Location: Los Angeles County, California
This name is often given to locations that command a wide view. It is one of the most popular place-names in California. There are over 20 Mountains, about 10 Peaks and Points, plus a few Ridges, Hills and Rocks.
The first lookout tower in southern California existed here (1914-27). It was built through the joint efforts of the San Antonio Fruit Exchange and the USPS. A trail was constructed from Camp Baldy to Bear Flat and was very popular until the lookout was removed (to nearby Sunset Peak), after which the trail fell into disrepair.
This peak is also the site for one of the most important scientific experiments ever conducted in our mountains: the exact measurement of the velocity of light. Albert Abraham Michelson (1852-1931), first American winner of the Nobel Prize (Physics, 1907) accurately calbibrated the journey between a mirror mounted on a USGS bench mark named “Michelson” on Mount Wilson and another VABM named “Antonio” on this peak. In 1931 Einstein said to Michelson “through your marvelous experimental work [you] paved the way for the Theory of Relativity”. Lookout Mountain first appears as “Baldy Lookout” on USFS Angeles N.F. map (1926), and then as “Old Baldy Lookout” on USGS Camp Baldy Advance Sheet (1934).
Name first appears on USFS Angeles National Forest map (1963).
Peak was added to the HPS Peak List in 1962.
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