On California’s Central Coast in 1923, “1,600 craftsmen built a temple 800 feet wide and 120 feet tall flanked by four 40-ton statues of the Pharaoh Ramses II. Twenty-one giant plaster sphinxes lined a path to the temple’s gates. A tent city sprung up” — and was buried in the sand, along with the rest, when shooting of Cecil B. DeMille’s silent movie ended.