Which California lighthouses are still operating?

More than 30 of California's 50 lighthouse-related sites are still active aids to navigation — operated automatically by the U.S. Coast Guard, with the original Fresnel lens replaced in most cases by a modern LED or solar beacon.

Of the 50 sites in the dataset, more than 30 remain active aids to navigation. Most have been automated — the original Fresnel lens replaced or supplemented by a modern LED, solar, or low-wattage beacon — but the structure itself is still on watch for the U.S. Coast Guard.

Notable active stations to visit:

• Point Pinos Lighthouse — the oldest continuously operating lighthouse on the West Coast (first lit 1855).
• Point Vicente Lighthouse — active Coast Guard aid on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.
• Point Sur Light Station — still an active aid; the most complete surviving light-station complex in California.
• Point Arena Lighthouse — 115-foot tower, active beacon, open for guided tower climbs.
• Point Cabrillo Light Station — active historic third-order Fresnel lens; the lens assembly itself still rotates, the last historic rotating Fresnel lens in California.
• St. George Reef Lighthouse — offshore reef tower, still active with a helicopter-served beacon platform.

The full set, filtered by active/inactive status, is on the Atlas.