The story begins 102 years ago, in 1921, when a group of about 40 Filipino U.S. merchant marines decided to start a Masonic Lodge in San Francisco.
One of the oldest, and oddest, neighborhoods in all of San Francisco is tiny South Park. Hidden away off bustling Third Street, just a block and a half from AT&T Park and the Embarcadero, this unexpected little green oval was created in 1854 by a British immigrant named George Gordon, who laid out the city’s first exclusive residential quarter around a private park, emulating upper-crust British spaces such as Berkeley Square.
These sailors were part of the great wave of Filipino immigration to the U.S. mainland that started in 1920. Like Chinese and Japanese, Filipinos were subjected to racial discrimination, including racial covenants, and forced to live in “undesirable” areas. Most Filipinos in San Francisco lived in Manilatown, which was centered on Kearny Street near Chinatown, but a number also lived in South Park, which had become a rundown neighborhood that was also home to an early Japantown.
The San Francisco Gran Oriente chapter was originally connected to the Gran Oriente Lodge in Manila, paying $9 in dues to the international organization. Eventually it cut its ties and became independent. About 20 Gran Oriente lodges were founded in five California cities and five states, including Hawaii, Washington, Arizona, New York and New Jersey. At its peak it had about 700 members.
In 1948, the Gran Oriente Filipino organization purchased the building at 104-106 South Park. In 1951, it constructed a new temple just across the park, on what is now Jack London Alley. The Moorish-style temple, inscribed at the top with the words “Dedicated to the supreme architect of the universe,” still stands and is used as the meeting site for the last remaining Gran Oriente Masonic lodge in California, Rizal No. 12.
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