Southern California Landmarks – Part 1 Angels Gate lighthouse
I’ve lived in Long Beach almost ten years, and for most of that time I never really looked at the coast. It was just there. Then the pandemic hit, i picked up a camera, and the same stretch of water I’d been driving past for years suddenly looked different This series is my excuse to go back to the places I’ve photographed and tell the story behind them. Starting with the one I keep coming back to.
For years i kept seeing these alignment shots of the Angles Gate lighthouse from other photographers, the sun or the moon lined up right behind the little lighthouse, and every time one showed up on my feed i thought, i want to do that. Stand in the right spot at the right minute and come home with a version that’s mine.
Angels Gate Light sits out on the San Pedro Breakwater, guarding the entrance to Los Angeles Harbor. (I’ve never understood why we call it Los Angeles Harbor when it’s clearly in San Pedro, but I’ve made peace with a lot of things I don’t understand.)
Why This Little Lighthouse
Two things make it worth the early alarm or a late evening visit. First, it throws an emerald green light — one of only a handful of lighthouses in the country that do — so even from a distance you know exactly what you’re looking at. Second, those black stripes on the white tower. They weren’t part of the original plan. The lighthouse started out all white, and it turned out that all-white against coastal fog is basically invisible, which is a real problem for the one job a lighthouse has. As usual the Marine layer ends messing things up ask any Socal photographer about this.
Cabrillo Beach — My Everyday Spot
Most of the time I shoot it from Cabrillo Beach either from the beach or the pier. It’s the easiest and most reliable spot — you can work the pier for mid-range compositions with a bit of foreground to lean on, or spread out along the beach if you’d rather be alone and try different framings. Either way you need a long lens. The lighthouse is far enough out that anything short leaves it a speck; I want the telephoto reach to fill the frame. The shot I chase is the lighthouse with a ship or a sailboat drifting behind it, because that’s what gives the whole thing a sense of scale and place.
SS Lane Victory — The Alignment Spot
There’s a second spot too, the road out by the SS Lane Victory, and it’s the one that pays off when you’re chasing an alignment — both the sunrise and the moonrise line up with the lighthouse from here. I heared from other photographers that previously you can walk up to the dock end and shoot from there. But now there’s a fence in the way, which means arriving early and scouting for a position where the fence isn’t in your shot. That’s the whole game with this one — get there before you need to, figure out your framing while you can still see, so you’re not fumbling in the dark when the light finally shows up. I have seen photographers rock up with a small footstool and with a really long tripod and shoot over the fence. My go to is to put the lens very close to the fence and shoot through the same.
Timing It Right
This is where Angels Gate gets interesting for anyone who likes to plan. In winter, the sun rises in line with the lighthouse from the SS Lane road, and if the morning cooperates you get that clean backlit silhouette. I use PlanIt Pro to confirm the exact sunrise direction weeks out, then show up 30 to 45 minutes early to scout and let my eyes settle into the dark.
The moon aligns year-round, but the season decides whether you actually get it. Summer is the heartbreaker — the marine layer rolls in and swallows the moon right when it’s supposed to appear, so you plan the whole evening and drive home with nothing. Fall and spring are kinder. Winter moonrise is usually the most dependable, though the timing doesn’t always fit around real life. I check PlanIt Pro through the full moon window to see where the moon will sit, then check the marine forecast the morning of. If fog’s coming for the evening, I flip to a sunrise plan or just try again another night.
The Morning I Finally Went For It
I had been successful with the Sunrise shot last winter. So i’d finally committed to the moon alignment, and this time i decided to get there earlier than i probably needed to. Part of me expected to roll up and find the usual crowd already staked out on the good spots — that’s how it usually goes with these. But i got there and there was no one. Just me, the fence, and the dark. i won’t lie, that threw me a little. When you’re used to seeing the same photos from the same vantage point you kind of assume everyone knows something you don’t, and here i was, alone, wondering if i’d gotten the timing ot the location wrong.
So i set up and waited. And then a couple of photographers rolled up, and we got to talking — the easy kind of conversation that people who share a common interest have. That’s the part my introvert brain never plans for and always ends up grateful for.
And then the fog rolled in. Right as the moon was supposed to show, the marine layer came over the water and swallowed the whole thing, and the clean alignment i’d been picturing for months just wasn’t happening. On paper, a bust. I had troubles focussing through the fence as well.
But it wasn’t, not really. i worked with what i had, moved around a bit, and still came away with a few frames i actually liked. Not the shot i drove out for, a different one, but i’ll take it. i went home with decent photos and a new photographer in my contacts
The Company
That’s the thing about these alignment windows, you’ll almost always end up sharing them. For an introvert who mostly does this to be alone, it’s a strange and welcome thing, standing next to people you’ve never met, all of you waiting on the same light, swapping tips, someone quietly saying “there it is” when something happens. Then everyone packs up and goes home.
The moon didn’t cooperate completely and i’d still call it a good outcome. Both things are true. Show up early, bring the long lens, and if the fog rolls in curse the marine layer and try again.
Photo Gallery
Sunrise
Moonrise
