The former Pacific Beach Woman’s Club has been remodeled and repurposed transforming it into the California Zoroastrian Center, which is now open to hosting weddings, other special events, and public meetings.

Physical improvements to the property inside and out at 1721 Hornblend St. have fundamentally changed it from a club space into a Zoroastrian cultural center. Religious observances are held there a few times a year and portions of the building have been altered specifically for that purpose.

The PB Woman’s Club, since departing, has been meeting ever since at VFW Post 5985 at 853 Turquoise St. in North PB.

But the building’s new owners want to reach out to welcome the greater community. They wish to let PB residents know they’re willing to share their space at reasonable rates for good causes. Which makes total sense for a faith committed to practicing “Good Thoughts, Good Words, and Good Deeds.”

“Cultures bound our religion,” noted Farhad Kermani, the new cultural center’s spokesperson. Of the creation of their new center, he added, “We want to keep alive, in the people’s minds, what we have been, and what we can do.”

Developer Ramin Karimi, the previous owner of the 3,600-square-foot former woman’s club building that is more than a century old, had different plans initially for the property. He had intended to build six condo units on two different levels there. But he was impressed with the Zoroastrians’ plans.

“We have almost 400 members in San Diego and 2,000 members in Southern California,” noted Kermani. “We got into negotiations with him (Karimi) to rent the place – and that turned into our buying it.”

Of outside groups utilizing the center’s space Kermani noted: “People can rent space here. We have discounted rates for nonprofit organizations and our board will be flexible in the rates we charge, and in reviewing the causes for those wishing to use the space. Use us to do something that is a good cause, that benefits the community: We always welcome that. Do think of us for your private events like weddings, birthdays, milestone celebrations, and other occasions.”

“We are a completely nonprofit organization,” added Kermani. “We raised over $2 million from our members (to build the center). We are not here to make money. All earnings only go towards covering our cost of running the center.”

Their new cultural center has a greater purpose, pointed out Kermani. “First of all, we are here to serve our community,” he concluded. “But we want to serve the whole bigger community of Pacific Beach and San Diego. We are spreading the word that we are here for the entire community.”

ZOROASTRIANISM

An Iranian religion and one of the world’s oldest organized faiths, Zoroastrianism is based on the teachings of the prophet Zarathushtra (Zoroaster). It is a monotheistic faith predicting the ultimate conquest of evil by good. It served as the state religion for the ancient Persian empire. With possible roots dating back to the 2nd millennium BCE, Zoroastrianism enters recorded history around the middle of the 6th century BCE. The faith declined from the 7th century onward as a direct result of the Arab-Muslim conquest of Persia, which led to a large-scale persecution of Zoroastrians. Recent estimates place the number of Zoroastrians in the world at around 110,000-120,000 at most, with the majority of this figure living in India, Iran, and North America.

Some teachings of the Prophet Zarathushtra:

– Worship of one supreme being, the first cause of all things.

– The aim of life is to make the world happy, to make others happy, and to be happy ourselves. This aim is to reach a state of perfection in ourselves and help the world in its progress towards perfection.

– People should be witnesses on the side of truth, proving untruth and evil to be false.

– The right method of obtaining happiness is summarized by Zarathushtra who said, “Happiness is the lot of those who work for others’ happiness.”

– In every one of us there is a divine essence within, the soul, the conscience, whatever you choose to call it.

– A simple universal maxim of the faith is to practice Good Thoughts, Good Words, and Good Deeds.