The People's Temple

     Way back in 1978, I was a burglar alarm technician in San Francisco. 

     Months after Jim Jones and his cult of lunatics self-destructed, their former  headquarters went up for sale.  I happened to be carrying my 35mm Olympus OM-1 in the service truck, so I snapped a shot as I drove by.  

     I thought it was sad to see a proud old church bereft and up for sale. The picture eventually became the first of the Smith Christmas Cards.

       It was intended as a comment on the commercialization of the holiday.  But when recipients learned the card displayed the former home of the cyanide kool-aid king, they didn't know whether to burst out laughing or drop it on the floor in horror.