Point Pinos Lighthouse

Lit on February 1, 1855, Point Pinos is the oldest continuously operating lighthouse on the West Coast — a distinction it holds because the Alcatraz Island light, which preceded it by eight months, was eventually replaced. The third-order Fresnel lens still turning inside was manufactured in France in 1853, originally destined for Fort Point in San Francisco before a shipping delay rerouted it here. Automated in 1975, the light still serves as an active Coast Guard aid to navigation, surrounded now by the Pacific Grove Municipal Golf Links.