Migrating whales, an 84-year-old lighthouse and a ghost. Not your typical day out in Los Angeles County… unless you head to the Palos Verdes Peninsula in the South Bay. (And if you live here, even better. Like a mini-vacation so close to home!)
The long stretch of South Bay beaches — punctuated by colorful piers — gives way to bluffs and hidden coves on the peninsula. Settled among the camel-colored bluffs, a white beacon stands like a solitary soldier… the Point Vicente Lighthouse.
Hidden rocky outcroppings plus ships equals big trouble. Shipwrecks were common in this area until the lighthouse was built in 1926. (In fact, down the road, there’s even a Shipwreck Trail that leads to an old wreck. Though that wreck happened after the lighthouse was here.)
The lighthouse is open for tours from 10am to 3pm on the second Saturday of every month. When it’s not open for tours, there’s a locked gate by the parking lot, but you can take a peak through.
When we’d drive through this area when I was a kid, it would freak me out. My mom talked about the “Lady of the Light,” the female ghost who roamed the hillsides looking for her lost love… or something along those lines.
There I’d sit, in the darkened back seat of the car, eyes wide, wondering if a ghost was going to pop out of the hills. Of course, it never did. Turns out my mom had the folklore a bit wrong. The “Lady of the Light” supposedly hung out in the lighthouse, not on the hillsides.
The folklore actually started when lighthouse keepers painted the lighthouse windows decades ago, so neighbors wouldn’t have to deal with so much of a glare. Behind those painted windows, the flickering light inside made it look like a woman was floating and keeping guard up there. Some people still say the place is “haunted.” I’ll leave that for you to decide.
You can get lots of views of the lighthouse, the bluffs and the rocky beach below from a paved hiking trail that winds around the property. On a clear day, you can see Catalina Island, 22 miles off the coast. (I was lucky. Today, when I took this picture, it was pretty clear! The days after it rains are also usually great days to get clear views.)
The short, paved (and handicapped-accessible) trail meanders along the bluff tops from the lighthouse parking lot to the other side of the Point Vicente Interpretive Center. In front of the center, there’s a garden with native plants.
If you hit it right, you’ll see some California poppies (the state flower) in bloom (or, in this case, almost in bloom!)…
And the purple lupine is pretty, too. (At least I’m pretty sure that’s what these are. I admit, I don’t know my wildflowers.)…
The stars of the show here, though, are the whales. They migrate along the Southern California coast from about mid-December to March. They’re easier to see if you bring along binoculars. But even without binoculars, if you look closely, you can occasionally see a whale blowing up a cascade of water.
It’s definitely easy to tell when there’s a whale out there because you’ll see binoculars and cameras zeroed in on the same area. So just follow the eyes around you. Boats often migrate over to where the whales are, too. So that’s another clue.
If you miss the whales, you can always look around the sidewalks here. There are whale shapes built into the walkways. Or you can check out the blue whale sculpture near the Point Vicente Interpretive Center…
And right near the whale sculpture, there’s a little reminder of what used to be in this area…
Marineland of the Pacific, the one-time home of Orky and Corky (the orcas) and Bubbles the pilot whale, used to be just a little ways up the road. It was kind of a like a mini version of Sea World. And if you grew up in the South Bay, you likely had some sort of field trip to Marineland. It was close. It was cool. And at the end of its life, it had a man-made reef in a tank that you could snorkel in. (I never did that, but I remember my brother did.)
For a grade-school kid, like I was, Marineland’s dolphins, sea lions and dancing Scooby Doo characters were awesome!! (I still have a plastic Scooby Doo/Marineland wallet from those days. Yes, I just gave away my age. If you had a plastic, blue Scooby Doo/Marineland wallet with white plastic edging, you’d give away your age, too. It is the coolest plastic wallet! Don’t ask me why I’m not using it now, after this kind of endorsement!)
The park was there from the late 1970s into the 1980s. Marineland closed in 1987 after the folks who owned Sea World bought it. The remnants of the park have been used for filming some big-time Hollywood movies, including the recent Johnny Depp “Pirates of the Caribbean” films.
And best of all, seeing all of this (minus Marineland, obviously) is FREE!! Perfect price.
Directions to Point Vicente Lighthouse: Find your way to Palos Verdes Drive West, which loops around the outer edge of the Palos Verdes Peninsula. (If you’re on Pacific Coast Highway in Redondo Beach, turn south onto Palos Verdes Boulevard, which ends when it hits Palos Verdes Drive West. Turn right on Palos Verdes Drive West.) Point Vicente Lighthouse is the first right past Hawthorne Boulevard.
You can also get there via other routes. From Pacific Coast Highway in Torrance, you can take Hawthorne Boulevard south onto the peninsula. It ends at Palos Verdes Drive West. Turn left onto Palos Verdes Drive West. Point Vicente Lighthouse is the next roadway/driveway on the right.
There are several small parking lots there with free parking. There are also picnic tables and a lawn area, if you want to bring food and picnic.
Tours of Point Vicente Lighthouse: Every second Saturday of the month, 10am – 3pm.
Susan Valot
Detour 
