Los Angeles Harbor Lighthouse (a.k.a. Angels Gate) Guides Seafarers with Its Unique Emerald Beacon

 

Featured image credit:

Photograph by Don Ramey Logan

Angel’s Gate Lighthouse Don Ramey Logan.jpg from Wikimedia Commons

License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International

Since 1913, a welcoming beacon has been greeting sea-weary captains as they enter the busiest container port in the country, Los Angeles Harbor. It’s a verdant glow that promises smooth sailing ahead; a visual equivalent to the moment a sailor disembarks from a galley to kiss the grainy ground beneath their feet. Earning its place on the National Register of Historic Places, it’s frequently regarded as Los Angeles Harbor Lighthouse but listed in the United States Coast Guard (USCG) Light List simply as Los Angeles Light. But chances are that if you know of it at all, you know it as Angels Gate Lighthouse. 

Experience the Los Angeles Harbor Lighthouse… from Afar

Photo credit: Don Haynes – Port of Los Angeles

Landlubbers and seadogs alike will find the Los Angeles Harbor Lighthouse at the San Pedro Breakwater. But getting close to it is easier said than done. Angels Gate is inaccessible to the general public, so most have to content themselves with admiring it from afar. You can find some picturesque views of it from Cabrillo Beach. But if you want a closer inspection of this historic lighthouse, you’ll likely need to reserve a spot on a tour boat. Authorities strictly forbid passage along the breakwater ridge due to the high risk of crashing waves. And you won’t find a lighthouse keeper position opening up anytime soon. Angels Gate went automated in 1973. 

A Singular Construction

As is the style of our city, Los Angeles Harbor Lighthouse isn’t like the others. For one, its very structure bucks convention. Initially, Angels Gate was to employ plans similar to those used for the lighthouses stationed at Oakland Harbor and Southampton Shoals: boxy buildings crafted from wood culminating in a light two stories up. 

Instead, Angels Gate relies on an unusual construction choice. The 73-foot tall Romanesque lighthouse, forged from concrete supported by structural steel, anchors directly to a forty-foot concrete block that rises 14 feet above the raging sea. No other lighthouse in the world incorporates this design. The steel plate reinforcements extend to the second floor as Angels Gate rises directly up from the breakwater. 

Our Wave-Washed Icon

 

Los Angeles Harbor Lighthouse is one of only a very few “wave-washed” lighthouses on the U.S.’s west coast. Unfamiliar? Designers create wave-washed or “wave-swept” lighthouses by building directly on rocky extensions that leave the structure exposed to the harsh conditions of the sea. As a wave-washed lighthouse, builders intended Angels Gate to endure consistent barrages of powerful waves. The breakwater at the lighthouse’s foundation extends about two miles off the shore and consists of approximately three million tons of Catalina Island rock. And when the tide rises above this breakwater, Angels Gate must meet its fury every time. 

And it’s admirably accepted the challenge over the century. However, observant admirers of Angels Gate may recognize that the lighthouse leans ever so slightly. This angle has inspired several legends over the decades. Perhaps the most enduring is that a battleship rammed into the lighthouse, knocking it into its southeasterly lean. Then, there’s the debatable account that the subtle tilt began following a seemingly relentless five-day storm in 1939. Most likely, the distinctive leaning angle of Los Angeles Harbor Lighthouse can’t be credited to a single monumental event. Rather, it’s probably due to the culmination of decades of earthquakes, storms, and general settling. 

Angels Gate Gets a Glow-Up

Initially, the Los Angeles Harbor Lighthouse featured an all-white veneer. However, the frequent fog moving into the harbor obscured Angels Gate, so painters added vertical black bands to remedy the issue. While the lighthouse has held up admirably in the face of nature’s violence, it also developed plenty of battle scars. 

Photo credit: Matthew Dillon

At one point, rust had eaten away at several points of Angels Gate. Shattered windows seeped with salty mists, hairline cracks compromised its steel, and brine permeated its edifice. Recognizing an urgent need for action, the Cabrillo Beach Boosters Club partnered with the Coast Guard to complete an exterior renovation in 2012 using $1.8 million in funding courtesy of the Port of Los Angeles. Officials still need to address the interior damage. But at an estimated cost of $1.2 million, Angels Gate may be waiting a while for those repairs.  

The Emerald Halo of Angels Gate Lighthouse

Yet, scars and all, the Los Angeles Harbor Lighthouse remains one of the most unusual lighthouses in the world. Perhaps most obviously, it’s the only lighthouse on the planet to use an emerald light as its guiding beacon. When the Coast Guard converted Angels Gate to a solar-powered lighthouse in the 1980s, they retired the original Fresnel lens. You can see it on display at the Los Angeles Maritime Museum. However, its distinctive green “halo” still welcomes travelers to the port. 

A Traditional Los Angeles Harbor Lighthouse Welcome

The City of Los Angeles honors all deep sea vessels arriving at Los Angeles Harbor on a maiden voyage with a commemorative plaque emblazoned with the image of Angels Light. It’s not just a welcome. It’s a promise of sanctuary from the sea, visualized by that unmistakable jade light and voiced by the double-note foghorn bellowed by the guiding tower every 30 seconds. Consider it our very own maritime guardian angel!