One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
How LA’s Indonesian Muslims found a spiritual home in Pico Union
Imam Honest Qashidi outside the Masjid At-Thohir mosque in Pico Union.
(
Avidha Raha
/
The LA Local
)
This story first appeared on The LA Local.
From the outside, the Gothic architecture of Masjid At-Thohir does not immediately announce itself as a neighborhood mosque.
The white facade, arched windows and steep roofline are now home to an Islamic community of Indonesians in Pico Union.
For years, Indonesian Muslims in Southern California gathered at the Indonesian Consulate on Wilshire Boulevard for prayer. The congregation transformed a diplomatic space into a temporary spiritual refuge. The arrangement worked, but there was always a longing for home.
“The idea is you want to have a space where you belong, be someone who is regular, and have a safe space. Those are things where you can grow as an individual,” said Honest Qashidi, 33, who serves as the resident Imam at Masjid At-Thohir.
Women pray inside the mosque.
(
Avidha Raha
/
The LA Local
)
For Indonesian Muslims living across Los Angeles, it has become a kind of third space somewhere between the private world of home and the demands of work and public life.
Sponsored message
That distinction matters in Los Angeles, where the Indonesian community is substantial but geographically dispersed. Unlike communities with a concentrated ethnic neighborhood, Indonesian Angelenos do not have a single “Indonesia Town” around which daily life revolves, Qashidi said. The mosque on Kenmore Avenue is that constant for the community.
“For the elders, it’s where they find their nostalgia. It’s a home away from home. But folks that grew up here, and trying to make sense of what it means to belong in a place; that is the aim of what I am trying to do in this space,” Qashidi said.
A gift to a father and community
Built in 1920, the building once served as the place of worship for the Los Angeles Samoan Community Christian church.
When that congregation left the neighborhood, the church’s pastor negotiated a deal in 2017 to sell the building to the Indonesia Muslim Foundation, the nonprofit group that coordinates activities in Los Angeles for the Indonesian Muslim community.
The nonprofit purchased the building for approximately $1.8 million, according to Qashidi.
Today, the historic structure is home to what many Indonesian Muslims in Los Angeles had long been missing: a mosque of their own.
Sponsored message
A devotee praying from the Quran in the almost empty hall after the main prayer is over.
(
Avidha Raha
/
The LA Local
)
Qashidi said, “The pastor wanted this space, if it were to be passed down, it would still stay a space of worship.”
The sale and conversion of the building was made possible by Indonesian billionaire Garibaldi Thohir, former CEO of Alamtri Resources Indonesia, one of the world’s top coal exporters. Garibaldi studied at USC and his brother, Erick Thohir, was also educated in Southern California.
The doors at the mosque officially opened in March 2022 after several delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The mosque was named “At-Thohir” to honor their late father, Mochamad Thohir.
“When we were studying in Los Angeles around 2015–2016, my father often visited,” Garibaldi said at the mosque’s opening, according to reporting from Indonesian media. “When he was going to Friday prayers, he often complained about the lack of a mosque nearby owned by the Indonesian community. That’s why we promised to make it happen.”
‘I will make food every single Friday’
Calling At-Thohir simply a mosque misses the spectrum of events inside. Located not too far from Pico Boulevard, the mosque shares the neighborhood with other religious institutions like the Sae Han Korean Church and the Pico Union Shalom Ministries.
Sponsored message
Food is a big part of the social life, turning prayer gatherings into opportunities to linger over familiar flavors. Every Friday, after the prayer, lunch is served in the backyard. Home-cooked Indonesian food items like bakwan, satay, soto ayam, perkedel, tahu kuning, telur balado and tempeh.
Lola Kamelia, left, Resy Ismail, Raninta Nailah and Lily Yulani serve lunch on a Friday after prayer.
(
Avidha Raha
/
The LA Local
)
Lily Yulani, 53, one of the women who helps with food every week, joked about her teenage son’s pronunciation of perkedel, a simple mashed potato patty dish.
“My son cannot pronounce P-E-R-K-E-D-E-L yet, so he calls it C-R-O-C-O-D-I-L-E,” Yulani giggled.
Resy Ismail, 65, the woman in charge of serving and preparing food on Fridays, said that much of the food is donated, but she will not let that stop her from giving back to the community.
“Whether there is a donation or not, I will make food every single Friday,” Ismail said.
Ismail is a rantang chef and brings the food from her home in stacked, metal containers. She is proud to serve the community and initiated the meal system in the mosque and continues to coordinate with whoever wants to contribute to the weekly food distribution. Together, they bring different home-cooked items to put together a meal for the visitors at the mosque.
Sponsored message
Imam Qashidi said that in a multicultural setting food becomes a gateway to culture. Born and raised in Los Angeles, he attended high school in Jakarta, Indonesia, completed his undergraduate degree in Egypt and is currently pursuing a degree in Islamic Studies from Bayan Islamic Graduate School.
“When you are in America, and you grew up with whatever background you have, the starting point is just food,” Qashidi said.
The lunch is served to the guests at the mosque.
(
Avidha Raha
/
The LA Local
)
Third space
Apart from food being the most visible marker of community within the diaspora, there are regular Islamic studies classes on weekends taught by Qashidi. There are also workshops on calligraphy, immigration rights, digital literacy and Canva.
Additionally, there are also dance and music classes that do not happen inside the mosque, but in the adjoining auditorium.
People can enroll in a traditional plate dance, or musical performances like Angklung and the Bedug, a large drum traditionally associated with communities in Indonesia.
Raninta Nailah, 13, a Pico Union resident and food distribution volunteer, tries to come to the mosque whenever she’s not in school.
“It’s very close to my community and I feel safe,” Nailah said. “I come to Saturday school here for social studies and I feel good because I have been learning new stuff.”
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
