GENERATIONS OF NORTHRIDGE FAITH BIBLE CHURCH

CHERISHING OUR VALLEY      2012

This last Friday, April 20th, a young family came into The Museum's Expo Space at the Westfield Fashion Square in Sherman Oaks.  I asked the father Chris what he does for a living and he told me that he was a pastor of Faith Bible Church in Northridge.  I enthusiastically said that he and his wife Michelle might be interested in the photograph of the original Faith Bible Church of Northridge founded by Norwegian immigrants in 1913.  Here's a photo of Rev and Mrs Grazor with their beautiful children standing in front of Richard Hilton's wonderful photograph (upper left corner.)  

 Rev. Chris and Michelle Grazor and Family at The Museum Expo Space in Sherman Oaks.  

(click on image to enlarge)

If The Museum is lucky, and our production funds don't run out, Pastor Grazor may be able to arrange for us to interview some of the church's founding members. The new Faith Bible Church is located at 8212 Louise Avenue, Northridge, California.

MORE ABOUT FAITH BIBLE CHURCH IN NORTHRIDGE

2010 -- The Year of Valley Adventures -- Northridge100
Faith Bible Church - Northridge - Photo by Gerald Fecht 2010 for the Archives of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley (click to enlarge)



Richard Hilton wrote: "in 1910, when the original Hawk Ranch was sold to the Valley Farms Co., who began to subdivide the land, several Norwegian immigrant families came to this area and began to farm the land. They formed a Lutheran congregation in 1910 and their first pastor was O.J.H. Preus until 1916 when S.T. Sorenson took over."

FAITH BIBLE CHURCH - A NORTHRIDGE LANDMARK

2010 -- The Year of Valley Adventures -- Northridge100
In-tourists on the Northridge Centennial bus tour - Archives of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley - by Gerald Fecht (click on images to enlarge)
Encouraging residents of the San Fernando Valley to get out and see the seemingly endless treasures of our communities, is a major objective of your Museum.
Stained glass window of Faith Bible Church in Northridge.
My photographs of the exterior of old Faith Bible Church in Northridge were awful, so I'm depending on one of you folks to supply me with one for the blog. In the meanwhile, here are two interior images of this 1917 Protestant Church.
Founded by Norwegians, the building was called originally the Norsk Evangelisk Luther's Kirke, it was constructed in what has become known as the American Dakotas' Gothic Revival style. One only has to climb the steep front stairs of the church to realize that its builders were likely expecting a deep snow.
The original altar is gone, but would have been made of carved wood, similar to the original altar seen on The Museum's walking tour of Saint Paul's Lutheran Church in North Hollywood.
Faith Bible Church at 18531 Gresham Street in Northridge, is Los Angeles Cultural Monument # 152.