Pigeon Point Anniversary: Nov 17, 5:00pm

If you live anywhere near the San Francisco Bay Area, you might be interested in the Pigeon Point Lighting Anniversary this Saturday night, Nov 17, from 6:00-8:00pm. This week is the 135th anniversary of the lighting of the Pigeon Point Lighthouse. For two hours, the Coast Guard will turn off the modern airport beacon light, and then turn on the original fresnel lens light.

(Photo by Andy Frazer)

I attended this event last year, and I have to admit I was really blown away by the beauty of the light from the fresnel lens. I never realized that the old fresnel lenses could not rotate as quickly as the beacons rotate today (it's obvious, once you think about it), so the fresnel lens would emit multiple beams of light, and the entire set of beams would rotate every few minutes. This creates an amazing star-light effect.

(Photo by Roland Ruel)

As an added bonus for photographers, for the first five minutes (6:00-6:05 PM) they hold the lens stationary to give you the opportunity to get your photographs without blurring the beams of light.

More information:

California State Parks, Pigeon Point Hostel, and the United States Coast Guard will commemorate the 135th Anniversary of the first lighting of Pigeon Point Lighthouse. This annual event features an open house in the historic fog signal building from 10am until 7pm. The highlight of the evening is from 6-8pm when the historic lighthouse?s Fresnel Lens lights up the sky. Exhibits in the 1899 Fog Signal Building will feature lighthouse history, videos, marine mammals, and the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Pigeon Point Light Station State Historic Park is located between San Francisco and Santa Cruz on Highway 1, about 50 miles south of San Francisco, or 25 miles north of Santa Cruz. For more information, please call (650) 879-2120 or click here.