Pirate Tower

It’s easy to imagine an 18th century scalawag guzzling tankards of rum on the sand, after burying a chest brimming with gold.

Spend a day on this hidden beach, accessible only by climbing over rocks or swimming around a craggy headland, and you might find yourself glancing over your shoulder, longing for Captain Jack Sparrow to turn up and share his rum with you.

On Victoria Beach, battered by the unending cycle of tides, stands a lonely stone turret—affectionately called the “Pirate Tower” by locals.

The tower is sixty feet tall and seems to have been birthed directly from the sandstone cliffs that surround it.

For residents and visitors alike, the sight of the structure and its small, unevenly shaped windows, launches visions of retired freebooters keeping their weathered eyes peeled for the sight of the Jolly Roger, on the horizon.

These surreal imaginings may not be based in fact, but research proves they aren’t pure fiction either.

The tower’s origins aren’t particularly mysterious.

It was built in the 1920's as an enclosed staircase to the beach, for William E. Brown, a senator from Los Angeles.

After coming to California in 1882, Brown developed into an avid and acclaimed painter—making Laguna Beach a natural fit for his dream home.

In the early 1940s, Brown sold his home to a retired naval captain, Harold Kendrick.

Kendrick was a lifelong pirate aficionado, and found himself attracted to the home because of the odd, slightly askew tower.

These days, the property has switched hands a number of times, and the tower is kept under lock and key—a skeleton key, one hopes, pockmarked with flecks of rust.

The stories of coins tucked between the stones are all but forgotten now.

Still, as long as the tower is standing, it will inspire the imaginations of bold spirits young and old longing for the days of wild-eyed rogues sailing under the black skull and crossbones flag.

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Source~visitlagunabeach

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