Ten years ago this summer, the tiny park called Patricia's Green in the Hayes Valley opened, along with a pagoda temple created by sculptor David Best and his volunteer Temple Crew.
The temple was only supposed to stand for about three months, but it was so popular with the neighborhood that the structure stayed for six months before it started sagging in the rain.
A week ago, Best and his crew constructed a slightly larger version of that old temple and it's an instant success once again.
The structure is constructed from discarded industrial wood which is then carved into fanciful, filigreed shapes.
The first of Best's temples, Temple of the Mind, was created in 2000 at the Burning Man festival as a memorial to a friend and it quickly became a communal rather than an individual site for mourning.
Anyone was invited to leave messages and keepsakes on the structure...
...before it was burned to the ground.
The tradition continues, and within a week the new structure is almost completely covered with messages.
The temple is scheduled to stay in Patricia's Green for a year, but if history is any indication, it probably won't survive that long, especially if rain ever returns to California.
Yikes! Or should I say, Good Lord. I am hopelessly from yesterday about this kind of stuff.
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