For years, I have enjoyed the sight of the golden onion domes of St. Andrew's Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Glinting in the sun, they are a destination for the eye from all kinds of Echo Park places -- from Elysian Park, for example, where sometimes I designate my turnaround point as the first view of the domes. The funny thing about them is that they always seem far away, even from just below the church on Scott Avenue. The entrance to the church is on a short street, Sutherland, that ends in a dead end; it connects to only one other street (besides Sunset), which also dead-ends (Macbeth St.). Once you find the place, there is no encouragement to come in and look around. My assumption is that the congregation travels to attend, as I have not heard of a Ukrainian Orthodox community in Echo Park.

So, years have gone by without offering an occasion to enter the grounds of St. Andrews -- until Sunday, when the Echo Park Time Bank had the inspired notion to hold its monthly potluck/meeting in the church's meeting hall, which the Time Bank paid to rent.

The Time Bank's meeting was held in a modern addition to the chapel, but I was delighted to get a peek inside the place nonetheless as it was not just the inside of the domes I hoped to see but something of the culture of the place -- i.e., in the photographs of past Very Reverends, dating from 1951, the captions all in Cyrillic. It was very L.A., too, with expansive nighttime views of the city that the architecture embraced with numerous tall vertical windows. It felt like a secret place with a big view of the world outside.

Meanwhile, at the Time Bank's meeting Leslie VanKeuren of Sustain LA discussed the preservation of natural resources through zero waste initiatives. The event/sermon was well attended, and I left with a renewed ambition to avoid single-use paper, plastics, and glass. It helps to be reminded.