Aerial view of Point Vicente lighthouse looking toward the southeast in 2002. (Daily Breeze staff file photo)
Point Vicente on the Palos Verdes Peninsula was named for Father Vicente Santa Maria, who accompanied the English sea captain George Vancouver on one of his sailing missions along the West Coast around the turn of the 19th century.
Seafaring ships had long petitioned for a stronger lighthouse on the point after several shipwrecks in the early 1900s.
The only equipment at the site on the dangerous stretch of coastline was a small light and whistle buoy, which was deemed inadequate for guiding the increased coastal sea traffic around the point, especially after the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914.
Undated photo, probably from the late 1920s, shows the newly constructed Point Vicente lighthouse. (Credit: U.S. Coast Guard)
Early plans called for the removal of the Point Fermin Lighthouse near San Pedro in favor of the proposed new Point Vicente complex, but officials wisely decided to keep both structures.
The $70,000 appropriation for the Point Vicente complex had been before the U.S. House of Representatives 3 times, in 1911, 1913 and 1916, only to be cut each time from the budget.
It wasn’t until the early 1920s that the Point Vicente plan was approved and the land acquired by the government. Construction began in 1924. Progress on the project remained off the public’s radar due to its then-remote location.
The new facility would allow boats to travel much closer to the coast as they rounded the Peninsula.
Grant T. Johnson of the Los Angeles Harbor Department was in charge of construction, using a variety of local contractors to complete the job.
When it was finished, the San Pedro – Redondo Coastal Highway we wrote about a few weeks ago was still under construction, making access to the lighthouse difficult.
The Point Vicente lighthouse on the barren Palos Verdes Peninsula in a photo believed to have been taken in the late 1920s, soon after its 1926 construction. (Credit: Palos Verdes Library Local History Room)
The Point Vicente lighthouse went into operation in June 1926. Its lens was installed on May 1, 1926.
The 67-foot-high lighthouse stands atop a 130-foot cliff, its light nearly 200 feet above the water level of the ocean.
Its 1,500-watt bulb is magnified by Fresnel glass beacon lenses ground by hand in Paris in 1886. Its flashes come every 20 seconds and can be seen 20 miles out to sea in clear weather. A powerful foghorn sounds regularly during inclement and foggy weather.
The 13-acre site was landscaped originally by Palos Verdes Peninsula landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted.
In addition to the lighthouse, the complex included several other buildings: houses for its personnel, a building housing the foghorn, and additional buildings added in 1934 containing the Long Beach Radio Station, which monitored sea radio transmissions for distress signals.
Spiral staircase that leads to the top of the Point Vicente lighthouse. 2000 photo. (Daily Breeze staff file photo)
Its first keeper was G. W. L’Hommedieu, who previously held the post of keeper at the Mile Rock lighthouse in San Francisco Bay, near the Golden Gate Bridge.
At tht time, lighthouses came under the purview of the Light House Service department. Its duties were absorbed by the U.S. Coast Guard in 1939, and the Guard has run them ever since.
The Point Vicente lighthouse in Rancho Palos Verdes is one of the best known landmarks in the South Bay. (Daily Breeze staff file photo)
After the Pearl Harbor attack on Dec. 7, 1941, the operations of the lighthouse were restricted for security reasons. Blackout curtains were installed, and a 25-watt bulb replaced the 1,500-watt regular bulb. The lighthouse returned to full normal operation in March 1946.
As for the rumors that the lighthouse is haunted by a woman in a flowing gown that can be seen at night, they’ve persisted from at least as far back as the 1940s.
Keeper Joe May shared a theory on the stories when he retired in 1955. He told the Los Angeles Times that he felt the type of heavy paint used on the windows atop the tower from where the light caused variations and shadows that caused some to see a woman’s shape as the light swept from side to side.
He thought a then-recent new paint job would stop the rumors. It hasn’t. The windows were repainted many times since, but the rumors continue to persist.
The lighthouse was manned until 1971, when its operations were automated. The radio station eventually became obsolete and was closed in 1980.
Actress Lana Turner makes a publicity appearance at the Point Vicente lighthouse in 1941. (Credit: U.S. Coast Guard)
The Coast Guard still operates the Point Vicente facility, however. Its personnel is attached to the Coast Guard Integrated Support Command in San Pedro.
On Nov. 17, 1979, the lighthouse was dedicated as a historical landmark by the Rancho de los Palos Verdes Historical Society. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Oct. 31, 1980.
Over the years, Hollywood has used the site for filming many times due to its picturesque location. Television series from “Sea Hunt” to “The Amazing Race” have filmed there, and Olivia Newton John used the lighthouse for a 1998 music video.
The lighthouse and grounds remain closed to the public, except for its monthly open house on the second Saturday of each month from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
For more information, consult the Point Vicente Lighthouse website, or email ptvicentelight@gmail.com.
The adjacent Palos Verdes Interpretive Center was dedicated on May 5, 1984. The prime whale-watching site is open to the public. (Some of its exhibit areas currently are closed for remodeling and will reopen in January 2019).
Visitors line up to tour the Point Vicente lighthouse at the 2012 Whale of a Day event sponsored by the Point Vicente Interpretive Center in Rancho Palos Verdes. (Daily Breeze staff file photo)
Sources:
Daily Breeze files.
Lighthouses of Greater Los Angeles, by Rose Castro-Bran, The History Press, 2014.
Los Angeles Times files.
Point Vicente Lighthouse website.
“Point Vicente Lighthouse,” Rancho Palos Verdes Community Forum website.
Point Vicente lighthouse and grounds. 2004 photo. (Daily Breeze staff file photo)
The first four lighthouse keepers at Point Vicente:
W. L’Hommedieu, 1926-ca. 1929
Anton Trittinger, 1930-42.
Joe May, 1942 – 1955.
Albert Saccomagno, 1955-?.
(The lighthouse was automated in 1971.)
Aerial views of the lighthouse via drone:
