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Fire lookout · Los Angeles County, California

Johnstone Peak Lookout (now at the LA County Fairplex)

Also known as Johnstone Peak Lookout (Los Angeles County Fairplex), LA County Fairplex, Los Angeles County Fairplex

San Dimas Peak lookout (1917) burned in 1919; the 1930s cabin from Johnstone Peak was moved in 1992 to the LA County Fairplex, Pomona, and is on display there.

Original site: Johnstone Peak (San Dimas)

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. On the Fairplex grounds in Pomona, reached from McKinley Avenue near Fairplex Drive. Volunteers operate it during the annual Los Angeles County Fair. The original summit is in the San Dimas Experimental Forest, closed to the general public except by special written permit.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerCalifornia Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin on a 30 ft K-brace steel tower (original site); current tower shortened with a smaller cab, painted greenThe design: BC-301
Built of
Steel
Built
1917
Height
Unknown
Elevation
1,020 ft (311 m)
Agency
Los Angeles County Fairplex (administers the lookout today); Angeles National Forest (original builder and site)
Land
Unknown
Location
Los Angeles County, California
Coordinates
34.08260, −117.77002
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-johnstone-peak-at-la-county-fairplex

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 3.1 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. 1917 BuiltSan Dimas Peak lookout first built, funded by the San Dimas Fruit Exchange, placed between San Dimas and Dalton Canyons.Source: angelesadventures.com
  2. 1919 DestroyedThe fire overtook the lookout tower and completely destroyed it within a few days.Source: angelesadventures.com
  3. 1919 FireSeptember 1919 San Gabriel Canyon fire burned about 60,000 acres.Source: angelesadventures.com
  4. 1923 RebuiltNew tower built as a short open timber tower on a DuBois 4A design cab.Source: angelesadventures.com
  5. 1924 FireIn August, the San Dimas observer spotted a new fire in San Gabriel Canyon that became the 1924 San Gabriel Fire.Source: angelesadventures.com
  6. 1934 EventHistorical marker says the tower stood on Johnstone Peak from 1934 to 1992. Conflicts with the NHLR 1939 build date.Source: hmdb.org
  7. 1939 BuiltNHLR says the Angeles National Forest built the Plan BC-301 cabin on a 30 ft K-brace tower in 1939. Angeles Adventures says the 1930s tower was renovated or replaced.Sources: nhlr.org, angelesadventures.com
  8. 1940 EventSummit renamed Johnstone Peak in June 1940 in memory of W.A. Johnstone (died 1937); formerly San Dimas Peak Lookout.Sources: nhlr.org, californialookouts.weebly.com
  9. 1953 StaffedPhoto caption: Johnstone Fire Lookout, 1953, with Sandy DeLapp.Source: angelesadventures.com
  10. 1955 ClosedPhoto caption says the lookout closed in 1955. Sandy DeLapp was the last observer, and the tower was decommissioned because of smog pollution.Source: angelesadventures.com
  11. No record between 1955 and 1992
  12. 1992 MovedDismantled and reconstructed at the Los Angeles County Fairplex in Pomona in 1992 (NHLR). Angeles Adventures says it was moved in the early 1990s and then shortened.Sources: nhlr.org, angelesadventures.com, hmdb.org
  13. No record between 1992 and 2019
  14. 2019 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterDate registered November 2, 2019; nominated by Brad Eells; US 1379, CA 202.Source: nhlr.org
  15. Date unknown MovedMoved from Johnston Peak to the LA County Fairplex.Source: FFLA
  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.

A lookout first went up on this peak in 1917, when it was still called San Dimas Peak.1,2 The San Dimas Fruit Exchange paid for it. It stood between San Dimas and Dalton Canyons to spot fires that could threaten the watersheds above San Dimas.2 A fire that broke out in San Gabriel Canyon in September 1919 overtook the tower a few days later and destroyed it.2 A newspaper report quoted on the Forest Lookouts page says that fire drove the rangers off the station.3 A new tower followed in 1923 on a 14-by-14-foot DuBois 4A cab.2 In June 1940 the peak was renamed Johnstone Peak, in memory of the conservationist W.A. Johnstone, who died in 1937.1,3

The sources disagree on when the cabin that was later moved went up. The National Historic Lookout Register says the Angeles National Forest built it in 1939 as a Plan BC-301 cabin on a 30-foot steel K-brace tower.1 The historical marker says the tower stood on the peak from 1934 to 1992.4 The Angeles Adventures history says the tower was renovated or replaced in the 1930s, without giving a single year.2

The Angeles Adventures history names some of the observers: A.M. Trout in the 1930s, and Frank Mathys, Everett L. Osborn and Fred J. Haner in the 1940s.2 A photo caption shows Sandy DeLapp at the tower in 1953 and says it closed in 1955.2 The same history names DeLapp as the final observer and says smog pollution led to the tower being decommissioned.2 In August 1924 the San Dimas observer spotted the fire that became the 1924 San Gabriel Fire.2

After sitting empty on the peak, the tower was moved to the Los Angeles County Fairplex in the early 1990s.2 The register says the cabin was taken apart and rebuilt at the Fairplex in 1992.1 The tower on display today is shorter, has a smaller cab, and is painted green.2

Today the lookout is an interpretive display at the Fairplex in Pomona.1,5 Volunteers from the Angeles National Forest Fire Lookout Association and the Southern California Mountains Foundation operate it each year during the Los Angeles County Fair, and the marker says it is open during that fair.1,4 The register gives November 2, 2019 as its registration date.1 The original summit lies in the San Dimas Experimental Forest, which is technically closed to the general public except under special written permit, so do not go up there without one.2

  1. Johnstone Peak Lookout (Los Angeles County Fairplex), National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/johnstone-peak-lookout-los-angeles-county-fairplex/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. San Dimas/Johnstone Peak Lookout, Angeles Adventures, https://angelesadventures.com/san-dimas-johnstone-peak/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. San Dimas, Forest Lookouts (California pages), californialookouts.weebly.com, https://californialookouts.weebly.com/san-dimas.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Johnstone Peak Fire Lookout, Historical Marker Database, https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=272352 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Los Angeles County Fairplex, Forest Lookouts (California pages), californialookouts.weebly.com, https://californialookouts.weebly.com/los-angeles-county-fairplex.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Johnstone Peak Lookout relocated to the Los Angeles County Fairplex
Johnstone Peak Lookout relocated to the Los Angeles County FairplexPhoto: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Prior location on the fairgrounds
Prior location on the fairgroundsPhoto: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
On Johnstone Peak
On Johnstone PeakPhoto: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Johnstone Peak Lookout (now at the LA County Fairplex)
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Circa 1960's
Circa 1960's (1960)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: location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, 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: name, type, status, register numbers, dates, 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. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, agency, access, 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.