown the space on Weddington, and a parishioner named Goykes donated land on Moorpark. A new church was built on Moorpark in 1937—the structure that is now the parish hall. The church had a seating capacity of 600 and was styled after the San Carlos Mission in Carmel, California.

In 1939, St. Charles Borromeo School opened in four portable bungalows and operated by five Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. A new permanent school opened in 1947 in a building with 14 classrooms, a cafeteria, library, music room, and auditorium.

The parish continued to grow in the years after World War II, and in 1957, ground was broken for the current church. The new church opened at Thanksgiving 1959 with a blessing from James Francis Cardinal McIntyre.

St. Charles Borromeo served a wide swath of the San Fernando Valley for many years, but with the population growth in the Valley, additional parishes were carved out of the territy previously encompassed by St. Charles Borromeo. Modern parishes that were carved out of St. Charles Borromeo include Our Lady of the Holy Rosary in Sun Valley (1937), St. Francis de Sales in Sherman Oaks (1938), St. Finbar in Burbank (1938) and St. Patrick in North Hollywood (1948).

The Rev. Msgr. Harry C. Meade was the pastor at St. Charles Borromeo for more than a quarter century starting in 1936.

St. Charles Borromeo Choir

The St. Charles Borromeo Choir has enjoyed a long reputation as one of Southern California's finest parish choral groups. Prior to 1949, the choir director was Roger Wagner

Roger Wagner

Roger Wagner, KCSG was an American choral musician, administrator and educator.-Early life:Wagner was born in Le Puy, France. His younger brother was actor and voiceover artist Jack Wagner. Roger Wagner was immersed in music from his youngest years...

who later formed the Roger Wagner Chorale. In 1949, Paul Salamunovich

Paul Salamunovich

Paul Salamunovich KCSG is an American choral conductor and educator.He is the Music Director Emeritus of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, after having served as Music Director from 1991 to 2001. He served as Director of Music at St. Charles Borromeo Church in North Hollywood, California, for 60...

became director of the choir. Volunteer singers from Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara, California

Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...

to San Pedro

San Pedro, Los Angeles, California

San Pedro is a port district of the city of Los Angeles, California, United States. It was annexed in 1909 and is a major seaport of the area...

drove to North Hollywood to sing for Salamunovich as part of the St. Charles Choir. The St. Charles Boys Choir under Salamunovich appeared with Dinah Shore

Dinah Shore

Dinah Shore was an American singer, actress, and television personality...

on the "Chevy Show" and also formed the Disneyland Boys Choir, with which Salamunovich recorded in 1965 the "It's a Small World" album of folk songs still sold at Disney theme parks. Salamunovich also became the leader of the Los Angeles Master Chorale

Los Angeles Master Chorale

The Los Angeles Master Chorale is a professional chorus in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1964 by Roger Wagner to be one of the three original resident companies of the Music Center of Los Angeles County...

. Salamunovich also conducted choirs for dozens Hollywood films, including "Air Force One

Air Force One (film)

Air Force One is a 1997 American action-thriller film written by Andrew W. Marlowe and directed by Wolfgang Petersen. It stars Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman, and Glenn Close, and also features Xander Berkeley, William H. Macy, Dean Stockwell and Paul Guilfoyle...

", "My Best Friend's Wedding

My Best Friend's Wedding

My Best Friend's Wedding is a 1997 romantic comedy film directed by P. J. Hogan. It stars Julia Roberts, Cameron Diaz, Dermot Mulroney, Rupert Everett, and Philip Bosco.The film received mostly positive reviews from critics...

," "First Knight

First Knight

First Knight is a 1995 American medieval film based on Arthurian legend, directed by Jerry Zucker. It stars Richard Gere as Lancelot, Julia Ormond as Guinevere, Sean Connery as King Arthur and Ben Cross as Malagant....

," "Waterworld

Waterworld

Waterworld is a 1995 post-apocalyptic science fiction film. The film was directed by Kevin Reynolds and co-written by Peter Rader and David Twohy. It is based on Rader's original 1986 screenplay and stars Kevin Costner, who also produced it. It was distributed by Universal Pictures...

", "The Devil's Advocate

The Devil's Advocate (film)

The Devil's Advocate is a 1997 American horror film directed by Taylor Hackford starring Keanu Reeves, Al Pacino and Charlize Theron, and based on a novel by Andrew Neiderman....

" and "xXx

XXX

XXX may refer to:* The number 30 in Roman numerals* The year 30 AD* Games of the XXX Olympiad, the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London, England* Super Bowl XXX, held on January 28, 1996* A mark indicating "extra strong"* Alcoholic beverages...

