Mazu is the protector of seafarers, and for the Chinese immigrants who began arriving in California during the Gold Rush, she was the deity who had watched over their terrifying Pacific crossing. When they reached San Francisco, they built temples to honor her -- the Tin How Temple, the Weaverville Joss House, the Temple of Kwan Tai in Mendocino. The Tin How Temple was purportedly founded around 1852 or 1853 by Day Ju, described as one of the first Chinese people to arrive in San Francisco. That a sea goddess received one of the first temples makes perfect sense: these immigrants had just survived weeks on the open ocean, and gratitude demanded a place of worship.

The 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire destroyed the original temple building along with most of Chinatown. But three objects survived the conflagration: the image of the goddess, the temple bell, and part of the altar. These were enough. The Sue Hing Benevolent Society rebuilt the temple in 1910, placing it on the top floor of a new four-story building on the same site. The decision to locate it at the top was practical and spiritual -- in Chinese tradition, temples occupy the highest available space to be closest to heaven. From the temple's balcony, you can see the Transamerica Pyramid and the Embarcadero Center, modern towers that frame a view from a room where Gold Rush traditions persist.

The Tin How Temple is not a museum. Photography is not allowed inside, a rule that reinforces its identity as an active place of worship rather than a tourist attraction. Admission is free with the permission of the attendant, and donations are accepted. Visitors who climb the four flights of stairs find themselves in a room dense with history and devotion: the altar, the lanterns, the persistent smell of incense that has been burning continuously for over a century. The temple sits on Waverly Place, sometimes called "the street of painted balconies," in the heart of the oldest Chinatown in North America. It should not be confused with the Ma-Tsu Temple of U.S.A., located two blocks north, which was founded in 1986 with ties to a temple in Taiwan.