Laguna Beach's Pirate Tower: How to See Victoria Beach's 1926 Tower at Low Tide

A senator's staircase to the sand

The Laguna Beach Historical Society's chronology lists it under 1926 as a sixty-foot Norman tower, built at a Victoria Beach home as a staircase down the cliff. A UCLA Library photo record says the same thing in fewer words: built in 1926 by cliffside homeowner William E. Brown, housing a spiral staircase for beach access.

Brown was a Republican state senator from Los Angeles. Election records on JoinCalifornia show him winning the 37th Senate District in 1912 and again in 1916. OC Weekly, digging through city building records in 2012, cited a California Department of Parks and Recreation report saying the house and tower were built for Brown's family in 1926, and the paper described the house as their summer and holiday place. The state report praised how the architecture of both is "closely interwoven" with the steep cliffs.

The French look has a backstory too. California Beaches, a guide site that wrote up the tower's history, says Brown and his wife, Mary Eleanor, spent time in France at the end of World War I on relief work, and that the region's chateaus shaped both the house and the tower. The same site notes that many Americans who served in France came home and built 1920s houses in that style.

Inside is a wooden spiral stair that climbed to the house. On the sand just south of the tower, look for the curved concrete wall of an old pool built into the rocks. The historical society mentions it, and at the right tide it fills with seawater.

Where the pirate name came from

The pirate part arrived later, with a new owner. According to OC Weekly, Brown sold the property in the 1940s to Harold Kendrick, a retired naval officer from Los Angeles. Kendrick liked to dress up as a pirate and tuck coins into the gaps in the tower's concrete for neighborhood kids to hunt down, and the kids kept whatever they found. Visit Laguna Beach tells the same story about a former owner, without the name. A 2009 Daily Pilot listing for a historical society lecture on the house gives his first name as Howard, so the records disagree on that small point.

Laguna's history does include a real raider, and he has nothing to do with this tower. The historical society notes that Hippolyte de Bouchard plundered San Juan Capistrano in 1818, and adds that legend says he buried loot on the Laguna coast. Its chronology files that under legend, and so do we. The coins Kendrick hid were the fun kind.

The house has changed hands several times since. OC Weekly reported in 2012 that Bette Midler and her husband, Martin von Haselberg, had owned it and signed a Mills Act contract with the city in 1997, a preservation deal that trades tax relief for upkeep of a historic property. That same story said a city inspector found the shingle roof at the end of its life and the plaster cracking. We found no later public report on repairs, so we'll leave the roof's current condition to your own eyes.

Enjoy it from the sand

The tower is part of the private home above it. Visit Laguna Beach says it's locked and the staircase is off limits, so the view from the beach is the whole experience, and it's a good one. Stand back far enough to fit the cone roof and the bluff in one frame. California Beaches describes Victoria Beach as southwest-facing, which is why late-day light suits it, and Visit Laguna notes the tower has become a favorite photo backdrop on social media.

The beach itself is public. The Coastal Commission's access listing for Victoria Beach shows sandy beach, rocky shore and wildlife viewing, with no fee. In 2024, the commission told a Victoria Beach homeowner to stop roping off sand and, as ABC7 reported, restated that beaches are public up to the high tide line. Near the homes, keep to the ocean side of that line.

Victoria Beach also sits inside the Laguna Beach State Marine Reserve, which runs from Abalone Point south to Goff Island. California Fish and Wildlife's rule there is simple: it's unlawful to injure, damage, take or possess any living, geological or cultural marine resource. So the tidepools around the point are for looking, and the shells and rocks stay on the beach. The Laguna Ocean Foundation puts it nicely: keep your feet on dry land and take a picture instead.

Time it with the tide

The route to the tower goes north from the stairs, around a rock outcrop at the base of the cliff. The Los Angeles Times describes the tower as reachable from Victoria Beach during low tide, and the California Beaches guide adds that winter surf strips much of the sand near the point, so the area can be all rock in winter. Plan on scrambling over wet, uneven ground.

NOAA has no prediction station inside Laguna Beach. The closest reference station is 9410580, Newport Beach, Newport Bay Entrance, at Corona del Mar, roughly 9 miles up the coast from Victoria Beach, and that's the table to use. Heights are in feet above mean lower low water. For tidepooling, the Laguna Ocean Foundation recommends a low tide below +2.0 feet, and a negative low with little surf is best. That's a sensible bar for the walk to the tower too, since a lower tide gives you more dry rock around the point.

Late fall and winter are good for this, because the big negative lows fall in the afternoon. Two examples from NOAA's predictions for station 9410580, in Pacific Standard Time:

• Tuesday, November 24, 2026: low of -1.4 feet at 3:09 p.m. Sunset in Laguna is 4:44 p.m., per the U.S. Naval Observatory.
• Wednesday, December 23, 2026: low of -1.8 feet at 3:05 p.m. Sunset is 4:48 p.m.

Both land on the Coastal Commission's King Tides dates (November 24 to 26 and December 23 to 25), and the commission notes that King Tide days bring extreme low tides as well as the year's highest highs. The afternoon lows give you a window to walk out, look around and get back before dark. The same days start with high tides near 7 feet in the morning, so plan on the afternoon.

One more caveat for this particular winter: the Coastal Commission says scientists expect a strong El Niño, with higher waves and actual water levels that can run above the predictions. The City of Laguna Beach warns that its rocky outcrops are dangerous and that waves have swept people off their feet, and the Laguna Ocean Foundation's advice is to never turn your back on the ocean. If the surf is big, skip the point and enjoy the beach.

Getting down to Victoria Beach

The Coastal Commission lists two ways down: stairs from Victoria Drive near Sunset Terrace, and a route from Dumond Drive. The California Coastal Trail guide counts 85 steps on the Sunset Terrace stairs and describes ramp access at Dumond Drive. The Victoria Drive stairs put you closest to the north end and the tower. The coastal trail guide notes they're easy to miss, so go slow on Victoria Drive.

Parking is the hard part. The Coastal Commission lists limited on-street parking and no restrooms. The city says Laguna has three-hour meters in some areas and very limited neighborhood parking in others, and that enforcement officers do write tickets. The Laguna Ocean Foundation asks visitors to park respectfully in residential areas and keep driveways, gates and access points clear.

A few city beach rules worth knowing: beaches close from 1 to 5 a.m., alcohol and smoking aren't allowed, and fires are banned. Leashed dogs can be on the beach any time of day in fall, winter and spring. From June 15 to September 10 they're limited to before 9 a.m. and after 6 p.m.