Tin How Temple

Love this temple! This is my first time coming here. I got sufficient guide before starting my prayer. Definitely will come back again.

This temple is a bit hard to find. When we arrived it was closing. The top floor has an alter outside which was peaceful and an inside room with prayers hanging from the ceiling.

So I’ve read several good and bad reviews regarding this temple. Let me clarify a few things, yes – it has become a well known location for tourists, yes – it is small, and yes – there are people folding what many tourists sees as temple «junk».
If you are going to visit this temple and expect it to be your typical-​stereotype, magnificent, and extravagant style, like those you can find online, then don’t waste your time. Not all temples are massive and they are usually NOT MEANT FOR TOURIST CRITIQUES. If you consider that temples are scam, then I can say the same for the all churches. There are definitely scammers out there, but this is not one of them.
The Tin-​How (or Tin-​Hou in mandarin) temple is a non-​profit organization that solely depends on the donation and prayers of the locals or non-​locals. If you want to see a massive temple like those you expect to see online, then follow the others advice (those bad review commenters here) and go to a temple (I don’t really care for their name because they have tried to take over the Tin-​How Temple once before) and gawk at their so-​called establishment.
Everything in the Tin-​How temple has a meaning for those who arrive daily and pray. Just like those who go to churches for something they believe it. If you can’t understand that, don’t try too hard to understand because in the end, every thing will look like nothing, but «junk» to you. The temple doesn’t care how «cool» it looks and it is not there to satisfy the ignorant minds of stereo-​typed tourists either. It is there for those who need it, and to help those continue a Chinese tradition that they grew up with :)
Hope this help open the minds of some people.

Thank you for clarifying the issue, I am sorry to have post such a negative review. Those personal that wearing robes and asked for donations and using your temple name would get their days, hopefully soon. More people are noticing also and I had done more research, I found out this has been happening in New York, Japan, Australia and parts of Europe.
Karma karma karma.
Thank you so much.

I heard about this place from a guy who read about it in Fodor’s, and we wouldn’t have known it existed otherwise. Chinatown is so packed full of people, and it was amazing how quiet and unassuming the temple was. It just blended right in with all the shops. There are several prayer areas, and they just ask that if you are only visiting and not praying, that you be respectful and look to see if there is anyone praying. I thought that was reasonable. We only stayed for about 5 – 10 minutes, but is was really neat to experience.

It’s a pretty nice temple — about as nice as you can get when it’s located within an old apt in Chinatown. Half the space is devoted to a totally cool old school temple, then half the space is just temple junk with some people folding paper, etc.
Worth stopping by if you’re in the area and have never been. But now that I have I’m not sure I’ll return. It’s really not worth bringing visitors either. It’s not that cool. It’s like 1 – 2 minutes cool.

Not that walking up and down the San Francisco hills was not enough… the temple was located on the 4^th floor. It was all worth it when you reach to the top.
It was like you stepped into a secret sanctuary — ignoring the hustling world outside. The people there were friendly and helpful.
We lit our incenses and got our readings aka answers to our questions.

I had difficultly finding the temple even with my precious iPhone… at least when I went back in September it seemed that the pinpoint location shown on my phone’s map did not exactly correspond with the address, and there are several other similar buildings in the surrounding area to add to the confusion.
Visiting was an enjoyable experience once I found it, although I did not stay for very long. Worth checking out if you’re in the area for sure, but I wouldn’t necessarily go out of the way to see it unless you have a personal reason for doing so. I still have the satchel of «lucky tea» I received on my way out as a memento.

I had no idea this awesome slice of some other world was in Chinatown. How difficult it is to find and the trek up the stairs really helps you make the transition to this quiet and ethereal space. When we climbed up, someone in one of the lower apartments was also having a traditional music jam session, so that added to the ambiance.
The views from the balcony (which we did photograph — photography is not allowed inside the temple itself) are also lovely. Surprise someone with an adventure today — take them to Tin How!

