Point Fermin Lighthouse
Built in 1874, the Point Fermin Lighthouse was the first navigational light into the San Pedro Bay. Point Fermin’s first lighthouse keepers were women, Mary and Ella Smith. The Stick Style Victorian design was used for six lighthouses built between 1873 and 1874 of which only three remain standing. Of the several wooden lighthouses of any style established in the 1870s between San Francisco and San Diego, this structure remains as the sole example. In 1925 the light’s oil lamps were replaced by a powerful electric light which reached 18 miles out to sea. This continued to function until 1942 when war was declared between the Axis Powers and the United States. The light was never lit again, but the tower was converted to accommodate a radar lookout station. It is a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
San Pedro, Los Angeles County
Images by Andrew Schmidt