Book Title: Jain Center Los Angeles CA 2008 09 Pratishta Souvenior
Author(s): Jain Center So CA Los Angeles
Publisher: USA Jain Center Southern California
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collection was auctioned, the temple passed into the hands of an art dealer, from whom it was purchased by "The Castaways" - a Las Vegas hotel owned by Howard Hugh's Summa Corporation. The temple was assembled and displayed outside in the courtyard of The Castaways casino. It was labeled as "The Gateway of Luck".
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Figure 4. Gateway of Luck displayed in the courtyard of
The Castaways Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas
A brochure published by The Castaways Hotel described the "Gateway of Luck as a replica of the Temple of Palitana, situated in Palitana in Gujarat the isthmus of Cathiawar, East India. The Palitana Temple, known as the "The Precious Jewel of Palithana" is constructed entirely of pure white marble. It's teakwood replica, situated now in the gardens of Castaways Hotel, is smaller than its prototype, but in all other respects is an exact copy".
TRACING THE JOURNEY: FROM LAS VEGAS TO LOS ANGELES
A chance discovery by a community member about the existence of a Jain Temple in Las Vegas led to an intensive effort by the Jain Center of Southern California (JCSC) to contact the Summa Corporation and initiate a dialog about the temple. The intent of the effort was to convince the Summa Corporation that the artifact was of immense spiritual and sentimental significance for the Jains and should be donated to JCSC for preservation - a slim chance but worth betting - after all it was in Las Vegas, a city of chance. JCSC's patience and persistent paid off in a big way. The Castaways Hotel was scheduled for demolition and the Summa Corporation agreed to donate the artifact to JCSC 1987. JCSC arranged to dismantle the temple, had it stored in Las Vegas for a brief period, and finally transported it to Los Angeles.
In 1995, the dismantled temple was transported from Las Vegas to Los Angeles by a team of community volunteers. The original Jain Bhavan, inaugurated in 1988, did not have adequate space to assemble and display the wooden temple. Few of the panels were put on display at the Jain Bhavan but the bulk of the pieces - nearly 1600 components – were stored by
