One block up Grant from the Dragon Gate, Old St. Mary’s stands at the corner of California Street. Built in 1854, it is the oldest cathedral in California. Chinese laborers constructed it using granite quarried in China and bricks shipped around Cape Horn from New England.
Look up at the clock tower. Inscribed beneath it: “Son, observe the time and fly from evil.” The message was aimed at men leaving the brothels that surrounded the church in the 1850s and 1860s. The cathedral survived the 1906 earthquake but was gutted by the fires that followed. It was rebuilt and still holds services today. The small park next door, St. Mary’s Square, has a statue of Dr. Sun Yat-sen by sculptor Beniamino Bufano.