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In Reply to: Re: original purpose of HCS and other posted by I was there on March 16, 2005 at 11:50:04:
Just a couple more clarifications for those who weren't there. The Naritas had their large home a few blocks up the street from what later became the school building. This is where Mrs. Narita lived, and Mr. Narita lived in his Shibuya home, though he sometimes came for visits. At first, only a few people, including me, stayed with her, but after awhile, all the upper bedrooms housed many members.
She originally built the very large school building with the vision of it being a kind of boarding school for delinquent "system" teens, at least that's what I was told. When I first lived in her house with her, she had a non-Family teen staying with her, that had been in trouble with the law or something, and she was trying to "counsel" her. Many times I was asked to fellowship with her and this teen.
The large school building went through a major renovation when TF first decided to take it over and use it for their purposes. I visited there often during that particular renovation. Ben Carpenter/Cedar was in charge of that work.
That main building went through many subsequent renovations. For example, at first the huge meeting area that you entered at the main entrance was designed as a gym, and that's what it was used as. We played badminton a lot in there, until some leader thought we were getting too competitive. (that happened a lot. volleyball was cancelled too for that reason) I remember playing with your husband, PD. He was pretty good. Later, when more and more people began living or visiting there, that gym was converted into the main dining/meeting hall.
At first, the upstairs of both wings weren't even used, but when the PI evacuation happened it was wall to wall, and wall to ceiling (bunkbeds) with people. The kitchen, where I worked a lot, also went through several major renovations. There were so many people there at one point that they brought in two huge shipping containers, one refridgerated, to store all the food necessary for feeding a hundred or more people. The kitchen had industrial size equipment, including a Hobart dishwasher and a giant, gas-fired, stand-alone wok.
And don't forget the bomb shelter. Mr. Narita had made some money years earlier by following Berg's advice to dump dollars . He got sucked in like all of us, thinking that Berg was some kind of prophet, but that particular financial advice was no special revelation from god. Anyway, he really believed all the endtime stuff, so had a large bomb shelter built deep under the school building, down below even the video studio and "sharing" rooms they had in the basement level. I don't know how "selah" that bomb shelter was, how many people knew about it, but I know that it wasn't shown on the architectural blue prints of the building. And the entrance to it was cleverly hidden as a fake wall. During "persecution" evacuation drills that were held occassionally (we were alerted by a special code song over the speaker system) that bomb shelter was designated for the leaders and "important" staff, while all us peons had to escape into the woods.
Also, when video production was in full swing, a large studio building, with additional bedrooms upstairs, was built across the street from the school building, adjacent to the White house.
And don't forget the swimming pool. Was I the only one who got an ear infection from swimming in it?
You're right about the Dorm. It was used for at least awhile by Berg's pubs staff.
So when you read about the HCS, it was actually a combination of many different buildings in a small, isolated residential development. Some of the neighbouring "systemite" houses, at least when I was there, were occupied year-round, and others were just used as holiday cottages, as the Tateyama area was quite beautiful, especially along the coast, with all the flower orchards. From certain spots on the HCS property you could see Mt. Fuji on clear days, as well as another nearby volcanic island.
