Dragon Gate
Attraction · Chinatown, California
A three-portal pailou facing south across Bush Street at the foot of Grant Avenue. A design competition sponsored by Mayor John F. Shelley in 1967, open to architects of Chinese descent, was won by the architect Clayton Lee with the landscape architects Melvin H. Lee and Joseph Yee. The central portal carries the inscription 天下為公, tianxia wei gong, attributed to Sun Yat-sen; the east portal carries 忠孝仁愛.
History
Wikipedia's account, which is footnoted to contemporary press, records groundbreaking in October 1967 and construction beginning in August 1968; that the 120 ochre roof tiles, the roofing and the guardian lions were fabricated and donated by the Republic of China in 1969; that the construction contract went to Moreau Construction and was completed at $90,889.15; and that the gate was dedicated on 18 October 1970, with a half-mile parade attended by Mayor Joseph Alioto and Vice-President Yen Chia-kan. It was restored in 1995, when the roof tiles were replaced, the lighting upgraded, the steps repaired and handrails installed. A male guardian lion stands at the west portal with his right fore paw on a pearl and a female at the east with her left fore paw on a cub; fish and dragons run along the roof, with a ball between the dragons.
Visit
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