". Salamunovich conducted the choir at the 10:00 a.m. Mass for 60 years before retiring in June 2009.

Controversy over proposed renovations

In 2002 and 2003, controversy followed after well-known consultant, Richard S. Vosko

Richard S. Vosko

Richard S. Vosko is a liturgical design consultant and priest of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany who has overseen the redesign and renovation of numerous churches and cathedrals around the country. Vosko has worked throughout the U.S. and Canada as a designer and consultant for worship...

, was brought in to speak to the congregation about renovations to the church's interior. Vosko's renovations in Detroit, San Antonio, and New Orleans had spawned controversy, and a book called "Ugly as Sin" had recently been published criticizing Vosko's work. Concerns over modernization of St. Charles Borromeo's interior space led to the formation of the St. Charles Borromeo Preservation Guild. Guild supporters held protests with dozens of protesters falling to their knees outside the church and reciting the rosary asking the Virgin Mary to intercede to prevent modernization. Among other things, the protesters sought to return the Blessed Sacrament

Blessed Sacrament

The Blessed Sacrament, or the Body and Blood of Christ, is a devotional name used in the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Catholic Churches, Old Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran churches, to refer to the Host after it has been consecrated in the sacrament of the Eucharist...

to the tabernacle behind the altar and to preserve the private confessionals, the interior's "dark beauty," kneelers, the large, dramatic wooden crucifix and the baldacchino hanging above the cross. The traditional look and feel of St. Charles had become a refuge for traditional Catholics who rejected the secular look of modern Catholic churches. Pastor Robert Gallagher responded angrily to the protests. In the church bulletin, he claimed that most of the protesters were not parishioners and said it was insulting to suggest that it was the traditional trappings that attracted parishioners. The protests drew widespread media attention, including two feature articles in the Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....

in April 2002 and June 2003.

Connection to Cardinal Mahony

St. Charles also has long ties with Cardinal Roger Mahony, the Archbishop of the Los Angeles Archdiocese since 1985. Cardinal Mahony's parents were married at the original church on Weddington Street, and he went to grammar school at St. Charles Borromeo grammar school, graduating in 1950. When the Cardinal's mother, Loretta Mahony died in 1995, Mahony celebrated her funeral Mass at St. Charles Borromeo. Mahony also celebrated the parish's 75 anniversary Mass in November 1996. In 2000, Mahony attended the 50th reunion of the eighth-grade class of 1950. Sister Jean Dolores, who taught the Cardinal, attended the reunion, recalling that in those days, she taught 75 eighth graders in one class. The school had 900 students in the years following World War II, making it the largerst parochial school west of the Mississippi. Mahony recalled Sister Jean Dolores as a strict disciplinarian and as a mentor. She came to Fresno when Mahony was appointed a bishop in 1975 and was in Los Angeles in 1985 when he was named archbishop. She also traveled to Rome to be with Mahony when he became a cardinal. Sister Jean Dolores described the parish as "like a ripple in a pond" -- "It just keeps going and going. That's what life is all about."

Hollywood connections

Many celebrities have lived in the Toluca Lake, North Hollywood, and Studio City communities served by St. Charles Borromeo.

St. Charles Borromeo was the home parish of Bob Hope

Bob Hope

, who lived a short distance from the church on Moorpark. In 1969, Bing Crosby

Bing Crosby

Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....

attended the wedding of Bob Hope's daughter, Linda, at St. Charles. In July 2003, Bob Hope died at age 100. His funeral at St. Charles was a small, private afffair, followed later by a public memorial attended by numerous celebrities, including President Gerald R. Ford, Betty Ford

Betty Ford

Elizabeth Ann Bloomer Warren Ford , better known as Betty Ford, was First Lady of the United States from 1974 to 1977 during the presidency of her husband Gerald Ford...

, Nancy Reagan

Nancy Reagan

Nancy Davis Reagan is the widow of former United States President Ronald Reagan and was First Lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989....

, Sen. Dianne Feinstein

Dianne Feinstein

Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein is the senior U.S. Senator from California. A member of the Democratic Party, she has served in the Senate since 1992. She also served as 38th Mayor of San Francisco from 1978 to 1988....

, former California governor Pete Wilson

Pete Wilson

Peter Barton "Pete" Wilson is an American politician from California. Wilson, a Republican, served as the 36th Governor of California , the culmination of more than three decades in the public arena that included eight years as a United States Senator , eleven years as Mayor of San Diego and...

, retired Gen. William Westmoreland

William Westmoreland

William Childs Westmoreland was a United States Army General, who commanded US military operations in the Vietnam War at its peak , during the Tet Offensive. He adopted a strategy of attrition against the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam and the North Vietnamese Army. He later served as...

