Tier 2
Santa Cruz Lighthouse
Mark Abbott Memorial Lighthouse
Santa Cruz · Santa Cruz County · Central Coast
Houses the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum — the first surfing museum in the world, opened 1986. A working light, a memorial, and a small museum in one squat brick tower on Lighthouse Point. One of the more emotionally specific stations in the atlas.
Labels
- Tier 1–3
- Editorial browse cues for prominence and context—not circuits, checklists, or achievements.
- Active aid
- The light currently serves navigation. It does not mean the tower, grounds, or interior are open to visitors.
- Public / restricted access
- Some approved visitor access versus a legal viewpoint, special arrangement, or no ordinary public entry. Always check the official guidance.
- Flagship 12
- The curated statewide circuit. It is separate from the editorial tier labels.
Your lighthouse passport
Stamp my passport
Check in at Santa Cruz Lighthouse to collect your digital stamp. Add your name if you like.
Lighthouse Circuit is here to inspire real visits. To collect a location-verified stamp, you’ll need to be at the lighthouse with location access enabled. Need help adding past visits? Email us and we’ll be happy to add them manually.
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From the field
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Visit essentials
Access
Current hours
Tours
Fees
The light
Year first lit
Current structure built
Optic
Light characteristic
Stewardship & location
Owner
Manager
Coordinates
The story
The original Santa Cruz Light (1870) was the twelfth lighthouse established on the California coast. The current structure is the Mark Abbott Memorial Lighthouse, built in 1967 by Chuck and Esther Abbott in memory of their son Mark, a surfer who drowned nearby in 1965. The Coast Guard reactivated it as an official aid to navigation in 2011.
The visit
Walk-up access on West Cliff Drive. The grounds are always open. Museum hours are Thursday–Monday, 10am–5pm (seasonal — verify before driving out). Free admission; donations support the museum.
Make a day of it
Base yourself in
Food / coffee
Stay nearby
Nearby lighthouses
Point Pinos Lighthouse
★ Flagship 12Pacific Grove, Central Coast
The longest continuously lit lighthouse on the West Coast, still using its original 1855 third-order Fresnel lens. The Point Pinos team reports that no wreck has occurred because its light went out.
Pigeon Point Lighthouse
★ Flagship 12Pescadero, Bay Area / Peninsula
A lens with a life on two coasts, the daily labor of its keepers, and a tower being restored for another generation. The museum brings those stories within reach while the tower remains closed.
Help keep this guide accurate: report changed access, a broken link, or a factual correction.
Sources
- Officiallighthousefriends.com/light.asp
- Officialhistory.uscg.mil/Browse-by-Topic/Assets/Land/All/Article/1988632/santa-cruz-lighthouse
- Officialsantacruzca.gov/Government/City-Departments/Parks-Recreation/Surfing-Museum
- Secondaryen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Cruz_Surfing_Museum
- Imagescommons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mark_Abbott_Memorial_Lighthouse.jpg
Image rights: Wikimedia Commons images available under CC BY-SA. USCG historic photos are public domain.
Research confidence: high · Last verified 2026-05-13