My TBM niece just got married last fall and moved to TX (from Utah) where her TBM husband is in dental school (how unusual, not).

She contacted me last week to let me know that she and her TBM hubby were coming to LA in July for a mini vacation and wanted my advice where to stay. She visited me before she was married and my husband and I (a nevermo) took her all around the nice beach communities and she seemed to love it. So naturally, when she called me for hotel recommendations I gave her hotel options close to the beach and in nice areas and, in her price range that she gave me.

Well, I was surprised to get an email from her the next day that she talked to her TBM husband and they decided to stay at a dumpy motel right next to the LA Temple (cost is not the issue for them). If you are from LA then you know then that the LA temple is located on a very busy street, in the middle of the most non-descript part of the city and there is NOTHING special about that area at all!!!!! NOTHING! You might as well go to Omaha or something and why bother coming to LA for a vacation then.

I also offered for them to stay with us but she declined. We have a cute house close to the beach...

I am at a total loss why she’s doing this. I can only guess that they are so ingrained in Mormonism that they only feel comfortable staying at a place that may have other Mormons because its adjacent to the temple. How sad.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/13/2012 04:47PM by rgg.

Mormons pass up all kinds of fun, cultural, social events out of fear.

They are fearful of the outside world. They have fears that make no sense to the outside world. They fear being in the same room with alcohol. They pass on all kinds of things because of that one fear. It may be why they aren't staying with you. They can't handle staying with people who have a cup of coffee in the morning or a glass of wine in the evening. They will go to extremes to avoid that.

They probably are planning on going to the temple while in LA. That's why they chose that hotel. If they have any fun it will most likely be an accident. Going to the temple takes priority over going to the beach, or having a good time.

I think that you may be correct...Too bad because where they are staying is ugly, busy and there is nothing to walk to except of course to the temple!

They'd be just a few city blocks from downtown Westwood, and the UCLA campus. Not that they'll likely go there, of course...

True...Although, its such a busy street that if they walk, it would be like walking on the freeway. And, they woulnd't like UCLA because its not Mormon and Westwood is filled with homeless vets.

Go figure. I think that area has a slightly-sleazy kind of character all its own.

Southern Utahns think Salt Lake City is evil.

I tend to agree for wholly different reasons. Ha ha

The mormon church is a mafia. Mormons and jack-mormons ex-mormons should be afraid. As long as that big money comin' into the coffers......well...it ain't safe to rock the boat.

There ARE rather a lot of Mormon dentists, aren't there? I can think of four just off the top of my head. So why is that?

Yes, BYU is the number one feeder school into dental schools in the country (I'm not making that up).

The reason is because dentists only have to work a 3-4 day week (plenty of time for family) and make about $150-$250k/year, which is plenty of money.

The church also conducted a survey awhile back and found that dentists are the least likely profession to apostatize from Mormonism. I think IT professionals (or something like that) were the most likely.

Ha! My husband is in IT....but actually left the church after taking a class called History of the American West.

I guess choosing dentistry makes sense for a Mormon, but I don't see the correlation with being unlikely to apostate.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/14/2012 01:08AM by rosemary.

I used to work about four blocks from the temple on Santa Monica. That stretch of Santa Monica is full of homeless people, hookers, junkies, and (horror of horrors!) actual homosexuals. For an innocent Mormon deacon (age 12) from the suburbs, it was quite an adventure and an education.

If they don't want to be somewhere "evil," they shouldn't be in that part of town.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/13/2012 06:44PM by runtu.

Dang! Why are they even coming to LA? I'm familiar with that area of LA, and there is nothing to do compared to other areas. A few miles down Wilshire and they'd be in K-town. A few more, Chinatown or Little Tokyo. Go west, and Santa Monica or Marina Del Rey are right there!

My own mother visits relatives in different cities around the world, and always goes to the local temple. Sometimes, she puts the whole group on hold. She'll visit my brother in Europe, and they go do something fun with my father while she goes and sits in a sterile room doing a session.

That's kind of like going to Japan and eating at MacDonald's, which I can do within a mile of anywhere in the USA. Hell no! If I go all the way to Japan, I'm going to have sushi or something local. (Actually, I did have sushi in Japan last month.)

T-Bone

If they just married, Maybe they want privacy and they may not know what the area is like if they haven't been before. Convenience may have been t he factor.

I live in Marina del Rey. Okay they don't want to stay with us, fine. I gave them a referral to a hotel in the marina that is only $100 per night. She said their budget was $200 per night (her hubby comes from BIG money).

My niece obvioulsy has no idea what they are in for. I checked out the motel (yes, its a motel they are going to stay at) and it says that its "next to the mormon temple", so I can only assume they must think that other TBMs will be staying there.

Strange.

And yes, I agree, many are dentists.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/14/2012 12:16PM by rgg.

Maybe she doesn't want her husband to see all the pretty Cali girls in their teeny-tiny bikinis.

Former friends stayed at the Azul Inn/Los Angeles West Inn - their kids trashed the rooms while they went to sessions. They wouldn't visit me, I had to go there to visit them. When you opened the drapes in the rooms all you saw was the fence and green lawn of Mormons Inc.'s International House Of Handshakes across Santa Monica Blvd. Place was a total dump.

Sounds to me it was probably the husband that nixed the idea. I would think if she had a problem with your recommendations she would have said something then. You said she loved her last visit with you AND she wasn't married then so she could have fun without his permision. However, since he is the "priesthood holder" I'm guessing he is the anal one.