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Fire lookout · Ventura County, California

Frazier Mountain Lookout

Summit tower in Los Padres National Forest; sources disagree on the build date (1934 to 1952); staffed into the 1990s, now abandoned and in poor condition.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Open to the public. A forest road reaches the summit, typically open April to November per a 2011 blog; the 2008 photo report says the road has no gate. The tower itself is abandoned and in poor condition.

Can you climb it?
No
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Steep dirt road about 7 miles from the Chuchupate Ranger Station; the tower is abandoned and in poor condition, so climbing it is not advised
Staffing
Not staffed (as of 1990s)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerCalifornia Region 5 Plan BC-301 cab on an 11-foot timber tower, with the lower enclosed room built inside the tower frameThe designs: BC-301, Plan 4-A, D-5 (4-AR)
Built of
Wood
Built
1934
Height
Unknown
Elevation
8,027 ft (2,447 m)
Agency
US Forest Service - Los Padres National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Ventura County, California
Coordinates
34.77494, −118.96929
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-frazier-mountain

View from the cab

What you see from the cab: every ridge out to about 93 miles, the named peaks in sight, and other fire lookouts within view, worked out from terrain data in your browser.

Downloads about 2.8 MB of terrain data the first time.

Or see what it could see on the map: the ground in its line of sight.

History

Then and now

  1. 1920 StaffedDecember 7, 1920 newspaper item places Mrs. Mary Smith in a station on the summit; register says a lookout was there before 1920Sources: nhlr.org, californialookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1932 EventNewspaper delivery by air from a Varney Airlines pilot began July 7, 1932 per a Forest Service bulletinSources: nhlr.org, californialookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1933 StaffedLaine Davis and his wife were at the station during the 1933 fire seasonSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1934 BuiltRegister Built field gives 1934; a 2008 photo report says the structure may have been built in 1934Sources: nhlr.org, peakbagging.com
  5. 1934 StaffedLaine Davis assigned to the station for the 1934 seasonSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1943 Replaced by a new structureRegister description says the current structure was constructed in 1943; conflicts with the 1934 Built fieldSource: nhlr.org
  7. 1952 BurnedRidge Route museum says an earlier building burned down in 1952; Desert Explorers says a fire destroyed the original structureSources: ridgeroutemuseum.org, desertexplorers.org
  8. 1952 MovedCurrent wooden tower brought in from Santa Barbara to replace the burned building in 1952, per the museum; Desert Explorers says it was built in 1936 in Santa Barbara CountySources: ridgeroutemuseum.org, desertexplorers.org
  9. 1956 FireAugust 1956 fire at the peak reported by lookout Lee Hartley; held to about 50 acresSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  10. No record between 1956 and 1985
  11. 1985 StaffedTom Fusek came to the lookout in 1985 and was spending five days a week in the tower room by 1990Source: latimes.com
  12. 1990 Last staffedApproximate: two later pages say lookout use ended in the 1990s; a September 1990 Los Angeles Times article said closure might follow that fire seasonSources: ridgeroutemuseum.org, desertexplorers.org, latimes.com
  13. No record between 1990 and 2008
  14. 2008 AbandonedPhoto report dated August 3, 2008 says the lookout has been abandoned for some years and is in bad shapeSource: peakbagging.com
  15. 2019 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterDate registered per NHLR detail page: October 30, 2019Source: NHLR register entry
  16. TodayStandingIt still stands, as far as our sources know.

Old maps of this spot

USGS topographic maps from the years a lookout stood may show it, often as a small symbol labelled “Lookout”. See the old topo maps around it on the Firefinder map, or find every scanned sheet of this spot on USGS TopoView (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).

Story

Researched 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Frazier Mountain Lookout stands on Frazier Mountain in the Los Padres National Forest, in Ventura County, California, at about 8,000 feet.1

The register gives 1934 as the build year, but its own description says the current structure went up in 1943.1 A 2017 post by the Ridge Route Communities Museum says an earlier building burned in 1952, and the present one was brought in from Santa Barbara that year.2 A 2021 trip report says the wooden tower was built in 1936 and moved to the mountain in 1952.3 A 2008 photo report says the structure may date from 1934, though USGS data shows a building there in 1926.4 The sources do not agree on the date.

