In 1904 some students invited Trigunatita to start a Vedanta centre in Los Angeles, nearly 500 miles south of San Francisco. The swami began the work there, but later found it difficult to manage both places; so he asked for an assistant from India. The authorities of Belur Math sent Swami Satchidananda, who received a hearty welcome in San Francisco and then, under Trigunatita’s guidance, started the work in Los Angeles. But after only a year, Satchidananda was compelled to return to India because of poor health.
In the same year, the work in San Francisco had grown to such proportions that Trigunatita felt the Society should have a suitable building of its own. With Trigunatita, to think was to act, and a committee was at once appointed to look for a suitable site. Soon a meeting of all the members was called, the funds were quickly raised, and a plot of land was purchased on the corner of Webster and Filbert Streets. On 25 August 1905, with appropriate ceremonies, the cornerstone was laid. The swami placed in it pictures of Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother, and others within a metal box. Regarding the future of the temple, Trigunatita said, “I shall not live to enjoy; others will come later who will enjoy”; and, referring to his own participation, he boldly proclaimed: “Believe me, if there is the least tinge of selfishness in building this temple, it will fall; but if it is the Master’s work, it will stand.” It is amazing that the terrible earthquake and fire of 1906, which destroyed much of San Francisco, did no damage to the temple. This was the first Hindu Temple in the Western world. It was dedicated on 7 January 1906 and the first services were held there on Sunday, 15 January 1906.
Trigunatita was ingenuous. He planned the temple himself, combining ideas from a Hindu temple, a Christian church, a Muslim mosque, and an American residence. It was designed by the architect Joseph A. Leonard, in a style generally called Pointed Architecture of Grecian and Roman origin. All the mouldings, ornaments, and the arches of the veranda are of Moorish style. The points of the domes, towers, and pinnacles, directed upwards to the sky, have a religious meaning — moving towards God, or rising higher and higher until we reach the very highest. (Source: God Lived with Them)