If you know me, I like finding little nooks and corners close to my city to explore! From restaurants to hidden spots, you name it and I’m your girl. A few weeks ago, I found myself on Pinterest searching for “day trips in Southern California” and “free things to do in SoCal”. After a few scrolls, I came across Pirate Tower.
Pirate Tower is tucked away in Victoria Beach, one of Laguna Beach’s more secluded places. It was originally built in 1926 to serve as a staircase to the beach by Senator William Brown. Eventually, the property was bought by a retired Naval officer who often enjoyed dressing up as a pirate and left coins for the neighborhood children to find; hence the nickname.
We drove down the Pacific Coast Highway for a bit until we found an unmetered parking spot right before McAuley Place. We trekked down McAuley and when we hit Victoria Drive, the staircase was on our left, next to a little blue house. No parking fee and no entrance fee? Count us in!
There were a handful of people but nothing like the crowds at well-known California beaches nearby. The tower is easily accessible during low tide; but even at noon, the waves were still crazy.
By default, Chris and I consider ourselves mountain lovers than we are beach lovers. We had a conversation in the car and agreed that if beaches were shaded, then we’d probably be beach lovers ourselves! I’m Filipino/Chinese so when I’m under the sun, I tan whereas with Chris, he burns – so we avoid the sun for his case.
However, we went on a rather gloomy day. The entire drive to the beach was sunny but the clouds eventually rolled in making our visit more exciting than we had hoped for.
Before I forget, I used my new 24mm lens for these photos. I know I recently got the 50mm as well but I dunno… starting to like the 24mm more since I take more landscape shots than I do portraits!
We spent an hour at Victoria Beach before heading back; then we had lunch at Flame Broiler then headed home to catch up on TURN: Washington’s Spies (two more episodes, nooooo). Until our next adventure ☼