Point Arguello Light, Lighthouse in Santa Barbara County, US

Point Arguello Light is a lighthouse in Santa Barbara County that guides ships through a hazardous coastal section where the shoreline curves eastward toward Santa Barbara Channel. The structure features a rotating beacon and a two-tone fog signal for poor visibility conditions.

The first light station was built in 1901, with a white square tower and a fourth-order Fresnel lens transferred from Point Hueneme Lighthouse. Erosion forced a standalone tower in 1911, and in 1934 the tower was razed and replaced by a square pyramidal skeletal steel tower. The Coast Guard took over the light on July 1, 1939, and the station was automated in 1967.

The Portolá expedition camped here on August 28, 1769 and found a small Chumash rancheria; the abundance of flint led them to name the spot Los Pedernales, "The Flints", a name kept on Spanish maps until Mexican independence in 1821. George Vancouver gave the English name in 1793 for José Darío Argüello, then commandant of the Presidio of Monterey.

The lighthouse sits within Vandenberg Space Force Base, so public access is restricted for security reasons. Visitors interested in seeing it should check ahead about viewing opportunities or viewing areas that may be available from nearby vantage points.

The lighthouse stands near rocket launch facilities that send spacecraft into polar orbits from the California coast. This unusual pairing of historic maritime technology with modern spaceflight creates a distinctive intersection of two eras at the same location.