Kong Chow Benevolent Association Temple, Los Angeles洛杉矶冈州会馆关帝庙

Type

Overseas Daoist Temples

Location

United States · California · Los Angeles · In the Broadway area of New Chinatown; located in old Chinatown before 1947

First built

1889 · The Kong Chow Benevolent Association was founded in Los Angeles in 1889; the temple at its present site was completed in 1960, designed by architect Gilbert Leong

Overview

The Kong Chow Benevolent Association is a native-place association for immigrants from Xinhui, Guangdong (anciently called Kong Chow), founded in Los Angeles in 1889; a Guandi temple is housed within the association building, dedicated primarily to Lord Guan the Sacred Emperor with other deities also enshrined, making it an association-type shrine rather than a freestanding temple. During the old Chinatown period the temple remained at its original site until the city government completed the demolition and relocation for the construction of Union Station in 1947, at which point the association and its temple moved together into New Chinatown. The present temple opened in 1960, designed by the Chinese American architect Gilbert Leong — one of the first generation of Chinese American architects in Southern California, responsible for many of the Chinese-style buildings in New Chinatown. The temple's main image is an eight-foot gilded seated statue of Guandi, along with a number of divine images and ritual implements made in the 1920s and 1930s by the craftsman Yang Ayuan (transliteration uncertain). In the context of native-place associations, Guandi carries the combined identity of a martial god, a symbol of righteousness and loyalty, and a guardian of commerce, making him the most common principal deity of native-place associations and tongs in North America.

Highlights

• A native-place association shrine for immigrants from Xinhui, founded in 1889
• Relocated from old Chinatown in 1947 due to the Union Station project
• The 1960 new temple was designed by Chinese American architect Gilbert Leong
• An eight-foot gilded seated statue of Guandi