CENTER
Los Angeles
Study Time: Saturday, 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Farsi Classes: Multiple classes are offered remotely through Zoom. Please contact the center for more information.
MTO Los Angeles completed its construction in 2008. Built from the ground up, the building holds a spectacular 8-pointed star shape with a 45 ft wide glass dome. The building is located in Reseda, a suburb of Los Angeles, it is over 14,000 square feet and is one of the main MTO centers. The outdoors of the building features a beautiful garden with a variety of plants, trees, and flowers. A spectacular custom 8-pointed fountain decorated with a colorful tile mosaic, this piece rests on one center point, a centerpiece that holds spiritual significance. Additionally, the outdoors hold a stunning 40-foot-long koi pond with a fountain and walkway bridge. The garden is maintained and loved by the amazing volunteers who put their teaching into practice during this process. MTO Los Angeles has a total of 216 solar panels.
The interior building is something that is truly a marvel. With 8 large windows over 20 feet high with colorful stained-glass windows of traditional Iranian calligraphy of some of the holy names, the main lobby lights up with vibrant colors. The Aghtab, a history of over 1400 years, holds the names of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and Hazrat Oveys, through the generations in the genealogy of Sufism. The unbroken succession of 41 teachers leads down to the Jayegha, the place of the present, in which His Holiness Hazrat Pir presents. The perfect calligraphic works of Hazrat Shah Maghsoud decorate the walls and the Holy Cloak of Hazrat Mir Ghotbeddin is showcased.
MTO Los Angeles has an incredible library with over 6,000 books ranging from Islam and Sufism to literature, science, medicine, and much more. There is an exhibition room with cultural and historic Sufi artifacts and displays of rare items. A children’s room is used for Farsi classes during the lecture but temporarily closed while social distancing is maintained. The upstairs walls are a work in progress with ayeneh kari, a traditional Iranian art form of three-dimensional mirror mosaics. Hundreds of thousands of mirror pieces make up the many tiles in a stunning quasicrystalline pattern. The dozens of volunteers working on this project create the tiles in the adjacent property next door to MTO, where a special Art Workshop was built specifically for this project and other projects. Volunteers help in various forms of art, from painting, three-dimensional plasterwork, calligraphy, ayeneh kari, stained glass and tile mosaics.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, members and volunteers of MTO first began a huge effort in hand-making personal protective equipment such as face masks, face shields and hospital gowns. There have been huge projects in providing care packages and donations to first responders and healthcare workers, law enforcement, homeless organizations, women’s shelters, refugee organizations, and to various schools. These charitable projects were all part of a global initiative by MTO. This is in addition to the Tamarkoz Sufi Meditation sessions on the Tamarkoz app and on Instagram, posted daily in 11 different languages. MTO Los Angeles is an excellent hub, proudly involved in community efforts.