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Fire lookout · Los Angeles County, California

Topanga Lookout Site

Los Angeles County lookout on Topanga State Park ridge, built fall 1934 and in service to at least 1969; graffiti-covered concrete base remains, reached by fire road.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Tower removed or demolished after operations ended; a concrete platform, the former foundation, remains and is covered in graffiti

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent. You may still be able to visit the site.

Access

Open to the public. Reached by fire road from the Stunt Road and Saddle Peak Road junction; sources name different owners (Mountains Restoration Trust vs Los Angeles County)

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
The trail is a fire road leading to the site of the lookout

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a towerCalifornia Region BC-301 cabin on a 30-foot K-brace steel tower (register says the design appears to be a USFS one)The design: BC-301
Built of
Steel
Built
1934
Height
30 ft (9.1 m)
Elevation
2,476 ft (755 m)
Agency
Los Angeles County Fire Department
Land
Unknown
Location
Los Angeles County, California
Coordinates
34.09203, −118.63608
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-topanga

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 its recorded height.

Downloads about 3.0 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. 1934 BuiltConstructed in the fall of 1934 by the county (register says Fire Department; Forest Lookouts says Forestry Department)Sources: firetower.org, californialookouts.weebly.com
  2. No record between 1934 and 1969
  3. 1969 StaffedRegister says the tower was in service to at least 1969Source: firetower.org
  4. 1972 Last staffedislands.com says operations ceased in 1972 and that the tower was later demolished; islands.com gives no demolition date (trail guide says the 1970s; register says unknown)Source: islands.com
  5. No record between 1972 and 2019
  6. 2019 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: November 3, 2019Source: FFLOS register entry
  7. 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.

The Topanga lookout stood in Topanga State Park in Los Angeles County, California.1 The county built it in the fall of 1934.1 The sources name the county agency differently: the register says the Los Angeles County Fire Department, while the Forest Lookouts page says its forestry department.1,2

The register says the design appears to be a Forest Service one, a BC-301 cabin on a 30-foot K-brace steel tower.1 A November 1934 newspaper item, quoted by the Forest Lookouts page, said a motorway was being prepared to the site before the tower went up.2 The register says the tower was in service to at least 1969.1

Sources disagree on when the tower came down. The register gives its removal as unknown.1 A trail guide puts the removal in the 1970s.3 An islands.com article says operations ended in 1972 and the tower was demolished.4

What remains is a concrete platform, the former foundation of the tower, and it is covered in graffiti.4 The register's photo caption also describes the base as graffiti covered today.1

The site can be reached on foot.3 A trail guide says to park where Stunt Road meets Saddle Peak Road and follow a fire road to the lookout site.3 The owner is disputed. The trail guide names the Mountains Restoration Trust, while the islands.com article says Los Angeles County owns the lookout and it has been open to the public since 1972.3,4 Check the owner's rules before going.

  1. Topanga Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/ca/topanga-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Topanga, Forest Lookouts, https://californialookouts.weebly.com/topanga.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Topanga Lookout, Trail of the Month, smmtc.org, https://smmtc.org/trailofthemonth/Topanga_Lookout.php (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. An Abandoned Fire Lookout High Above A Los Angeles Canyon Is A Colorful Graffiti Gallery With Ocean Views, Islands, https://www.islands.com/2011012/topanga-abandoned-fire-lookout-high-above-los-angeles-canyon-colorful-graffitti-gallery-ocean-views/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Topanga Lookout - 1969
Topanga Lookout - 1969 (1969)Photo: Calisphere, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Graffiti covered base today
Graffiti covered base todayPhoto: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Eye in the Sky - 1961
Eye in the Sky - 1961 (1961)Photo: Topanga Journal, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
1934
1934 (1934)Photo: Los Angeles Times, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.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. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, 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) 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, height, status, agency, access, 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.