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Shown here is 17-year-old Coast Guardsman Mark Kirby cleaning the lantern at California’s Point Bonita Lighthouse in September of 1979. In the distance, the fog has shrouded the famous Golden Gate Bridge. A few weeks before this photo was taken, Michael Jackson had released his breakthrough album Off the Wall that would sell 7 million copies and Admiral Lord Mountbatten, uncle to the Duke of Edinburg, was assassinated.
From 1856 to 1858, Point Bonita Lighthouse was the first west coast lighthouse to use a cannon as a fog signal. When this photo was taken, the Point Bonita Lighthouse was the only lighthouse in California to still be staffed by personnel; all the others had been automated. The area is now open to the public as part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The photo was taken by Fitzgerald Whitney, a photographer for the Los Angeles Times.
This story appeared in the
Jan/Feb 2014 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.
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