Easter services and celebrations underway from beaches to downtown
Easter was being marked Sunday with masses in churches and on the sand along the beaches in Los Angeles County.
In Manhattan Beach, a 45-minute sunrise service was underway, continuing a tradition that has been going on for over 40 years just north of the pier.
Most of the service-goers are members of the Manhattan Beach Community Church, while others attended the service by the beach for the first time.
"This is my very first time. I just decided last night. I've always wanted to come to the beach and be a part of a sunrise service and I just thought, 'I'm just going to get up and go,' " said one worshipper.
Other services on the sand included Our Lady of Guadalupe Church celebrating a "Sunrise Mass on the Beach" on the sand at 11th Street south of the Hermosa Beach Pier; Revive LA Church holding its third annual Easter sunrise service at by Tower 8 on Will Rogers State Beach in Pacific Palisades at Temescal Canyon Road at Pacific Coast Highway and Mt. Olive Lutheran Church holding an Easter service at 7 a.m. on Santa Monica Beach, south of Lifeguard Tower 26.
Other services were planned at the Forest Lawn cemeteries in Covina Hills, Hollywood Hills and Long Beach and the Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks-Griffin Mortuary, Crematory & Memorial Park in Westlake Village.
Elsewhere, at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels several services will be held by Archbishop Jose H. Gomez. The Masses will be livestreamed on www.facebook.com/lacatholics and lacatholics.org/holyweek. During the Mass, after renewing their baptismal promises, all faithful will receive a blessing with Easter holy water as a reminder that, in and through Christ, they have died and been born again through the waters of baptism.
Sixth Street will be closed in front of The Midnight Mission to accommodate the nearly 2,000 homeless and near-homeless individuals and families who will be served a traditional Easter meal and receive hygiene items.
The Midnight Mission expects to serve 2,000 pounds of herb chicken, 45 gallons of gravy, 1,000 pounds of honey glazed spiral ham, 1,000 pounds of garlic mashed potatoes and 700 pounds of seasonal vegetables, according to Georgia Berkovich, its director of public affairs.
