{"id":389205,"date":"2026-07-07T13:54:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T13:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/389205\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T13:54:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T13:54:11","slug":"the-iconic-point-vicente-lighthouse-just-turned-100-its-showing-its-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/389205\/","title":{"rendered":"The iconic Point Vicente Lighthouse just turned 100. It’s showing its age"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In April 1926, the Point Vicente Lighthouse, the clifftop beacon<\/a> of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, was illuminated for the first time.<\/p>\n

Its delicate, rotating glass Fresnel lens<\/a> cast a yellow beam so powerful that it could be seen 20 miles out to sea. The Times reported breathlessly at the time that the 67-foot cylinder tower was \u201cthe finest lighthouse \u2026 ever constructed, either in this country or on foreign sea coasts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Initially, it was a lonely post<\/a>. The barren, rugged cliffs were sparsely populated.<\/p>\n

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But a new scenic highway \u2014 now the heavily-trafficked Palos Verdes Drive<\/a> \u2014 also opened in 1926, connecting burgeoning Redondo Beach and San Pedro and passing right by the lighthouse. Soon, the hills filled with pricey ocean-view homes. The lighthouse became the pride of the peninsula, a beloved backdrop for wedding and quincea\u00f1era photos and picnics and an image plastered on many local business and nonprofit logos.<\/p>\n

This year, the lighthouse turned 100, and it is showing its age<\/a>. Its deteriorating tower has lead paint and asbestos inside and has been closed to the public for a few years. Its ornate iron cupola is pockmarked with rust. Its majestic Fresnel? Replaced by an automated light.<\/p>\n

The lighthouse, an active U.S. Coast Guard station, still shines. It is still beautiful from afar. But it needs help.<\/p>\n

Point Vicente is one of more than 40 lighthouses<\/a> to grace the California coast since the 1850s. <\/p>\n

The Coast Guard took over operations<\/a> of the nation\u2019s lighthouses in 1939, and by the early 1990s, most were automated. Without keepers present for daily maintenance in the oft-harsh and briny air, many fell into disrepair and were considered excess property<\/a> by the federal government, which did not set aside much money for preservation. Nonprofits and other groups sprang up around the country to care for the aging beacons<\/a>.<\/p>\n

An effort to save a fading beauty<\/p>\n

Two years ago, Amy Forte, who grew up in Palos Verdes, agreed to help a friend who was volunteering with a Boy Scouts troop, checking in visitors for a tour of the Point Vicente Lighthouse grounds by the civilian Coast Guard Auxiliary.<\/p>\n

\"Mist <\/p>\n

Mist shrouds Catalina Island beyond the Point Vicente Lighthouse on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. <\/p>\n

(Luis Sinco)<\/p>\n

Forte was stunned to learn that the tower was closed to the public and saddened to see its sorry state. She joined forces with a small group of locals and founded the nonprofit Friends of the Point Vicente Lighthouse to restore the tower, keepers\u2019 quarters and support structures. <\/p>\n

Forte, the group\u2019s president, said they are working closely with the Coast Guard and don\u2019t yet have a formal assessment of construction costs \u2014 but she believes full repairs will cost a few million dollars. <\/p>\n

Since last spring, Friends of the Point Vicente Lighthouse has collected about $60,000 in small donations. Soon, they will start major fundraising drives.<\/p>\n

A stable place in an unstable zone<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have that many things that are a hundred years old in this area,\u201d Forte said. \u201cIt\u2019s a really wonderful symbol of stability. It\u2019s a guiding light not just for the ships that pass through the Catalina Channel, but for all of us here. It\u2019s a mainstay in a world that\u2019s really chaotic.\u201d<\/p>\n

In recent years, landslides have brought chaos to the Palos Verdes Peninsula, cracking the foundations of homes and turning Palos Verdes Drive South into a rutted, bumpy asphalt roller coaster. The historic Wayfarers Chapel<\/a> \u2014 a glass sanctuary designed by Lloyd Wright, the son of famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright \u2014 was dismantled in 2024<\/a> after some of its windows shattered because of land movement.<\/p>\n

The lighthouse, though, is on stable ground<\/a>, Forte said.<\/p>\n

A ghost story<\/p>\n

Decades ago, the biggest fright in the area came not from cracking ground but from a lighthouse ghost story.<\/p>\n

