Anton LaVey and the Church of Satan

Bay Curious

KQED

History, Society & Culture, Places & Travel

4.9 • 999 Ratings

🗓️ 19 October 2023

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

One chapter in the Bay Area's long tradition of local subcultures is often overlooked: America’s first official satanic church was started right here in San Francisco. In the third installment in our Boo Curious series, producer Amanda Font finds the devil in the details of The Church of Satan's larger-than-life founder, Anton LaVey, and the Black House where it all started. It's a story filled with lust, intrigue and a fair amount of theatrics. Additional Reading: How the Church of Satan Was Born in San Francisco Read a transcript of this episode Sign up for our newsletter Enter our Sierra Nevada Brewing Company monthly trivia contest Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts This story was reported by Amanda Font. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Amanda Font, Christopher Beale and Brendan Willard. Additional support from Cesar Saldana, Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Jasmine Garnett, Carly Severn, Maha Sanad, Matthew Green and Holly Kernan.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From K-QED.
0:02.0	If you visited San Francisco's Richmond District back in 2001 and made your way to 6114 California Street, you would have found yourself facing a tall Victorian house that
0:16.4	was entirely black. An attention-grabbing paint scheme, for sure, but it's what happened inside the Black House that truly
0:25.6	intrigued curious San Franciscans. It was the first headquarters of the Church of
0:31.1	Satan and the personal home of its founder, Anton LaVay.
0:36.0	His theatrical nature and controversial beliefs turned him into a kind of celebrity.
0:41.6	Here he is in an interview in 1970.
0:44.0	Who ordained you a satanic priest?
0:46.0	I would say probably I received the call.
0:49.0	Just as any fundamentalist, but we fight it.
0:52.0	Why fight it.
0:54.0	Why fight it? This is of course the whole principle of my religion.
0:57.0	All of the concepts...
0:58.0	You mean one day the devil said,
1:00.0	go out Anton Zandor levey and give people hell.
1:05.0	That's about it.
1:09.0	That's about it because people like to have a hell of a time, don't they?
1:12.0	How did the Church of Satan get People like to have a hell of a time, don't they?
1:13.2	How did the Church of Satan get its start in San Francisco?
1:17.4	And what was it like to live in the black house
1:20.0	with the so-called Black Pope himself. Welcome to the third installment of Boo Curious.
1:29.4	This October, we're bringing you stories about the creepy, the eerie, the misunderstood places around the Bay Area.
	...

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