A reader of  The Visionary State wrote to me recently to thank me for writing my book. Alex is a Texan and has always hated California, but was vacationing in Joshua Tree in a place that had a copy. Though I got the impression that she still hated California, she felt that my study of the religious and mystical currents that animate the Golden State at least clued her into the reasons the place is the way it is. She also said she was drawn to the topic because her husband Steve's grandparents had been founding members of Robert Schuller's Garden Grove church, which eventually became the so-called Crystal Cathedral, a visible monument to Orange County's peculiarly informal expression of prosperous car culture Christianity.

 Steve's grandmother kept the following image by the side of her bed. It reminded Alex of Lonnie Frisbee, the great Costa Mesa hippy Jesus preacher. It was painted by a fellow Grove member, Clair A. Weidenaar, and so is an OC original. A gay friend of Steve's said he wanted a copy, because it had made him a believer. Feel the salty air, the ghost of orange blossoms, the outlet malls...

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