Point Fermin Lighthouse - San Pedro
Lighthouse
San Pedro--Located
on a hilltop west of Pacific Avenue at Gaffey
Street and Paseo Del Mar in Point Fermin Park is
Point Fermin Lighthouse, one of the oldest light
stations on the West Coast. Built in 1874 as a
beacon to ships in one of the nation's busiest
ports, the lighthouse once contained a Fourth
Order fresnel lens which shed 2,100-candlepower
light. The Victorian building in which it was
housed was constructed of bricks with a wood
frame and contained a cupola where the lens was
mounted. Bricks and lumber shipped around Cape
Horn were used to build the station and
three cisterns, a concrete oil house and a barn
with one of the finest views of the Pacific
Ocean.
Ships and sea
vessels had passed hundreds of years previous to
the construction of a lighthouse at this
location. The vast region stretching south to
Long Beach was once known as the Bay of
Smokes for the cloud-filled air from fires used
by local Indians for periodic rabbit drives. In
1602 Sebastian Vincaino renamed the area Bahia
de San Pedro or San Pedro Bay. This bay became
critical to trade and commerce as it served the
needs of Pueblo de Los Angeles, the largest west
coast settlement until San Francisco gained the
title during the 1849 gold rush. (The
honor was short lived -- Los Angeles regained
the top position as import/export center by the
turn of the 20th Century).
Having a lighthouse
in this strategic location was a wise
investment. Though railroads were being
built, they were and continue to be part of the
transportation network for shipping of goods
throughout the United States. Local businesses
rallied for construction of a lighthouse
structure and they got it.
When it opened in
1874, its first occupants were two sisters, Mary
and Ella Smith. Next came Captain George Shaw,
an amiable fellow with many friends and who
enjoyed late night parties at his unique abode.
25 years after it went into operation, a
petroleum vapor incandescent lamp was installed
in 1898. And when rumors of its demise
spread like wildfire around 1925, the light
house added a new 6,600 candlepower electric
light. The new apparatus projected a beam 22
miles to sea.
The Los Angeles
City Recreation and Parks Department contracted
with Lighthouse Service in 1927 to operate the
facility and the house became the residence of a
superintendent, as it is today in the 21st
Century. The lighthouse no longer contains
any type of light apparatus, however. When
Pearl Harbor was attacked in 194, the threat
became very real that the West Coast could be
next. The Navy seized the light house and
dismantled the lantern room as well as removing
the lens. They constructed a lookout tower which
served the war effort for several years.
Thanks to the acts
of several brave men, an attempt by the Coast
Guard to tear down the entire lighthouse
structure around 1960 were thwarted when the
local activists succeeded in getting it listed
in the National Registry of Historic.
Today, the public is free to stroll outside the
gated grounds of the lighthouse at Point Fermin
Park. One of the prettiest parks in Los Angeles
offers a band stand, restrooms, picnic tables,
vendor carts with snacks and a cetacean facility
which provides counts of the migrations north
and south of whale migrations from the
incredible vista all can enjoy on their visit to
the park.
