[Last updated 1/1/24 8:34 PM PT—The gift shop, which remained open through the end of 2023, is now permanently closed. The status of the property is still TBA.]
[Updated 8/23/22 9:14 PM PT—The last of the Dominican nuns have left the monastery and the Dominican Order has suppressed, or deactivated, it. A lawyer representing the monastery told the Los Angeles Times in June that there were no plans to sell and that the chapel and gift shop would stay open. But a recent Esotouric visit says otherwise.]
But there’s a halo hooked onto the devil horns of this flawed, misunderstood, and sometimes bacchanalian metropolis.
LA, in fact, can be downright angelic.
![](https://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l93/pandisoo/2020/Monastery/P1090610cropLO_zpsmjtbbcux.jpg)
circa 2015
A little off the beaten path—in the angelic realm, anyway—are the cloistered Dominican Contemplative Nuns of The Monastery of the Angels.
![](https://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l93/pandisoo/2020/Monastery/P1650603lo_zpssm7onbws.jpg)
As part of their monastic life, the nuns have withdrawn from the world to devote their lives to praying, studying, and performing daily morning mass.
![](https://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l93/pandisoo/2020/Monastery/P1090612lo_zpsu61ovbkr.jpg)
circa 2015
![](https://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l93/pandisoo/2020/Monastery/P1090613lo_zpsjyj5opex.jpg)
circa 2015
![](https://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l93/pandisoo/2020/Monastery/P1090622lo_zpssvedmksu.jpg)
circa 2015
![](https://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l93/pandisoo/2020/Monastery/P1090621lo_zpsckrapw7t.jpg)
circa 2015
![](https://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l93/pandisoo/2020/Monastery/P1650595cropLO_zpsd4bzqpqy.jpg)
In its heyday, it provided a chic getaway for god-fearing stars and starlets to retreat from the Babylonian evils of Tinseltown and into prayer—including actress Jane Wyman, who donated a sculpture of Mother Mary that still stands in the courtyard today.
![](https://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l93/pandisoo/2020/Monastery/P1650598cropLO_zpsvzkblc7g.jpg)
Since the 1950s, the nuns have gotten to indulge in one hobby—making treats such as peanut brittle, hand-dipped chocolates, and, since 1965, pumpkin bread.
![](https://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l93/pandisoo/2020/Monastery/P1090624cropLO_zpszqtppso1.jpg)
circa 2015
![](https://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l93/pandisoo/2020/Monastery/P1650593lo_zps8fsqeecc.jpg)
In addition to the gift shop, there's a chapel open for quiet contemplation...
![](https://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l93/pandisoo/2020/Monastery/P1650582cropLO_zpszyoozi8w.jpg)
...and even more statuary sprinkled throughout the courtyard (including a depiction of St. Martin de Porres, a 16th-century illegitimate child of Spanish nobility and a Panamanian freed slave who's widely revered by the Dominican order.
![](https://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l93/pandisoo/2020/Monastery/P1650592lo_zpsn5iarffi.jpg)
In the walled garden, the Stations of the Cross provide the opportunity to trace the final path of Jesus prior to his crucifixion...
![](https://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l93/pandisoo/2020/Monastery/P1650586lo_zps8wtzvc3q.jpg)
...alongside beautiful relief sculptures mounted on the curved stone wall.
![](https://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l93/pandisoo/2020/Monastery/P1650588lo_zpsyo8la3ih.jpg)
With Lent starting next week and Easter just about seven weeks away, it's the perfect time to visit the Monastery of the Angels...
![](https://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l93/pandisoo/2020/Monastery/P1650589lo_zpsmb1qvtff.jpg)
...even just to check out a historic site in LA that not too many people know about...
![](https://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l93/pandisoo/2020/Monastery/P1650590lo_zpscc0jxaml.jpg)
...and even fewer visit any time of the year besides Christmas...
![](https://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l93/pandisoo/2020/Monastery/P1650591lo_zpsltxuxfz5.jpg)
...which is the most popular season for their famed pumpkin bread.
Related Posts:
Photo Essay: The Monastic Life at St. Andrew's Abbey
Photo Essay: The Way of Sorrows
Photo Essay: Monastery of the Caves (Києво-Печерська лавра)
Photo Essay: Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels (Updated for 2018)
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