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Fire lookout · Los Angeles County, California

San Gabriel Peak Lookout Site

Angeles NF peak lookout; planned 1922, built 1927-35 per one source (register says 1935); cab moved to Vetter Mountain and burned 2009; footings reported.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. The cab was moved to Vetter Mountain in 1937 and burned there in 2009; a rebuilt lookout now stands on Vetter Mountain. Concrete footings are reported, but the sources do not say clearly whether they are on the summit or at Vetter Mountain.

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent.

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a towerRegion 5 Plan 4A cabin on a 10-foot X-brace open steel tower; may later have been replaced by a BC-301 designThe designs: Plan 4-A, BC-301
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1927
Height
Unknown
Elevation
6,165 ft (1,879 m)
Agency
US Forest Service, Angeles National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Los Angeles County, California
Coordinates
34.24324, −118.09858
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-san-gabriel-peak

View from the cab

What the lookout saw from its 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.

This lookout is gone. The view is reconstructed from its recorded site and a typical height for a lookout like it.

Downloads about 3.5 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. 1922 EventTrail being built to the summit and a fire lookout contemplated, per a 1922 Los Angeles Times item; a plan, not a build dateSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1927 BuiltAngeles Adventures: a lookout tower built in 1927 or 1928; the site is dated 1927-1935Source: angelesadventures.com
  3. 1929 StaffedObserver for the previous season, per a February 1930 Monrovia News-Post report; Angeles Adventures names Glenn Moore as a lookout in 1929 insteadSources: californialookouts.weebly.com, angelesadventures.com
  4. 1934 StaffedCovina Argus, May 1934: lookouts stationed on San Gabriel Peak that SaturdaySource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1935 BuiltRegister 'Built' field; the register's description also says the cabin was constructed as early as 1922; conflicts with the 1927-28 build dateSource: firetower.org
  6. 1937 MovedCab dismantled in 1937 and moved to Vetter Mountain, per Angeles AdventuresSource: angelesadventures.com
  7. No record between 1937 and 2009
  8. 2009 BurnedThe structure at Vetter Mountain burned in the 2009 Station Fire, per Angeles Adventures; the Vetter Mountain lookout's original tower was destroyed in August 2009, per ANFFLASources: angelesadventures.com, anffla.org
  9. 2019 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: December 4, 2019Source: FFLOS register entry
  10. 2019 RebuiltVetter Mountain lookout rebuilt with Southern California Edison, construction began 2019 and was completed April 2020 (ANFFLA); the sources do not say whether it reuses the San Gabriel cabSource: anffla.org
  11. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. When it came down is not recorded.

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 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

San Gabriel Peak rises to about 6,165 feet in the Angeles National Forest.1 Plans for a lookout there were reported as early as 1922, when the Los Angeles Times described a new trail to the summit and said the peak was contemplated as a fire lookout.2 The sources disagree on the build date.1,3 The Former Fire Lookout Sites register gives 1935 as the build date. Its description, however, says the Region 5 Plan 4A cabin on a 10-foot steel tower went up as early as 1922, and that the cabin may have since been swapped for a BC-301 design.1 Angeles Adventures instead dates the lookout to 1927 through 1935, and says the Forest Service asked the city of Pasadena for help building it in November 1927.3

The early observers are named differently from one source to another.2,3 A Monrovia News-Post report from February 1930 named Frank J. Mathys as the observer for the previous season.2 Angeles Adventures names Glenn Moore as a lookout in 1929, and quotes a recollection that Herb Hickam was the first lookout there.3 In May 1934 the Covina Argus reported lookouts stationed on San Gabriel Peak that Saturday, along with Mt. Lukens and San Dimas peak.2

Angeles Adventures says smog and poor visibility prompted the cabin's dismantling in 1937, after which it was moved to Vetter Mountain, where the 2009 Station Fire later burned it.3 The register lists its removal date as unknown.1

The Angeles National Forest Fire Lookout Association says the original Vetter Mountain tower was destroyed by the Station Fire in August 2009, and that a rebuilt lookout was completed in April 2020.4 Its page gives the original build year as 1937 in one place and 1935 in its statistics. It does not say whether the rebuilt lookout reuses the San Gabriel cab.4

Angeles Adventures says concrete footings are all that remain of the tower, and a photo caption describes a steel plank set across the footings as seating.3 The page does not say clearly whether those footings are on the summit or at Vetter Mountain, so we cannot describe what stands on San Gabriel Peak today. We found no source that sets out current access to the summit. The rebuilt Vetter Mountain lookout reopened for service in July 2020, overlooks the Chilao-Charlton Recreation Area, and the association calls it an easy destination.4 The Forest Fire Lookout Association lists the San Gabriel Peak tower as gone.5

  1. San Gabriel Peak Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/ca/san-gabriel-peak-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. San Gabriel Peak - FOREST LOOKOUTS, Forest Lookouts (Ron Kemnow), https://californialookouts.weebly.com/san-gabriel-peak.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. San Gabriel Peak, Angeles Adventures, https://angelesadventures.com/san-gabriel-peak/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Vetter Mountain, Angeles National Forest Fire Lookout Association, http://www.anffla.org/vetter/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. California Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/ca/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

San Gabriel Peak Lookout
San Gabriel Peak LookoutPhoto: Angeles National Forest, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of San Gabriel Peak Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Fire dispatcher’s office, Pasadena, showing fire map and string stretched to indicate azimuth readings from different lookouts on a fire
Fire dispatcher’s office, Pasadena, showing fire map and string stretched to indicate azimuth readings from different lookouts on a firePhoto: US Forest Service by F. E. Dunham, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, photos, links Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.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) 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, 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

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