By 1830, San Pedro Bay served as the port for the Pueblo de Los Angeles which was at the time the largest settlement in California. (It would later be outsized by San Francisco when the gold rush began.) It wasn't until 1874 however when the area would get their first lighthouse at Point Fermin. Five years before the light was constructed, Southern California's first railroad was completed between Los Angeles and Wilmington. A low sandbar lay across the from Wilmington and connected to Deadman's Island. Ships that could not sail into the channel anchored outside the bay and lightered their cargo to shore at Wilmington and San Pedro.
Local business men and seamen lobbied the Lighthouse service for a lighthouse on Point Fermin. In 1854 Phineas Banning had made the same request of the Service when he began developing the harbor area. Point Fermin rose 100 feet above the water and was ideally suited for a new light. By 1872 the site was formally selected by the Lighthouse Service with construction supplies arriving by 1874. The Victorian house was completed by late fall but the planned fog signal was never constructed.
Two sisters, Mary and Ella Smith served as the first keepers of Point Fermin. The lamp was lit, December 15, 1874. The fourth order Fresnel Lens rotated on a clockwork apparatus. Red screens produced a red and white flashing light. The sisters remained at Point Fermin until May 8, 1882.
As construction on the Los Angeles Harbor light was contemplated, there were rumors that Pt. Fermin would be torn down. Fortunately the rumors proved false. In 1927 the Los Angeles City Recreation and Parks Department contracted with the Lighthouse Service. The Department assumed operation and care of lighthouse in exchange for the land and use of the lighthouse as a residence for the superintendent. The light had been electrified and could be operated quiet easily.
With the attack of Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941, the light at Point Fermin was turned off on December 9. The Navy took over, removed the lens, dismantled the lantern room and built a box shaped lookout tower on top of the residence. It was referred to as the "chicken coop" by locals. A steel tower was later built with an automatic light at the edge of the bluff to replace the original light.
In 1960 the Coast Guard considered tearing down the residence even though it was inhabited by park personnel. William Olesen and John Olguin, long time activists in the San Pedro area went into action. By 1973 they had the lighthouse entered on the National Registry of Historic Places. The Coast Guard found the original blue prints and the chicken coop was removed by Olesen. With the help of local off duty firemen, Olesen and Olguin finished the new lantern room just days before the 100 anniversary of the lighting of the original light.
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