Neighbors Fight Bid for New Sikh Temple

With immigration from India on the rise, the congregation of a Sikh temple in Los Feliz has outgrown its home in a former restaurant on North Vermont Avenue. The Sikhs want to replace the building and a priest’s residence next door with a $1.5-million, marble-covered and domed temple at the same site.

“It should feel like a godly place,” said Amolak Singh, president of the Sikh Study Circle, which is situated at the southeast corner of Vermont and Finley avenues and attracts as many as 200 worshipers on Sundays.

However, residents of an adjacent condominium building are protesting the plan and say they want the Sikhs out of Los Feliz. They complain that the Sikhs have brought noise and parking problems to the area and say they fear that the bloody conflict between Sikhs and Hindus in India in recent years could make a new temple a target for violence.

“It may wind up as an attractive building, but it sure doesn’t fit in the neighborhood,” said Josephine Raymond, president of Los Feliz Imperial Assn., the group of condominium owners at 4614 Finley Avenue.

The dispute is scheduled to be reviewed today by the Planning Commission of the City of Los Angeles. The commission in January approved a conditional-use permit for the new temple but attached strict guidelines to soften the effect on the neighborhood. However, neighbors complained that they were not given sufficient notice of a hearing and persuaded the commission to take another look at the matter.

The situation has been exacerbated by misunderstandings on both sides and “different life styles,” according to Gilda Haas, a deputy to Councilman Michael Woo, who represents the area.

500-Year-Old Religion

The Sikhs, most of whom emigrated from the grain-rich Punjab state in northwest India, follow a 500-year-old religion that combines elements of Hinduism and Islam. The Sikhs are monotheistic and reject the caste system. Traditionally, Sikh men are forbidden to cut their hair or beards. Religiously observant men wear turbans and an iron bracelet and carry a small ceremonial dagger in their belts. Sikh women, considered equal to men in their religion, wear the Indian-style tunic and head scarf but place no caste marks on their foreheads.

In India, Sikhs are known for being excellent farmers, athletes, soldiers and mechanics, and their influence nationwide remains disproportionate to their small numbers. However, a cycle of violence surrounding a Sikh separatist movement has spurred recent emigration. Estimates of the number of Sikhs in the Los Angeles area range as high as 10,000, much larger than when the Sikhs bought the restaurant building in 1969. Two other Indian Sikh temples have since been started in the Los Angeles region and a third, in West Los Angeles, mainly serves American converts.

Parking Spaces Planned

The Sikhs say the proposed 2 1/2-story temple on North Vermont would alleviate crowding and other problems at the old buildings. It would have an underground garage with room for 85 cars, 80 more than the existing parking lot can hold, and thick walls to block out the sound of chanting and the smell of early-morning cooking.

Most of the neighborhood would welcome that, the Sikhs say, adding that they have garnered 124 signatures in the neighborhood on a petition supporting the construction. The remaining opposition, the Sikhs say, may be fueled by racial prejudice.

“Maybe they do not want a minority . . . ,” said Dr. Amarjit S. Marwah, a founder of the temple who is a dentist and president of the city’s Cultural Heritage Commission.

The condominium owners deny that they are prejudiced against the Sikhs and point out that their 24-unit building has residents who are Armenian, Jewish, Pakistani, Filipino and Latino, as well as white. “We want to stress that this has nothing to do with religion or ethnic background, but with parking and odors,” said condominium resident John Cohagan.

Petition Against Plan

The residents association has obtained 136 signatures on a petition, which says, among other things, that most of those attending the temple do not live in the neighborhood. It also has the support of the Los Feliz Improvement Assn., the politically powerful homeowners group that says it has 2,400 members.

Some residents of the condominium say they fear violence at the temple. They say they were frightened by an angry rally at the temple in June, 1984, attended by about 1,000 Sikhs protesting the raid by Indian troops on the Sikh’s holiest shrine, the Golden Temple in Punjab, to oust Sikh radicals. Five months after that raid, Indian president Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards. Her killing set off an orgy of anti-Sikh rioting in India, with more than 1,000 Sikhs slain by Hindus.

‘Commotion’ Justified

Marwah said that the rally and subsequent mourning services at the Los Feliz temple did cause “an emotional commotion” but that it was justified because the events in India were the worst in Sikh history. Things have calmed now, he said.

Sgt. Joseph Ramm of the Northeast Division of the Los Angeles Police Department said the temple is not a trouble spot, although the police were called there Feb. 16 to break up a fight apparently spurred by an internal election dispute.

The existing temple and priest’s home are both painted white with blue trim, with carefully tended gardens in front. The main meeting hall, lined with red carpeting, has no furniture other than an altar covered with rugs and flowers. A large kitchen serves a free, communal lunch on Sundays. Other rooms have mattresses for overnight visitors. Next door, the large, front room of the priest’s residence is lined with drawings from Sikh history and is also used as a classroom, explained the priest Gurmukh Singh, who was wearing a golden turban and white robes. (To show the brotherhood of men, all Sikh men use Singh as either their last or middle name; it means lion in Punjabi.)

Building Code Violated

However, both buildings show signs of wear and lack of upkeep. They have been cited for safety and building-code violations, such as the illegal installation of bathrooms in a garage and removal of structural partitions. Full enforcement of those citations has been delayed pending the Planning Commission hearing and what the Sikhs hope will be quick demolition.

“It is not as good as an American church,” Amolak Singh, who owns an auto supply store in La Puente, said of the existing facility. “When we invite people from the outside, we don’t feel okay. We want to construct a nice new temple so the locality appears better.”

Three weeks ago, a city Planning Department hearing examiner, recommended that the permit to build the new temple be issued. But the examiner said that “activities on the site have made the Sikh Temple a poor neighbor to neighborhood residents” and that new construction should include an eight-foot-high masonry wall against adjacent property. The examiner also recommended that no loudspeakers be allowed at the temple, that it be opened for services only on Sundays from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. and that the garage not be rented out during the week.

However, opponents of the proposed new temple say they do not trust the enforcement of those conditions. If the Planning Commission approves the permit, the condominium association says, it will appeal to City Council and possibly take the matter to court.