Saw a recommendation for this place on Unilocal,and decided to visit it. If you’re new to China town, it’s pretty hard to find — luckily there were photos posted on Unilocal of the building and entrance, which is a tiny doorway leading up 3 flights of stairs (no elevator option).
Once you make it to the top, the place is pretty cool. There are hundreds of red and gold lanterns hung from the ceiling, and other artifacts around the fairly small room. People come here to pray, so the atmosphere is very quiet, and when I was there the air was think with incense, so if you can’t stand the smell I wouldn’t recommend going. There’s no charge to go, but they do accept donations (I gave them a few dollars on my way out). There’s also absolutely NO photos, so don’t even try. I wish I could’ve taken photos, because the place was so beautiful.
Besides the 2-​minutes walk around the room gawking at how beautiful everything is, there’s not a whole lot else to do. You could pray, I suppose, but I felt a bit awkward and out of place so I ended up staying for only about 7 minutes before leaving. Don’t bring children, because everything looks breakable, and it’s very quiet in there.
It’s an interesting experience, and I would recommend it as one of the stops if you’re visiting San Francisco.

Never been to this place until the other day. You have to walk up a couple flights of stairs to get to the temple because there’s no elevator. Anyways, the temple is small but looks like it’s pretty old and cultural. You can light up incense here, pray to the gods, or kau cim here which is pretty nice. You can donate a dollar to use the incense they have. There’s fortunes at the side of the altar which you can look at after you kau cim. The smell of incense is very strong here. You can worship and pay your respects to Guan Yin and Tian Hou at this temple. This place seems more like a historic temple than a daily go-​to temple.

Small place, walked past it multiple times trying to find it. But the imagery is beautiful inside the small temple and the women that work at the front smile at you quietly and do not bother or scoff at you if you are a tourist. Glad i came.

Whichever way you spell it (the signs over the door and off the balcony say Tin How, but there’s a Unilocal page for Tien Hau) or whether you consider it a temple or local flavor or a religious organization, this is a must-​visit.
For one thing, it’s largely considered the oldest Chinese temple in the United States.
As you climb the stairs toward the summit, you see various signs in the hallway advising against taking pictures or standing idle in the doorway.
It’s really small inside, but it’s beautiful. What I think what grabs people the most is the massive gold-​leaf wood carving hanging from the ceiling. It’s breath-​taking, and although it’s tempting to pull out the camera, we respected their wishes and refrained from doing so.
The room is filled with the smoke of incense and the occasional sounds of patrons shaking cups of kau cim sticks.
It’s free to come visit, but they do accept donations.

This is the oldest temple in San Francisco according to the brochure.
Before we even went in, we had to go buy some round fruit as an offering. I gave tangelo’s and apples.
It’s up three flights of stairs so I was a little out of breath when we got up there.
We arranged the offerings on plates and put it on the table, then we lit incense and prayed at different stations, then at the very end we burnt some paper offerings.
It was a nice experience to have, it’s very quiet in there.
Worth a stop when you’re in Chinatown.

Please disregard all other reviews, except this one.
Tien Hau Temple is now a tourist destination. It is not a temple.
But if you have any interest in Buddhism, Confucianism, San Francisco History, Chinese Culture, or Asian Art, urban exploring, or weird, off-​the-​beaten path things, you should go.
Here’s why:
1) It is the oldest temple in America.
2) It is beautiful. It is a rare cultural gem.
3) It’s level of importance in the Buddhist tradition in America
4) You’ll see.
History:
It used to be a functioning temple. For many years it was an important place of worship in the marginalized Chinese community. And here’s something they won’t tell you on the tour:
In the 1960’s, Abbott Hsuan Hua, the monk who brought Mahayanan Buddhism to the West, rented it out. It was here that the first Anglo Americans were introduced to Orthodox Buddhism.
True story. This is where it went down.
Now it is a tourist trap, sure. A lady will give you a glossed-​over history of the temple. You’ll be asked for a donation. Maybe you’ll light a joss (incense) stick. Fortune? Whatevs. But for beauty, its place of import in San Francisco and Chinese History? Go. Cough up a few bucks to keep the place running. IF YOU CAN’T AFFORD A DONATION, IT’S OKAY.
If you’re looking for a real Chinese Buddhist temple — a place to learn meditation, with community, Chinese classes, ceremonies, sutra study and lecture, etc. then go around the corner to GOLD MOUNTAIN MONASTERY on Sacramento Street (at Grant). Ring the buzzer and a nun will let you in.
I hope this is helpful for visitors, and helps contextualize what Tien Hau is and was about. I also hope this is helpful for spiritual seekers who were confused about what they found. It would be like going to Alcatraz to look for a bodygaurd, or crossing the Golden Gate looking for an architecht. It’s not why you go, not why this temple is important, and not why it’s such a weird, precious SF gem.
P. S. Tien Hau (say tee-​yen ho) and some chinese at Lucky Creation would be a really cool date. Just so you know.
Keep SF weird.