East Brother Lighthouse is not the only endangered lighthouse, as the article below explains. However, the nonprofit East Brother Light Station, Inc. saved the lighthouse from destruction 45
years ago and has been its steward ever since, while hosting over 70,000 bed and breakfast guests.
East Brother Light Station, Inc., the nonprofit 501(c)3 corporation that maintains and operates East Brother Light Station has embarked on the biggest
project since we rehabilitated the Light Station 45 years ago.
The pier and gangway that provide the only access to the island were built in 1962. We replaced the pilings and substructure in 1999. The pier platform
is reinforced concrete, and the gangway is supported by steel beams. Both were designed for more than 10 times the live load they currently need to support, so they remain safe to use, but they need to be replaced due to steel corrosion and concrete spalling.
The entire cost, which is estimated at about $750,000, will have to be borne by East Brother Light Station, Inc. The island is currently owned by
the United States Coast Guard, with a license to East Brother Light Station, Inc. to maintain and operate it. The Coast Guard has no funds to help with the pier and gangway project. A process is currently underway to transfer ownership of the island to East
Brother Light Station, Inc.
We have raised about $100,000 towards the project, which is enough to pay for the fabrication of a new gangway and the structural engineering for
the new platform. We are currently engaged in a capital campaign to raise the remainder.
If you want to help, you can do so in several ways:
Donate online:
- Network for Good
https://ebls.networkforgood.com/ - Go Fund Me:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/save-east-brother-lighthouse-replace-the-pier
Write a check to:
East Brother Light Station, inc.
(Pier and Gangway Project)
117 Park Place
Richmond CA 94801
Give us names and contact information
of corporations, individuals, foundations or organizations that you believe may be potential donors. We will do the rest.
Questions or comments? Contact:
Tom Butt, President
East Brother Light Station, Inc.
17 park Place
Richmond, CA 94801
510-220-1577
https://www.sfgate.com/california/article/inside-costly-race-save-california-s-aging-21127780.php
After 170 years,
an uncertain future for California’s first beacons
Is sentimental value enough to pour millions into these landmarks?
By Ian Rodney LazarusUpdated Nov
3, 2025 2:41 p.m.
Few structures evoke such varied emotions as the sight of a weathered lighthouse standing firm against an incoming tide. Without
these tall, circular towers set along the shore, California wouldn’t be what it is today.
But
these iconic coastal features have lost almost all their original function, replaced by modern technology, and simultaneously face threats from age and environmental degradation. They’re some of the oldest structures still standing, largely due to their sentimental
value, even as they come under increasing financial strain. For all the pride and pleasure we get from seeing these monuments up close, many visitors remain unaware of the challenges they face today.
Part of California’s history
As a staff officer for the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary in San Diego, I’ve been lucky enough to explore California’s lighthouses
in ways others aren’t able to. Walking on grounds that retain original structures approaching two centuries old, it feels like walking right out of a time machine. Very little has changed, even inside the homes that were occupied by the original keepers and
officers more than 150 years ago.
On Sept. 28, 1850, more than two weeks after California’s admission into the union, Congress appropriated $90,000 to build lighthouses
along the state’s coast. A second appropriation of nearly $60,000 occurred in 1854 to complete the project, and eight structures were built from Battery Point, near the border with Oregon, to Point Loma at the southern tip of the United States. The cost is
equivalent to roughly $6 million in today’s dollars.
The Old Point Loma Lighthouse in San Diego, Calif., during the 1950s.
Frederic Lewis/Getty Images
These lighthouses played a vital role in opening up the West Coast to economic development during the Gold Rush and stimulated
the development of communities across the state. Some of the original structures are set to turn 170 years old this year. Of those, five are still operational, and one was replaced in 1891.
Built in 1854, the original Point Loma lighthouse was at the highest elevation of any lighthouse in the U.S., at 462 feet above
sea level. From its first light in 1855, the beam was lost in the fog common to San Diego and was therefore of limited value to mariners, who complained they could not see it. The original lighthouse keeper, Capt. Robert Decatur Israel, would often fire a
shotgun to warn ships away from the dangerous rocks below. Ultimately, officials decided to build a second lighthouse closer to sea level, and on March 23, 1891, the old lighthouse was decommissioned and functionally replaced by the structure that continues
to operate today.
In 1939, the governing body for lighthouses merged with the U.S. Coast Guard. At that time, there were 5,355 employees, including
1,170 lighthouse keepers and their assistants. The very last of those lighthouse keepers was James Williams, assigned to the new Point Loma lighthouse in 1971. His widow, Darla, remembers the good and bad of living there.
“My husband called me and said we were moving,” she recalled, “but he didn’t explain exactly where we were going. All he said
was that there was a washer and dryer, which was enough for me. However, nobody warned us about the field rats.”
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A view of the Point Loma Lighthouse in San Diego, Calif.
lucky-photographer/Getty Images
The Williams raised two children on the restricted grounds of the lighthouse along with two other Coast Guard families. “It was
a quiet lifestyle for us,” Darla Williams said.
