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Lighthouses, saviors of seafaring men and women, have been modernized, updated and in some cases, extinguished. But the lights that burned brightly through storm and darkness have lost none of their luster as guardians of the past.
Lighthousers — folks who are enraptured by lighthouses and their places in history — have a nice assortment of lights in the Bay Area to view. Here are six lighthouses you can visit, and some you can actually explore.
Point Bonita
Point Bonita in the Marin headlands remains an active lighthouse, operated by the U.S. Coast Guard within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. When they say getting there is half the thrill, they aren’t kidding: This lighthouse is accessible by a half-mile hike over some steep terrain and then across a wood-and-steel suspension foot bridge.
The original light was built on Point Bonita during the Gold Rush, when some 300 ships ran aground in the area. The builders were a bit too enthusiastic, locating the tower so high up that it was useless in the fog. The light later was moved lower down on the point.
Open: 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Sundays and Mondays
Details: Take Sausalito’s Alexander Avenue exit. Turn onto Bunker Road and go through the Baker-Barry Tunnel, which is controlled by a 5-minute light. Stay on Bunker Road for approximately 2 miles, then turn left onto Field Road and continue to the Point Bonita parking lot on the right. www.nps.gov/goga/pobo.htm
Pigeon Point
Pigeon Point light station shares the title of tallest lighthouse (118 feet) on the West Coast. It was built in 1871 to protect ships sailing along the coast between Santa Cruz and San Francisco. Its design is more typical of East Coast lights.
The light station was named after the ship “Carrier Pigeon,” which sank off the coast in 1853. The lighthouse originally was equipped with a powerful first order Fresnel lens from the Cape Hatteras lighthouse, but the U.S. Coast Guard has since modernized the light with an electronic rotating beacon.
The lighthouse is closed to inside tours, but there’s plenty to see around the grounds, and the state recently authorized $9.1 million for restoration. Half-hour guided history walks around the grounds are available on request by calling 650-879-2120. You also can book a stay in one of the lighthouse keeper and assistant’s houses.
Open: The grounds are open from 8 a.m. to sunset, daily. The visitor center and park store are open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursdays through Mondays.
Details: The lighthouse is located at Pigeon Point Light Station State Historic Park on Highway 1 south of Pescadero. www.parks.ca.gov
Alcatraz Island lighthouse
The lighthouse on Alcatraz Island was the first of eight that Congress approved funding for shortly after the discovery of gold in California. Many of the lighthouses were designed and built on the East Coast, then disassembled and shipped to California. The houses were pretty much just that — houses with a tower through the middle.
Alcatraz’s original light remained dark for almost a year after construction was completed, because a decision was made nationally to scrap the use of Argand lamps and parabolic reflectors for the far superior Fresnel lens, which produced a brighter beam and used less oil.
The 1906 San Francisco earthquake damaged the lighthouse, but the bigger problem arose in 1909 when the Army citadel was replaced by a 600-cell prison. The height of the prison blocked the two-story lighthouse, so a taller light was built to replace it. The beacon was automated on Nov. 22, 1963.
Open: You can tour the outside of the lighthouse during an Alcatraz Island tour.
Point Pinos
Point Pinos Lighthouse holds a unique place in history. It was slated to be the first light built on California’s dark coast, but problems in picking a site for the lighthouse delayed construction, allowing to Alcatraz to claim the honor.
The lighthouse was constructed from a kit, sent from the East Coast around Cape Horn, which explains why the house is a traditional Cape Cod design. The light was lit in 1855 and has continued to burn for more than 160 years, making it the oldest active light on the West Coast.
The building and grounds fell into disrepair after it was automated, but a group of volunteers banded together to restore it and preserve its colorful history.
Open: 1-4 p.m. Thursday though Monday, 80 Asilomar Ave., Pacific Grove. Admission is $5 a person, $2 for those 7 to 17, free to 6 and younger. www.pointpinoslighthouse.org
East Brother light station
East Brother is a light atop a Victorian house that also serves as a romantic bed-and-breakfast on the small island of East Brother, just off the coast of Richmond in the San Rafael Bay. It’s accessible only by boat.
B&B visitors are treated to a boat ride to the island, a Champagne reception with hors d’oeuvres, a communal four-course dinner with wine and breakfast, plus a history tour that includes a demonstration of the 80-year-old fog horn.
The lighthouse, built in 1874 and automated in 1969, was designed in the “American Stick” style by Paul J. Pelz, who designed other lights in Northern California. A non-profit group, East Brother Light Station Inc., formed in 1979 to restore the lighthouse after it was saved from destruction a few years earlier.
Open: The bed-and-breakfast is open year round, but reservations are required. Day visits are permitted — also by reservation — on Saturdays during the summer. Guests are picked up at 1900 Stenmark Drive in Richmond.
Fort Point light
The light at Fort Point may have the most dramatic backdrop of all the lights. It’s located just under the South anchorage of the Golden Gate Bridge.
The light is an iron skeleton tower with a spiral staircase, and it’s the third light to grace the area. The first, built with the same Cape Cod kit as the lights at Point Pinos and Alcatraz, was never lit during its brief tenure. The 3-month-old light was torn down to make way for the fort.
A second light was built on a narrow ledge between the bay and the fort, but erosion undermined its foundation and it was torn down to build a sea wall. The third light, erected on the fort in 1864, was decommissioned in 1934 after the Golden Gate Bridge was finished. The bridge blocked the light from water view.
Open: The Fort Point National Historic Site is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays through Sundays, October through May, and five days a week the rest of the year. Fort Point is at the end of Marine Drive on the Presidio, San Francisco; www.nps.gov/fopo
3 more Bay Area lights also worth a mention
Yerba Buena Lighthouse stands 25-feet high on the island best known for its position between the two spans of the Bay Bridge, but the only way to see it is from the water. It sits on U.S. Coast Guard property, and the public is not admitted.
The Point Reyes light, which stands sentry at the Gulf of the Farallones on Point Reyes, is more typical of a West Coast lighthouse — squat and firmly planted in bedrock, its beacon slipping beneath towering banks of fog. It’s a splendid sight, but the lighthouse is being restored and is inaccessible until early next year.
Mile Rocks Lighthouse is located on a rock about a mile southwest of the Golden Gate Bridge, off Lands End in San Francisco. It was completed in 1906, and automated in 1966. What remains of the lighthouse is only visible from the water — or from San Francisco on a clear day.
