Long Life, Other Life: Giant Rock, the Integratron, and Van Tassel’s New Channels
Just outside of Giant Rock, on the night of August 24, 1953, former aerospace man George Van Tassel stated that Solgonda, a space person, visited him, took him upon his craft, and most importantly presented Van Tassel with instructions on how to build a life extension machine. On some sad undertone, Solgonda stated this was necessary because when humans become smart enough to “do something” with the knowledge they have acquired from their lifetime, death intervenes. This was not the first otherworldly encounter Van Tassel incurred at Giant Rock. Van Tassel devoted the rest of his life to completing his life extension machine, as directed. Originally named the College of Universal Wisdom Research Laboratory, the unfinished machine is better known as the Integratron.
Daniel Paul’s lecture will provide an overview of George Van Tassel, the significance of Giant Rock for him, and the Integratron as manifestation of what Van Tassel learned there.
Southern California-based architectural historian Daniel Paul has over 25 years’ experience in the field of historic preservation. Getting his mid-1990s start as Acting Director of “Grandma Prisbrey’s Bottle Village”- a Simi Valley folk art environment, he recently authored the National Register of Historic Places application for the Integratron, which was listed in 2018. Other landmarking projects include City of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument applications for the Capitol Records building and the entirety of Griffith Park, and locally, the National Register historic district application for Pioneertown’s Mane Street, successfully listed in 2020. Daniel Paul is a noted expert upon 1970s era Late-Modern mirror glass architecture, a subject on which he has written and widely lectured over the past 20 years. Daniel has over 15 years’ experience in built environment regulatory compliance at all government levels and holds a master’s degree in Art History from the California State University, Northridge.
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This lecture is a part of the project, “Our Giant Rock: A Community Touchstone in the Mojave,” and was made possible with support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