By 1973, lighthouse automation made obsolete the need for a full-time lighthouse keeper. The Williams left the grounds at that
time, and Mr. Williams retired.
Millions were introduced to the lighthouse in 1986 when the movie “Top Gun” was filmed on the grounds and in one of the three
residences located there. Today, these historic homes are occupied by senior officers in the San Diego sector of the Coast Guard.
Threatened structures
Efforts to refurbish the lighthouse grounds have been attempted several times, but due to limited resources, the refurbishment
project has been delayed. The Coast Guard is also investing in other technologies, such as “virtual buoys” that do not require someone to be physically on or near the water while still warning of an approaching vessel. While the new lighthouse still illuminates
the entrance to San Diego bay every evening, new technology will inevitably continue to reduce reliance on lighthouses as an aid to navigation.
The Point Sur Lighthouse near Big Sur, Calif.
Education Images/Universal Image
The elimination of on-site supervision led many of these structures to fall into a state of disrepair or become subject to vandalism.
Moreover, there are increasing environmental threats, including coastal erosion due to sea level rise and the corrosion of infrastructure, along with extreme weather conditions brought on by climate change.
Though under threat, lighthouses in California have a small and potentially temporary advantage over their cousins on the Atlantic
coast. In addition to being relatively newer structures, it is generally accepted in the scientific community that environmental threats from sea level rise are greater on the East
Coast. Then, there is the height at which California lighthouses were built, due in part to the geography of the West Coast.
“Lighthouses in California tend to be on higher ground on average, which makes them less vulnerable,” said Jeremy D’Entremont,
a historian at the U.S. Lighthouse Society. “But the massive wave that hit Point Cabrillo a couple of years ago could be a sign of things to come.”
A view of the Point Cabrillo lighthouse in Mendocino County, Calif.
Pgiam/Getty Images/iStockphoto
The Point Cabrillo lighthouse was built in 1909 and, for all but three times in its history (1928, 1960 and 2023), it was undisturbed
by the weather. The storm that hit the region on Jan. 5, 2023, broke through the back doors, causing mud, gravel, rocks and water to flood the structure and splash about 7 feet up the walls. The building’s museum and gift shop suffered an estimated $40,000
in damage.
“As far as we can tell, the January 2023 storm was just the perfect combination of high swells, king tides and some really strong
wind gusts heading east,” said Jen Lewis, the fundraising and outreach manager for the Point Cabrillo Lightkeepers Association. “Only three occurrences of it in 116 years isn’t too bad, right?”
There are ample studies suggesting that extreme weather events off the California coast are increasing in frequency and impact. A
study published in 2023 looked at seismic records and found about a 13% rise in wave heights since 1970, along with a doubling of large wave events (over 4 meters). Another
study estimated that, in the wake of storms between December 2022 and March 2023, economic losses in California came out to $4.7 billion.
Who pays to upkeep the lighthouses?
In 2000, Congress passed the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act, or NHLPA. The legislation was intended to facilitate
the preservation of historic lighthouses by permitting their transfer to eligible local agencies at no cost, though if the lighthouse is still used for navigation, the Coast Guard may remain involved in its management. To date, three lighthouses in California
have been transferred to local municipalities and parks pursuant to the NLHPA: Pigeon Point (San Mateo County), Point Sur (Monterey County) and Point Fermin (Los Angeles County). Other intra-state transfers, outside the terms of the NHLPA, have also taken
place over the years as community governments seek to find the best agency equipped to serve as caretaker. Those transfers often result in a stronger focus on conservation and open new avenues for funding it.
The Point Fermin Lighthouse in the San Pedro neighborhood in Los Angeles County, Calif.
Getty Images
The new Point Loma lighthouse was refurbished in 2017, including abrasive blast cleaning and the replacement of 20,000 pounds
of degraded cast iron at an approximate cost of $2.1 million to the Cabrillo National Monument. The Old Point Loma Lighthouse also underwent restoration
work in 2024.
Pigeon Point Lighthouse, closed for safety since 2001 when an iron structural element fell off the tower, is undergoing an extensive
renovation for nearly $20 million, funded by both a grant from the state of California and assistance from several nonprofit organizations. It began in early 2024 and likely won’t be complete until mid-2026.
Initial cost
estimates to seismically retrofit the Point Sur lighthouse in Monterey County came in at $1.5 million. A previous renovation done in 2001 was funded by California State Parks, the Central Coast Lighthouse Keepers and several other organizations.
A view of the Pigeon Point Lighthouse in Pescadero in San Mateo County, Calif.
Rawpixel/Getty Images
To be sure, California’s lighthouses have sentimental value, and while they may be quite literally on safer ground than their
counterparts guarding the Atlantic coast, they remain vulnerable to numerous threats. But with no national restoration plans in sight, it’s unclear whether local efforts to protect them will be enough for future generations of Californians.
Ian Rodney Lazarus is Staff Officer, Publications, for the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary based in San Diego. He has also published
several crime thrillers.
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Rosie the Riveter Trust and
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