, Richard Myers

Richard Myers

Richard Bowman Myers is a retired four-star general in the United States Air Force and served as the 15th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. As Chairman, Myers was the United States military's highest ranking uniformed officer....

, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Lee Iacocca

Lee Iacocca

Lido Anthony "Lee" Iacocca is an American businessman known for engineering the Mustang, the unsuccessful Ford Pinto, being fired from Ford Motor Company, and his revival of the Chrysler Corporation in the 1980s...

, Mickey Rooney

Mickey Rooney

Mickey Rooney is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. He has won multiple awards, including an Honorary Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award...

, Phyllis Diller

Phyllis Diller

Phyllis Diller is an American actress and comedian. She created a stage persona of a wild-haired, eccentrically dressed housewife who makes jokes about a husband named "Fang" while pretending to smoke from a long cigarette holder...

, Raquel Welch

Raquel Welch

Jo Raquel Tejada , better known as Raquel Welch, is an American actress, author and sex symbol. Welch came to attention as a "new-star" on the 20th Century-Fox lot in the mid-1960s. She posed iconically in a animal skin bikini for the British-release One Million Years B.C. , for which she may be...

, Sid Caesar

Sid Caesar

Isaac Sidney "Sid" Caesar is an Emmy award winning American comic actor and writer known as the leading man on the 1950s television series Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour, and to younger generations as Coach Calhoun in Grease and Grease 2.- Early life :Caesar was born in Yonkers, New York,...

, Kelsey Grammer

Kelsey Grammer

Allen Kelsey Grammer is an American actor and comedian. He is most widely known for his two-decade portrayal of psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane on the sitcoms Cheers and Frasier...

, Tom Selleck

Tom Selleck

Thomas William "Tom" Selleck is an American actor, and film producer. He is best known for his starring role as Hawaii-based private investigator Thomas Magnum on the 1980s television show Magnum, P.I.. He also plays Police Chief Jesse Stone in a series of made-for-TV movies based on the Robert B....

, Ed McMahon

Ed McMahon

Edward Peter "Ed" McMahon, Jr. was an American comedian, game show host and announcer. He is most famous for his work on television as Johnny Carson's sidekick and announcer on The Tonight Show from 1962 to 1992. He also hosted the original version of the talent show Star Search from 1983 to 1995...

, Barbara Eden

Barbara Eden

Barbara Eden is an American film and television actress and singer who is best known for her starring role in the sitcom I Dream of Jeannie.-Early years:...

, Loni Anderson

Loni Anderson

Loni Kaye Anderson is an American actress who played the role of Jennifer Marlowe on the television sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati.- Early life :...

, Shecky Greene

Shecky Greene

Shecky Greene is a comedian known for his nightclub performances in Las Vegas, where he has been a headliner for more than thirty years...

, Jack Carter

Jack Carter

Jack Carter may refer to:* Jack Carter, fictional character created by Ted Lewis** from the novels Jack's Return Home, Jack Carter's Law, and Jack Carter and the Mafia Pigeon** from the films Get Carter and Get Carter...

, Connie Stevens

Connie Stevens

Connie Stevens is an American actress and singer, best known for her roles in the television series Hawaiian Eye and other TV and film work.-Early life:...

, Joey Heatherton

Joey Heatherton

Joey Heatherton is an American actress, dancer, and singer.-Early life:Christened Davenie Johanna Heatherton and nicknamed "Joey," she was raised in Rockville Centre, New York, a suburb of New York City. There she attended St. Agnes Cathedral School, a Catholic grade and high school...

, and fellow golfers Jack Nicklaus

Jack Nicklaus

Jack William Nicklaus , nicknamed "The Golden Bear", is an American professional golfer. He won 18 career major championships on the PGA Tour over a span of 25 years and is widely regarded as one of the greatest professional golfers of all time. In addition to his 18 Majors, he was runner-up a...

and Arnold Palmer

Arnold Palmer

Arnold Daniel Palmer is an American professional golfer, who is generally regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of men's professional golf. He has won numerous events on both the PGA Tour and Champions Tour, dating back to 1955...

. The memorial mass for Hope was given by Cardinal Roger Mahony.

David Henrie graduated from St. Charles in 2003-2004.

Television actress Tracey Gold

Tracey Gold

Tracey Gold is an American actress and former child star best known for playing Carol Seaver on the 1980s sitcom Growing Pains. In early 2009, she co-hosted with Fred Roggin on the live show GSN Live.-Early life:...

, who starred in ABC's "Growing Pains

Growing Pains

Growing Pains is an American television sitcom about an affluent family, residing in Huntington, New York, with a working mother and a stay-at-home psychiatrist father raising three children together, which aired on ABC from September 24, 1985 to April 25, 1992.-Synopsis:The show's premise is based...

