Temple of Kwan Tai!

Temple of Kwan Tai
Landmark #927 Mendocino County Visited: August 2, 2014 Plaque?  YES! 🙂
What is it? The last Taoist temple on the North California coast!
What makes it historical? THE GUIDE SAYS: One of the oldest of California’s Chinese houses of worship in continuous use, the temple may date back as far as 1854, though its documented history reaches only to 1883. The Chinese built many temples in California, but most have been destroyed, and no others remain on the North Coast.

OTHER TIDBITS: Not a lot of Chinese immigrants made it north of San Francisco, but Mendocino had a sizeable population of Cantonese speakers! They built the temple here in honor of Kwan Tai, or Guan Di, the god of war, who was originally a brilliant general in the second and third centuries, AD! Kwan Tai is the Daoist symbol for loyalty and integrity and is considered equal in importance to Confucius!

Even though the Chinese people who lived here were not well received, as was common across California, they did not cease in their expressions of joy and good luck through their architecture. After all, many of them had escaped death from famine and the Taiping Rebellion over in China!

How can I Help the Helpers? HERE’S HOW:

  • Donate to the Temple of Kwan Tai!
  • Donate to the National Trust for Historic Preservation!
  • Be a responsible visitor! Please respect the signs and pathways, and treat all structures and artifacts with respect. They’ve endured a lot to survive into the present. They’ll need our help to make it into the future!
Where is this place? LISTED DIRECTIONS:
45160 Albion St
Mendocino, CA 95460

ANNOTATIONS:
Yup! That’s correct!

From Los Angeles: ~528mi (850km) — 8.8hrs
From Sacramento: ~196mi (316km) — 3.3hrs
From San Diego: ~648mi (1043km) — 10.8hrs
From San Francisco: ~156mi (252km) — 2.6hrs

When should I go? You can see the exterior any time you like, but you’ll have to contact the temple to visit the interior!

Temple of Kwan Tai

Click here to see more California historical landmarks!

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