Art Enthusiasts are Drawn to This Enigmatic, Illuminated Lighthouse Concealed in the California Desert

Two hours from downtown Los Angeles, down a dirt road outside the ghost town of Hinkley, California, a modernist lighthouse towers above the rolling contours of the desert landscape. Starkly solitary on a hilltop that’s far from any body of water, it casts an ethereal glow each evening at dusk.

Welcome to Desert Lighthouse, an installation by the artist Daniel Hawkins. It’s not just for show: the steel-framed, solar-powered 50-foot-tall lighthouse is full-size and fully functional, illuminating an otherwise dark section of the Mojave Desert since its 2017 inauguration. It’s especially magnificent to view at sunset or in the early evening hours , and while the location is remote, the lighthouse attracts a steady stream of art enthusiasts and curious travelers on road trips through California. 

So what’s the story behind the mysterious landmark, and what do you need to know if you’re planning a detour to Desert Lighthouse?

According to the artist, the idea for Desert Lighthouse was conceived while passing through the Mojave on a 22-hour drive from Colorado to California. “Fifteen hours into it, I began having sleep deprivation hallucinations, many of which were constant shapeshifting light forms on the horizon … the shapeshifting lights took the form of a lighthouse, and upon arriving in Los Angeles, I immediately got to work,” Hawkins told Vice in a 2015 interview.

Though the project has undergone various iterations, Hawkins’ interest has been consistent in building a lighthouse in the desert near Barstow, a Route 66 pitstop town halfway between Los Angeles and Las Vegas with hidden gems all around. “It proved to be an incredibly complex area plagued by an underground shapeshifting toxic plume, nearby military test sites, abandoned towns, wandering transients, and the Interstate 15 corridor that funnels thousands of people daily through the belly of the Mojave Desert,” he told Artillery Magazine in 2022. 

The “toxic plumes” and abandoned towns are references to the infamous PG&E Hexavalent Chromium environmental disaster — a catastrophic event that virtually emptied the town of Hinkley — brought to popular attention in Steven Soderbergh’s 2000 film “Erin Brockovich.”