Looking for town/city that has weekly kirtans,word music,vegetarian restaurants and is progressive (Los Angeles: rentals)

[jahmalla]

Does anyone know anyplace in California that has kirtans on a weekly basis. And also has world music.

[jaijai]

Santa Cruz + county.
Check out the Pacific Cultural center, ChantaCruz.com and the Mt. Madonna Center.
Those are 3 places that come immediately to mind.

Progressive, yep.
World music scene, yep.
vegetarian restaurants, yep.

and 2 excellent radio stations.

KKUP Cupertino - 91.5 FM - Commercial-Free People's Radio (100% listener supported)

KZSC Santa Cruz - Commercial Free Radio - UCSC

[jahmalla]

I lived in Santa Cruz a couple of times in the past. Was only into reggae at the time. Wonder if people were even doing kirtans at that time. I just looked at Craigslist the other day to see about rentals. Might consider returning however it does get real cold there and summers are foggy in the morning. I did not mention in my original post that I was hoping for a place that is real diverse. I heard its still the same as before; not as diverse as Berkeley or S.F.

[jaijai]

Originally Posted by jahmalla

I lived in Santa Cruz a couple of times in the past. Was only into reggae at the time. Wonder if people were even doing kirtans at that time. I just looked at Craigslist the other day to see about rentals. Might consider returning however it does get real cold there and summers are foggy in the morning. I did not mention in my original post that I was hoping for a place that is real diverse. I heard its still the same as before; not as diverse as Berkeley or S.F.

Baba Hari Dass (founded Mt. Madonna Center) came to S.C. county in the early 70's and the Pacific Cultural Center has been around for a long time.
There's been a strong spiritual stream(s) in the area for a long time.
"Real cold"? I guess it's relative.
I spend a lot of time in the mountains so to me, it's not cold at all but yeah, there's fog in the summer but there are lots of places in the county where there's often little to no fog.
Diversity? Again, relative.
No, nothing like S.F., etc. or L.A. area.
Never will be.
If you want real diversity then you need a "real" city, right?
And in either the L.A. or S.F. area you'll find plenty of what you're looking for if you want to live the urban life.

[drunk on kool aid]

Plug in "kirtan" and city name to see what pops up. LA has many entries but I don't know how active they are

Regarding world music, Los Angeles hosts the 5th World Festival Of Sacred Music, October 1-16, 2011.

World Festival Of Sacred Music

The event was inspired by the Dalai Lama and occurs every three years in LA. It's a massive, wildly diverse, two week event of many musical and cultural events scattered all over the county.