Tom Butt
 
  E-Mail Forum – 2021  
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  With COVID-19 Restrictions Over, East Brother Lighthouse Looking for Innkeepers.
June 16, 2021
 

The innkeepers will be a two-person team. The direct link to the application page is https://www.ebls.org/about/keepers-search.html.

Applicants must be:

  • Legally qualified to work in the United States.
  • One applicant must have a current US Coast Guard captain’s license at the time of application.
  • Non-smokers
  • Vaccinated.

East Brother Light Station, Inc., a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation, is seeking applicants for innkeepers of the bed and breakfast inn at East Brother Light Station, an island in San Francisco Bay that is the home of an intact 1874 lighthouse and fog signal. 

After a 15-month hiatus due to COVID-19 closing, we are targeting reopening on September 1, 2021.
East Brother Island has an operating light and fog signal and is owned by the U.S. Coast Guard but maintained for public use by
East Brother Light Station, Inc. Since 1979, it has been operated as one of California's best-known and unique bed and breakfast inns. The income from operations is used by a group of volunteers to maintain the buildings and other structures, which are both a California State Historical Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  

The successful candidates will be a two-person team or couple, one of whom must possess a Coast Guard commercial boat operator's license. They will operate the five-room inn, serving both dinner and breakfast, as well as providing ferry service for guests and all other tasks from chef to maid.  High-quality culinary experience and capability will be a critical qualification. The inn is open four days a week, and the island is also available for day use and special events. The new keepers will start operations on September 1 following training.

Compensation is a function of the level of business, occupancy level and the economy. In the last year (2019-20) the inn was fully operational compensation was $140,000, trending upward, for the couple. Compensation includes a health plan and living quarters on the island.

East Brother has consistently garnered five stars from Yelp and TripAdvisor.

Applicants can apply at www.ebls.org. Only applicants with at least one US Coast Guard license will be considered. Applicants must be COVID-19 vaccinated and must be non-smokers.

Please, NO PHONE CALLS from potential applicants!

You may have heard about our recent power failure. Here is the latest:

After electrical power was lost to East Brother Light Station on April 1, 2021, due to a damaged underwater cable, a team of volunteers with impressive expertise was able to cobble together an emergency repair nearly two months later, on May 28, 2021. The existing cable was pulled up from the Bay enough to locate and cut out the damaged portion and splice the undamaged portions together. Much work is left to be done, including replacing and upgrading service equipment at both the landside and island side of the cable termination, all of which is in progress.

Like any building or infrastructure component, cables are not permanent, but for now, the repaired cable is our least expensive and most reliable alternative. The current cable was installed in 1991 by the US Coast Guard after a previous cable installed in the 1960s was irreversibly damaged by a lightning strike.  To date, the US Coast Guard has refused to undertake any of the necessary repairs for the most recent failure. Nevertheless, the board of the non-profit East Brother Light Station, Inc., is continuing to evaluate future strategies to guarantee a power supply to the island, essential to the operation of the bed and breakfast inn that provides the substantial revenue necessary, along with a dedicated group of volunteers, to maintain the island’s historic nearly 150-year-old structures, 

The bed and breakfast inn has been closed due to COVID-19 since March of 2020. With power restored and COVID-19 in remission, the board is targeting reopening in September of 2021 and has begun the process of recruiting a new innkeeper team based on this schedule. 

Even with power at least temporarily restored, East Brother still faces the imminent need for expensive repairs to its pier and gangway, built in 1962, and suffering from some 60 years of saltwater-induced damage to its steel concrete reinforcing and steel supports. It seems the need never ends, but thanks to our guests, our dedicated volunteers, donors to our fundraising campaigns and our business community partners, we will prepare East Brother to complete its second century.

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