American devotee of Swamiji, resident of Los Angeles, had heard him speak at the Parliament of Religions at Chicago. Mrs. Blodgett had bought a large coloured poster of Swamiji at Chicago and hung it in her Los Angeles home. Six years later Josephine MacLeod visited her house where her brother, a guest, lay ill and saw the poster. She helped the lady get in touch with Swamiji. Swamiji was her guest from mid-December 1899 to the second week of January 1900, at her house in Los Angeles (921 West Twenty-first Street). He spent happy, relaxed weeks in her cottage while while undergoing Mrs. Melton’s treatment and giving lectures too. He refers to his hostess as “A Chicago lady-fat, old and extremely witty. She heard me in Chicago and is very motherly.” The surroundings, “It is exactly like Northern Indian winter here … The roses are here and the beautiful palms. Barley is in the fields, roses and many other flowers round about the cottage where I live” (The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 8.488). She took good care of him, unable to go out to attend his lectures, refreshing him with food and care after an exhausting lecture. During a lecture at this time Miss MacLeod noticed a white radiance emanating from Swamiji on the dais while he spoke, charged with the spirit of Christ. Parts of a letter she wrote to Miss MacLeod after his passing published in the Prabuddha Bharata (July 1963) and incorporated in the Reminiscences of Swami Vivekananda (1964). Excerpts: “He would come home from a lecture where he was compelled to break away from his audience, so eagerly would they gather around him-come rushing into the kitchen like a boy released from school, with, ‘Now we will cook'” (Reminiscences of Swami Vivekananda, 2004, p. 359); “… he would come in for his morning plunge in the bath. Soon his deep, rich voice would be heard in the something resembling a solemn chant” (Ibid).
Life in Los Angeles brought benefit to Swamiji’s health. Thus one of the purposes of his visit, the restoration of his health, was accomplished. So also was the other one, that of the collection of funds. He did thoroughly enjoy his four weeks of stay at Mrs. Blodgett’s. Years later, Mrs. Sevier wrote to Miss MacLeod, “I remember perfectly the delight of Swamiji during his stay with (good old) Mrs. Blodgett, he often spoke of it.” It was really only after he had started holding classes in Los Angeles that he felt a sense of well-being and that the true meaning of his stay in California began to reveal itself. He wrote to Mrs. Bull on the 27th of December, “I am very much more peaceful and find that the only way to keep my peace is to teach others. Work is my only safety valve.”
When he met the Mead sisters he was asked to shift to their house. But Swamiji replied that he did not need luxury and was comfortable at Mrs. Blodgett’s house. Till the 24th of January, 1900, he stayed at Mrs. Blodgett’s house. After that, he shifted to the house of the Mead sisters in South Pasadena taking farewell of his hostess, the ‘fat, old, extremely witty and very motherly’ Mrs. Roxie Blodgett.