Point Vicente Shines On: Nearly 100 Years of Guiding Light by Jim Shneer
Point Vicente Light Station – 1932
Contemporary view of the Point Vicente Light Station
On April 14, 1926, mariners plying the waters between Catalina Island and Palos Verdes were greeted by a new and long needed aid to navigation; a powerful light from the new lighthouse at Point Vicente. Petitions to the government requesting such a facility date back to 1907.
There were obstacles getting the lighthouse built. Frank Vanderlip, who bought the 25 square mile Palos Verdes Peninsula in 1913, had his eyes on Point Vicente and the surrounding area as the location for an artist colony and was reluctant to part with it. In 1918, in order to acquire the land, the government initiated condemnation proceedings under the right of eminent domain. This action was suspended while negotiations with Vanderlip continued. But with no closure in sight, in late 1919, a request was made to reopen condemnation action. Evidently, this led to a satisfactory offer from Vanderlip and title was transferred in 1921. Unexpectedly high bids for construction caused redesign and further delays, so that construction did not begin until 1924. The final cost of the project was reported to be $102,871 which included houses for the lighthouse keeper, his two assistants and their families.
The Barbier, Benard and Turenne factory. The lens in the left foreground is very similar to the one at Point Vicente.
The 67 foot tall lighthouse stands on a cliff which puts the light 185’ above sea level. The 3rd order Fresnel lens was built in Paris by Barbier, Benard and Turenne. With its white, 1000 watt bulb, the light could be seen for over 20 miles.
The rotation of the lens generates a flash pattern consisting of a 0.3 second flash, a 4.7 eclipse period (the darker interval between the flashes), a 0.3 second flash and finally a 14.7 second eclipse period.
After 93 years of service, the lens was retired, put on permanent display in the nearby Point Vicente Interpretive Center (PVIC) and replaced with a modern LED fixture, with a range of 14 miles, which uses the same flash pattern.
Fresnel Lens
Fresnel lens at PVIC
LED fixture
The first keeper, George L’Hommedieu, did not get along with his assistants and was replaced in 1930 by Anton Trittinger who remained the keeper until 1945 when Joseph May, the last civilian lighthouse keeper assumed the job. In 1955, May was replaced by a succession of Coast Guard enlisted personnel until the lighthouse was automated in 1973. In 1992, Eric Castro-Bran, a member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary was appointed Associate Lighthouse Keeper with responsibility for lighthouse maintenance, and it was he who promoted establishment of the public open house program.
In 2001, the light station was used in the motion picture Pearl Harbor and again in 2017 for Dunkirk. During the site improvements made as a result of the Dunkirk filming, the fog horn, which became operational in 1925, was removed. Upon Castro-Bran’s departure in 2021, Kip Louttit, a retired Coast Guard captain and a member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary, assumed overall responsibility for the lighthouse with the title of Staff Officer for Navigation Systems, Pt. Vicente Lighthouse.
The light station is open to the public from 10 am to 3 pm on the second Saturday of every month and you are likely to be greeted by Kip when you visit. There is a small museum of light house artifacts located in what was the foghorn equipment building but the lighthouse itself is no longer open to the public as a result of deteriorating lead-based paint and asbestos inside.
Since upkeep and restoration of historically significant lighthouses and adjacent property is not provided by the Coast Guard whose responsibility is limited to ensuring that the navigation aids are working properly, community groups have taken on this role. These groups have prevented the demolition and funded the restoration of the Point Fermin lighthouse and have spear-headed the acquisition of funds to repair Angels Gate lighthouse at the entrance to Los Angeles harbor.
In 2024, a new organization was formed to provide sorely needed work at Point Vicente. Calling itself Friends of the Point Vicente Lighthouse https://friendsofpvlighthouse.org/ , it views its top priorities to be repair of the badly rusted metal roof of the cupola at the top of the lighthouse, the tile roofs on the small buildings that are used to support the public open house program, and remediation of the toxic materials inside the lighthouse itself so that public tours into the lighthouse can be resumed. Friends is currently waiting approval of its application to the IRS for 501(C)(3) status so that it is exempt from federal income tax and donations to it are tax deductible.
Light Station open house held in conjunction with the Rancho Palos Verdes Whale of a Day fair
Jim is a former aerospace engineering manager who, since retiring, has become an author (click here for his books) and has lectured throughout the South Bay on a variety of historical subjects. He has written many articles for the Palos Verdes Pulse which may be found here. He is also a charter member of the Friends of the Point Vicente Lighthouse.