The iconic Oakland Mormon Temple opens its doors again to public tours

The newly renovated Oakland landmark popularly known as the Mormon Temple is open to public tours this month for the first time since its dedication in 1964.

According to a history of the temple published in Mormon magazine, The Improvement Era, the site for the Oakland temple was picked out in 1924 by future Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) president George Albert Smith, who was looking out from a rooftop terrace at the Fairmont Hotel on Nob Hill in San Francisco and saw an area of the East Bay hills illuminated by the setting sun.