San Pedro's Point Fermin Historic Lightstation

Point Fermin Lighthouse Historic Site and Museum

807 Paseo Del Mar Blvd., San Pedro Open for guided tours at 1 p.m., 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays. (310) 241-0684. Free, donation requested. pointferminlighthouse.org

San Pedro, Calif.--Point Fermin Lighthouse is one of the most easily accessible historic California light stations that the public can visit, tour, and enjoy. Set into a neatly trimmed Stick Style Victorian lighthouse, the design was used for six lighthouses built between 1873 and 1874. Only three remain--including Point Fermin. Inside the home in which the lighthouse is contained, original wood treatments in many rooms, and an original door have been carefully restored and are on view during guided tours. Characterized by gabled roofs, horizontal siding, decorative cross beams and hand carved porch railings, the facility looks like something out of a fairy tale.

California had become a state in 1850 and commerce into the port where San Pedro sits was booming, thus the need for a lighthouse to guide ships in the night, and during fog. One of the moving forces of the shipping industry was Wilmington resident, Phineas Banning. You can visit the Banning House in nearby Wilmington to learn more about this interesting and prominent gent of the 19th century. He petitioned the Federal Government and the US lighthouse Board to place a lighthouse on the point in 1854 and some 20 years later the lighthouse finally was built.

San Pedro's Maritime Museum is worth a stop to fill in the blanks about this port's history that shaped Los Angeles and Long Beach into the shipping giant it is today. The two ports sit side-by-side and make up one of the major world ports.

The lighthouse had its inaugural lighting on December 15, 1874, when the first keepers, Mary L. Smith and her sister Ella, lit the lamp inside the fourth-order Fresnel lens. That lens was removed from the Point Fermin Lighthouse just before World War II when the military installed a lookout point (which has since been restored.) The lens went missing for many years and was found safe in pristine condition in a realty office in Malibu. It had been on display on the Santa Monica Pier previous to that. While disputes as to whether this was the exact lens from Point Fermin continued, recent findings may have resolved the issue permanently. You can see the lens on display inside the lightstation during the tours that are held weekly.

During our visit photos were not allowed inside the facility, except in the tower.

POINT FERMIN LIGHT

State: CALIFORNIA
Location: POINT FERMIN /
SAN PEDRO HARBOR
Nearest City: SAN PEDRO
County: LOS ANGELES
U.S.C.G. District: 11
Year Station Established: 1874 Point Fermin Light
Existing Historic Tower:

Year Light First Lit: 1874
Is the Light Operational? NO
Date Deactivated: 1942
Automated:
Foundation Materials: BRICK
Construction Materials: WOOD FRAME
Markings/Patterns: ITALIANATE TOWER ON ITALIANATE DWELLING
Shape: SQUARE
Relationship to Other Structures: INTEGRAL
Tower Height: 30
Original Optic: FOURTH ORDER, FRESNEL
Year Original Lens Installed: 1874
Present Optic: REMOVED
Year Present Lens Installed:
Height of Focal Plane: 100
Fresnel Lens Disposition:
Has tower been moved? NO

Previous Tower(s): N/A

Modern Tower? YES

Year Tower Constructed: 1970
Type: POLE
Tower Height:
Height of Focal Plane: 120
Current Optic:

Existing Sound Signal Building? NO

Existing Keepers Quarters? YES

Year Constructed: 1874
Number of Stories: 2
Architectural Style: ITALIANATE VICTORIAN
Construction Materials: WOOD FRAME

Other Structures: 3 CISTERNS, CONCRETE OIL HOUSE, BARN

Current Use: CITY PARK

Owner/Manager: CITY OF LOS ANGELES/POINT FERMIN LIGHTHOUSE COMMITTEE

Open to the Public? YES

National Register Status: LISTED; Reference #72000234
Name of Listing: POINT FERMIN LIGHTHOUSE
On State List/Inventory? NO; Year Listed:

Miscellaneous:
ITALIANATE LANTERN REMOVED DURING WWII, REPLACED WITH LOOKOUT ROOM AND LATER WOOD REPLICA LANTERN; RESTORED BY SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF THE GOLDEN WEST