The register says a lookout was on the summit before 1920.1 In December 1920 a newspaper described Mrs. Mary Smith, reportedly the only woman lookout in the Forest Service, as living in a station on the summit of Frazier Mountain.5

In February 1932, while searchers looked for a lost airliner, a Fresno Bee item described the station as having food, places to sleep and stoves for rescue parties.5 Later that year the lookout began getting its newspapers by air.1 The register says a Varney Airlines pilot dropped a San Francisco paper on the way south and a Los Angeles paper on the way back north.1 A Forest Service bulletin from August 1932, quoted by Forest Lookouts, said the drops began July 7.5

Laine Davis and his wife were at the station during the 1933 season, and he was assigned there again in 1934.5 In August 1956 lookout Lee Hartley reported a fire at the peak, and crews kept the loss to 50 acres.5 Tom Fusek came to the tower in 1985, and by 1990 he was spending five days a week in its 64-square-foot room.6

A September 1990 Los Angeles Times article said the tower cost up to $10,000 a year to run and might close after that fire season.6 Two later pages say lookout use ended in the 1990s.2,3

Descriptions I found call the tower abandoned.4,7 A 2008 photo report says it had been left unused for some years and was in poor condition.4 Wikipedia says the summit also holds radio towers and an abandoned lookout.7 The road is a steep dirt track from the Chuchupate Ranger Station, and a 2011 blog says it is usually open from April to November.2,8 Given that condition, I would not advise climbing the tower.4

  1. Frazier Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/frazier-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Historic Frazier Mountain Lookout Tower, Ridge Route Communities Museum and Historical Society (ridgeroutemuseum.org), https://ridgeroutemuseum.org/historic-frazier-mountain-lookout-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. 2021 Trip Report - New View of Fire Lookouts, Desert Explorers (desertexplorers.org), https://www.desertexplorers.org/trip-reports/787-2021-trip-report-new-view-of-fire-lookouts (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Frazier Mountain Lookout, Ventura County, California, Peakbagging (peakbagging.com), http://www.peakbagging.com/CALookoutPhotos/Frazier.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Frazier Mountain, Forest Lookouts (californialookouts.weebly.com), https://californialookouts.weebly.com/frazier-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  6. A Vigil in the Forest, Los Angeles Times, September 16, 1990 (latimes.com), https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-09-16-mn-1231-story.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  7. Frazier Mountain, Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frazier_Mountain (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  8. Lookout! No. 3: Frazier Mountain, Craig R Carey (craigrcarey.net), https://www.craigrcarey.net/2011/07/lookout-frazier-mountain/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Frazier Mountain Lookout
Frazier Mountain LookoutPhoto: www.peakbagging.com, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
2019
2019 (2019)Photo: Andrew Schwartz, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Frazier Mountain Lookout
Photo: Andrew Schwartz, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
2017
2017 (2017)Photo: Andrew Schwartz, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
2017
2017 (2017)Photo: www.peakbagging.com, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Frazier Mountain Lookout
Photo: Andrew Schwartz, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
1998
1998 (1998)Photo: Mark Swift Collection, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
1941
1941 (1941)Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source

Photos keep their own rights and are shown with credit. Is one of these yours? You can ask for a different credit or for removal.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, photos, links National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved (American Resources, Inc.); facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  2. Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists Gave us: type, status, register numbers, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  3. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: links Ron Kemnow's Forest Lookouts sites (westlookouts, californialookouts, idaholookouts, montanalookouts, oregonlookouts and washingtonlookouts .weebly.com) · No licence stated; facts only (county, land manager, status word, coordinates where the page's own map widget gives them, township-range-section, height and design hints, links). The site's own newspaper quotes, citations and narrative are not reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  4. FFLA chapters, affiliates and Friends groups: lookout pages Gave us: register numbers, links FFLA chapters and Friends groups (each link names the group) · Links to the groups' own pages; facts only from the California-South chapter's tower table (register page, operator, condition). No text or photos reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  5. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, agency, access, staffing, visiting details, dates, links, fact-check Firefinder research (sources cited in the story footnotes) · Our own research notes; each fact cites its source in the lookout's story

More about this lookout elsewhere

Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.