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The wooden staircase leading down the rocky slope to the keepers’ dwelling at Point Knox had become unstable in the 1950s, and the decision was made to build a modern Coast Guard station at Point Blunt. Point Blunt would thus become home to the last manned lighthouse built in California, and interestingly it was located less than two miles from Alcatraz Island, where California’s first lighthouse once stood. A new flat-roofed structure, topped with a lens lantern and fog horn was built near the end of the point, with a similarly constructed watch building nearby. Four, three-bedroom, ranch-style quarters for the keepers and their families were placed farther up the point, and a concrete structure still higher on the point served as a paint locker. The station was completed in 1961, and the keepers at Point Knox moved into their new housing. The vacated dwelling and signal building at Point Knox were unceremoniously burned down in 1963, and the light there was discontinued.
As plans for automating the Point Blunt Station progressed, the Point Blunt Lighthouse was torn down, and the watch room building was outfitted with an automatic light and fog signal. Local mariners were notified by the Coast Guard that on June 28, 1976, the light would be automated and resident personnel would no longer be in attendance.
Head Keepers: Trueman E. Cook (1962 – at least 1966), Jim Demerin (at least 1975 – 1976).
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