CLIQUES

“I saw a UFO right where we’re standing.”

Edson Johnson is addressing 25 or so of the curious and the encountered who’ve gathered for the Third Annual UFO Contactee/Abductee Day Walk in La Canada Flintridge. He’s pointing above some power lines near the entrance to Descanso Gardens where, in 1982, Johnson says he saw two large, round objects circling each other. “This area seems to be a UFO energy vortex,” he gushes.

Johnson’s group, a New Age/UFO-oriented set called the Nikola Tesla Walkers, after the pioneering inventor and electrical theorist, meets every Sunday at the gardens. There’s an ex-LAPD cop who claims to have a UFO implant in his brain, a psychic consultant who says he’s received messages from a VOR (that’s Venutian Observation Ranger) through his TV set.

It’s on the first Sunday of July, though, that Johnson organizes the Day Walk, a full-fledged extraterrestrial event that draws L.A. “communion” types and the general public.

“I came out because I wanted to network,” says Naki-Ta, nee Eileen Strom, a Santa Monica artist who has been tuning into a space entity named To-Kah since 1981. Strom painted the being’s portrait--a figure resembling an iridescent, neon-charged Indian chief--which, following To-Kah’s instructions, she brought with her. An elderly gentleman named Dr. Discovery also brought portraits of American Indian-looking aliens. Discovery, a.k.a. Lawrence Boren, “an intuitive, right-brain contactee,” says these beings assist him in his work with “channeling the future.”

Not all in attendance, though, are convinced that life in outer space extends beyond the space shuttle. Some show up for the brisk, hourlong walk simply for their health. “I believe there’s stuff flying around that’s unidentified,” says Rob Cohen, a computer programmer from Eagle Rock. “But aliens from other galaxies and stuff like that? Nah.”