," was married at St. Charles in October 1994. Her TV parents, Alan Thicke

Alan Thicke

Alan Thicke is a Canadian actor, songwriter, and game and talk show host. He is best known for his role as Jason Seaver, the patriarch on the ABC television series Growing Pains.- Early life :...

and Joanna Kerns

Joanna Kerns

Joanna Kerns is an American actress and director best known for her role as Maggie Seaver on the family situation comedy Growing Pains from 1985-1992.-Early life:...

, attended the ceremony.

The funeral for Bob Hope's friend and co-star, Dorothy Lamour

Dorothy Lamour

, was also held at St. Charles, in September 1996.
On April 19, 2002, the church was the site of the memorial service for actor Robert Urich

Robert Urich

Robert Urich was an American actor. He played the starring roles in the television series Vega$ and Spenser: For Hire...

, best known to TV viewers as private eye 'Dan Tana' on the TV show "Vega$

Vega$

Vega$ is an American detective television drama series that aired on ABC between 1978 and 1981. It was produced by Aaron Spelling. The series, was filmed in its entirety in Las Vegas, Nevada, which is believed to be the first television series produced entirely in Las Vegas...

". Celebrities in attendance at the service included Tom Selleck

Tom Selleck

, Tony Danza

Tony Danza

Tony Danza is an American actor best known for starring on the TV series Taxi and Who's the Boss?, for which he was nominated for an Emmy Award and four Golden Globe Awards...

, "Love Boat" captain Gavin MacLeod

Gavin MacLeod

Gavin MacLeod is an American actor most notable for playing Happy Haines on McHale's Navy, Murray Slaughter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Captain Merrill Stubing on The Love Boat...

and Olympian Bruce Jenner

Bruce Jenner

William Bruce Jenner is a former U.S. track and field athlete, motivational speaker, socialite and television personality. He won the gold medal for decathlon in the Montreal 1976 Summer Olympics....

.

Other celebrities who have been members at St. Charles include Ann Blyth

Ann Blyth

Ann Marie Blyth is an American actress and singer, often cast in Hollywood musicals, but also successful in dramatic roles. Her performance as Veda Pierce in the 1945 film Mildred Pierce was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.-Life and career:Blyth was born in Mount Kisco,...

("Mildred Pierce") actor Eric Estrada ('Ponch" on TV's "CHiPS"), "Jeopardy!" quizmaster Alex Trebek

Alex Trebek

George Alexander "Alex" Trebek is a Canadian American game show host who has been the host of the game show Jeopardy! since 1984, and prior to that, he hosted game shows such as Pitfall and High Rollers. He has appeared in numerous television series, usually as himself...

, Frankie Avalon

Frankie Avalon

Frankie Avalon is an American actor, singer, playwright, and former teen idol.-Career:By the time he was 12, Avalon was on U.S. television playing his trumpet. As a teenager he played with Bobby Rydell in Rocco and the Saints...

, Bob Gunton

Bob Gunton

Robert Patrick "Bob" Gunton, Jr. is an American actor. He is known for playing strict, authoritarian characters, with his best known roles as Warden Samuel Norton in the 1994 prison film The Shawshank Redemption, Chief George Earle in 1993's Demolition Man, and President Juan Peron in the original...

(Warden Norton in "The Shawshank Redemption

The Shawshank Redemption

The Shawshank Redemption is a 1994 American drama film written and directed by Frank Darabont and starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman....

"), Los Angeles district attorney Steve Cooley

Steve Cooley

Stephen Lawrence "Steve" Cooley is an American politician. As a Republican, he has been a prosecutor for 27 years and has been the Los Angeles County District Attorney since his election in 2000, in which he defeated incumbent two-term District Attorney Gil Garcetti, a Democrat...

, and KABC news anchors Laura Diaz

Laura Diaz (TV anchor)

Laura Diaz is a Southern California newscaster. In September 2011, Diaz announced that she would be leaving KCBS-TV after nine years to pursue producing projects under her own banner....

and Harold Greene

Harold Greene

Harold Greene is a former award-winning journalist, best known for working at KCAL 9 News and CBS 2 News in Los Angeles. Before joining the CBS duopoly, Greene enjoyed a long television news career, mostly in Southern California....

. Also a member was Austrian-American producer and singer Elfi von Dassanowsky

Elfi von Dassanowsky

Elfriede "Elfi" von Dassanowsky was an Austrian-American singer, pianist, film producer and humanitarian.- Early life :...

, whose memorial service was held at the church on October 9, 2007 with many representatives of the Austrian community in Los Angeles attending.

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