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Old Point Loma Lighthouse
Jon Sullivan

Point Loma is a seaside neighborhood of San Diego, California. Geographically it is a hilly peninsula that is bordered on the west and south by the Pacific Ocean, the east by the San Diego Bay and Old Town and the north by the San Diego River. Along with North Island and the Silver Strand, Point Loma separates the San Diego Bay from the Pacific Ocean.

Point Loma has an estimated population of 45,887 (including Ocean Beach), according to the 2000 Census Bureau[1].

Point Loma is home to the western terminus of Interstate 8, which travels along the Northern end of the peninsula. Rosecrans Street is the North/South avenue that serves the bayside of Point Loma, while Sunset Cliffs Boulevard is the North/South ocean-side avenue (Strictly speaking, both streets run parallel to each other in a North-East to South-West route). Sports Arena Boulevard, West Point Loma Boulevard and Nimitz Boulevard are other major traffic pipelines in Point Loma.

Much of the coastal sections, both bay and ocean, are laid out in a grid pattern, with the ocean-side blocks individually larger than the bayside. The grid breaks down as both sides approach the hilly center, which is mainly evident west of Chatsworth Boulevard and east of Catalina and Nimitz Boulevard, where streets have a more loopy, curvy pattern.

Point Loma was first discovered by Europeans on September 28, 1542 when Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, departing from Mexico, led an expedition to explore the west coast of what is now the United States. Cabrillo described San Diego Bay as “a very good enclosed port,” and historians believe he probably docked his flagship on Point Loma’s east shore, likely at Ballast Point.

Perhaps the best known landmark in Point Loma is the Old Point Loma Lighthouse, an icon occasionally used to represent the entire city of San Diego. Perched atop the southern point that creates the entrance of the bay with Coronado, the small, two story lighthouse was completed in 1854 and first lit on November 15,1855. At 422 feet above sea level at the entrance of the bay, the seemingly good location for a lighthouse soon proved poor, as low clouds and fog often obscured the beam to ocean-going vessels. On March 23, 1891 the lighthouse ceased to be used for its original purpose, as a new lighthouse was built nearer sea level on the same southern point. The Old Point Loma Lighthouse is now partially open to the public and has been refurbished to its historic 1880’s interior.

Point Loma's well known landmark is the Cabrillo National Monument, named after Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, a Portuguese navigator sailing in the service of Spain, the first European explorer to see San Diego Bay. The Old Point Loma Lighthouse is part of the monument, where visitors tour the historic lighthouse that guided ships through the San Diego Bay from 1855 to 1891.

Point Loma is also home to the San Diego Sports Arena, Point Loma Nazarene University, the US Navy's SPAWAR program, as well as many hotels, unique local businesses, and the former US Navy Recruit Training Command / Naval Training Center, or RTC/NTC San Diego. In 2005, it was the setting for MTV's The Real World (San Diego), and has some of the most expensive residential real estate on the West Coast.

Another view of "Old Point Loma Lighthouse"

Recruit Training Command, San Diego served as training grounds for new Naval recruits. Naval Training Center, San Diego gave the sailors career training. October 1996 these schools were moved to Recruit Training Center, Great Lakes, Illinois. The site of the Point Loma facility is no longer a Navy base. It is now known as Liberty Station[2], a 361-acre mixed use redevelopment project that includes residential, office, retail, educational[3] and civic, arts and cultural districts[4]. Liberty Station, developed by the City of San Diego and The Corky McMillin Companies[5], also includes a 9-hole golf course[6], a 46-acre waterfront park and a 100-acre historic district on the National Register of Historic Places[7]. Naval Base Point Loma, at the end of Rosecrans Boulevard, still in operation, is the home of Submarine Squadron 11, several Nuclear Fast Attack Submarines, and historic Fort Rosecrans, a former US Army Coastal Gunnery Facility of the First World War era. Fort Rosecrans includes the Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery and the USS Bennington Monument.

• ePointLoma.com - local information and businesses
• Naval Base Point Loma History
• Point Loma Neighborhood Guide

Coordinates: 32°40′12″N, 117°14′31″W