In 1987 King Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain visited the Temple, reported to be the first visit to a synagogue by a Spanish king since the Inquisition.

The first Sephardi Jews in Los Angeles arrived around 1853, however, significant numbers of Sephardim came in the early 20th century. They were from places such as Egypt, Rhodes, Salonica, Turkey, regions of the former Ottoman Empire and elsewhere in the Middle East. These early Sephardi immigrants to Los Angeles founded the Avat Shalom Society in 1912 to unify Jewish immigrants coming from the Ottoman Empire. On February 1, 1920, 39 Turkish elders of the Sephardi community formed the Sephardic Community of Los Angeles known as “La Communidad”.

In 1920 a site was purchased on the corner of Santa Barbara Avenue (now Martin Luther King Blvd.) and LaSalle Avenue. Groundbreaking finally took place in 1931 and the new Santa Barbara Avenue Temple was dedicated in February of 1932. The mayor of Los Angeles was among the guests at the dedication. The congregation was comprised of 125 member families.

The Sephardic Community of Los Angeles merged with the Sephardic Brotherhood forming the Sephardic Community and Brotherhood of Los Angeles in 1959. By 1970, the congregation outgrew the Santa Barbara Avenue Temple and broke ground for a new synagogue at the current Wilshire Boulevard site in Westwood. The move was made to the new Wilshire location in 1975 although the temple sanctuary hadn’t yet been built. The new sanctuary was finally dedicated in September of 1981 with California Governor Jerry Brown addressing a crowd of more than 1000.

On October 1, 1987, King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofia of Spain visited the temple, reported to be the first visit to a synagogue by a Spanish king since the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492. Speaking in Spanish, the king addressed a crowd so large that television monitors were installed in an adjacent hall so that more people could watch him speak. He praised Jewish “contributions to letters, science and arts during the Middle Ages” – a “rich tradition” that Spain lost when it expelled the Jews.

In 1993 the congregation was named Sephardic Temple Tifereth Israel amid a merger uniting all three original Los Angeles Sephardic congregations. Today the congregation serves approximately 600 member families.

Ronald Goldman, FAIA is the building”s architect. The Sephardic Temple is considered a landmark building. The exterior design is an articulation of the interior spaces, each with their own arched entrances. When combined with the monolithic texture of split face concrete block and burlap rubbed joints, it creates an image reflective of Sephardic Mediterranean heritage.

The three story 42,000 sq.ft. structure sits above a three level 45,000 sq.ft., 250 car subterranean garage. The building houses an 850 seat traditional sanctuary with a central bemah and a 150 seat chapel, social hall, museum and school building as well as clergy and administrative offices.