\"Visitors <\/p>\n

Visitors walk near the Point Vicente Lighthouse on Sept. 18, 2025.<\/p>\n

(Allen J. Schaben \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

The ghost was said to be the widow of a lighthouse keeper who had stumbled off the cliff one night and fell to his death on the rocky beach below. Legend had it that the grief-stricken woman hurled herself into the sea, and her spirit inhabited the tower.<\/p>\n

A Coast Guard petty officer told The Times in 1981 that the legend was \u201call hooey,\u201d that \u201cpeople reported to have died never died\u201d and \u201cthe first keeper never walked off the cliff.\u201d <\/p>\n

And in a 1955 interview with The Times, Joe May, the last civilian lighthouse keeper before operations were taken over by the Coast Guard, said the inland windows of the lamp room had been painted so that the bright Fresnel wouldn\u2019t bother people living in the hills. When the paint was thin, the light played tricks, causing people to think they saw the silhouette of a young lady in an evening dress, dancing in the lamp room.<\/p>\n

May, described by The Times as \u201ca small man with a weather-worn face,\u201d was 70 and had served at Point Vicente for over a decade. He was unhappy about retiring and chafed when a Coast Guard officer made a prescient joke about the value of the lighthouse property, \u201cconsidering the soaring value of Southland real estate.\u201d<\/p>\n

May reluctantly conceded that the grounds were indeed a \u201cdandy spot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s top stories \"Surfers <\/a> <\/p>\n

Surfers walk past a sign along West Ocean Front on July 6 in Newport Beach, where two days earlier, a huge number of people flooded the area unexpectedly.<\/p>\n

(Kayla Bartkowski\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Chaos and vandalism in Newport BeachThousands of teens and young adults swarmed Newport Beach over Fourth of July weekend, unleashing hours of chaos, vandalism and fireworks<\/a> that residents say eclipsed the city\u2019s past holiday trouble.Police arrested 402 people, a 570% jump from last year, as a suspected TikTok \u201ctakeover\u201d and private chat apps helped draw out-of-town crowds faster than officers could respond.The U.S. is eliminated from the World CupU.S. hopes of a historic World Cup run on home soil were shattered in the loss to Belgium<\/a>.Trump\u2019s World Cup meddling only made matters worse<\/a> for rattled U.S. squad, writes columnist Mirjam Swanson.All three World Cup hosts \u2014 U.S., Canada and Mexico \u2014 have been eliminated from the tournament.Jennifer Siebel Newsom\u2019s biggest testWhat else is going onCommentary and opinionsThis morning\u2019s must-readAnother must-readFor your downtime \"Fans <\/a> <\/p>\n

Fans cheer after Lionel Messi scores a goal against Algeria in a group-stage match during an Argentina World Cup watch party at Mercado Buenos Aires in Van Nuys.<\/p>\n

(Ronaldo Bolanos \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Going outStaying inA question for you: What are the most unique town names in California?<\/p>\n

Ken B. writes: Granted, it\u2019s unincorporated, but how could you overlook Zzyzx<\/a>?<\/p>\n

Email us at essentialcalifornia@latimes.com<\/a>, and your response might appear in the newsletter this week.<\/p>\n

And finally … your photo of the day \"A <\/a> <\/p>\n

In the San Gabriel Mountains, a blue wind phone stands on a foggy forest ridge near a roadside turnout in Wrightwood, Calif. The wind phone is dedicated to Robert Byrne, 28, whose 1995 murder is still unsolved. <\/p>\n

(Gina Ferazzi \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s great photo is from Times photographer Gina Ferazzi in the San Gabriel Mountains near a wind phone, which gives comfort to those grieving<\/a>. The first wind phone was created by a Japanese man who lost a cousin to cancer decades ago. <\/p>\n

Have a great day, from the Essential California team<\/p>\n

Hailey Branson-Potts, staff writer
Hugo Mart\u00edn, assistant editor, fast break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters<\/p>\n

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com<\/a>. Check our top stories<\/a>, topics<\/a> and the latest articles<\/a> on latimes.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In April 1926, the Point Vicente Lighthouse, the clifftop beacon of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, was illuminated for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389206,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,2299,1085,891,2300,2297,340,2303,63,2302,1086,1459,2301,2298,74,225,315,688],"class_list":["post-389205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-civic-revolt","tag-covid","tag-covid-19","tag-days","tag-essential-california","tag-israel","tag-l-a","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-may","tag-pandemic","tag-part","tag-president-biden","tag-red-county","tag-san-diego","tag-state","tag-time","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389205\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}