You can see them sprinkled about in most neighborhoods. The purveyors of guardian statuary in this city had multiple regional markets in mind. This grand monster, spotted in Pacific Heights, was in front of some sort of institution; there was no sign. Houses are big up there.
This modest set of household guardians is more common.
I'm not sure what this one was fired in.
The blue jade color is more conventional.
There's no getting by these fellows.
He's pretty ferocious.
This one seems out of some different tradition.
Several of these scrappy fellows guard the entrances to the city's Little Saigon area.
Yes, some of these look to European eyes like dogs, but I don't think I've misidentified them. There is an interesting
Chinese Guardian Lions article in Wikipedia that explains that some are even called "Foo Dogs" in English usage.
All photos from my
596 Precincts project.
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