Sri Venkateswara, Malibu Hindu Temple

A temple of the Hindu god Venkateswara, built in 1981, is located in the city of Calabasas near Malibu, California in the Santa Monica Mountains. It is owned and operated by the Hindu Temple Society of Southern California.

Venkateshwara, also known as Venkatachalapati, Srinivasa and Balaji is a form of the Hindu god Vishnu.
Venkateshwara means the Lord who destroys the sins of the people.
According to the Hindu scriptures,Vishnu, out of love towards his devotees, incarnated as Venkateshwara and appeared for the salvation and upliftment of humanity in this Kali Yuga and is considered the supreme form of Vishnu in this age.
In iconographic depictions, Lord Venkateswara's eyes are covered, because it is said, that his gaze is so intense, it would scorch the universe.

Sri Venkateswara, Malibu Hindu Temple is built in the traditional South Indian style and frequented by followers of Hinduism in Southern California.
The priests are situated and live on the grounds of the temple. The temple has many gatherings for ceremonies, and provides numerous space for meditation, picknicking, it has a full stage for special cultural and Hindu programs.

In 1997, the temple was used in a small scene in the movie Beverly Hills Ninja , starring Chris Farley, and in 1998 in a song in the Tamil film Jeans.
In January 2006, the pop-star singer Britney Spears had her 4-month-old son blessed in a large ceremony by the Hindu priests, of this temple. The event had world-wide coverage in the media.

The Hindu temple has two complexes - the upper complex with Lord Venkateswara as the presiding deity and the lower complex with Lord Shiva as the presiding deity. In addition to the presiding deity, both complexes have shrines for other deities.

Yesterday was Mahashivratri, I was in Sri Venkateswara Malibu Hindu Temple between 10 PM and 12:15 AM.
Few pictures from there.

very interesting place! thank for posting, Owlet! i like to know smth about LA by your pics!

Yes, I'm interested myself in that temple too. I wanted to visit it for a long time and finally got a chance. Want to show you some deities of the temple.
The deities at the Malibu Temple include Venkateswara, Rama, Lakshman, Sita, Hanuman, Ganesh, Padmavathi, Bhoodevi, Shiva, Krishna & Radha.

The temple was built in an area of 4.5 acres and is located in Malibu Hills. Facilities at the temple include a temple kitchen.