Q. Where can I find it in real life?

A. There's no single answer. They used different lifeguard towers for different episodes. But none of them were in Orange County. They were all on west-facing, Los Angeles county beaches. (And one was a studio set.)

The lifeguard tower seen in Season 1, Episode 9, "The Heights", for instance, was shot on Hermosa Beach, right next to the Hermosa Beach pier. You can see that sunset shot above to the left (above). To its right, you can see a photo I shot in Hermosa of the same tower (during daylight hours). Map link.

The lifeguard tower seen in Episode 21, "The Return of the Nana" (where Marissa is almost raped by Trey), appears to have been shot at the far south end of Redondo Beach (near where it is renamed Torrance Beach).

And the tower you see to the right, in Episode 12, "The Lonely Hearts Club" (in the scene after Max dies), was shot on either Redondo Beach or Hermosa Beach (you can tell by the Palos Verdes cliffs in the background).

But the most frequently seen lifeguard tower is recognizable by the letter & number "S 49" on its back. (See the upper right photo on this page.)  S 49 is seen in a sad scene near the end Episode 1 (of season three), "The Aftermath", where Marissa consoles Ryan (at night) after his brother, Trey, has been forced to leave town.

The producers re-created a fake version of this lifeguard tower (a set) inside the sound stage at Manhattan Beach Studios, where the show is filmed. (Just like they did with the Cohen house and the infinity pool.)  But they based that model on an actual lifeguard tower they had previously filmed.

So where is that "S 49" tower?

In a remote, semi-industrial area of Dockweiler Beach, hidden away behind Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), west of approximately 9500 Vista Del Mar, in Playa Del Rey. That's north the city of El Segundo, and less than a mile north of Imperial Highway (and near the west end of the airport's World Way).

The S 49 lifeguard tower is located at the land end of a small, rocky jetty that sticks out from the beach into the water (you can see that in the top photo on this page). They probably initially chose that isolated tower because of its remote location - it made it easier to shoot there without drawing crowds. But given its location, it makes for a lousy tourist stop... Which is probably why they later created the fake version at the studio.

Here is a map link of the location of the S 49 tower . And here is an aerial photo of the same lifeguard tower from Live Local.


GPS coordinates are: 33.940724, -118.442064.


And here is a really good photo of that tower from the California Coastline site. (You can even read the "S 49" on the tower).

( I believe that the College Sweatshirt Bonfire/beach party scene in Episode 20 (of Season 3) "The Day After Tomorrow", was probably shot on the same Dockweiler Beach, but it's a night scene and is so dark that it's impossible to know for sure. )

UPDATE:  In Sept. 2014, a fan of The OC, Holger Dunse, visiting California from Germany,
shot these two photos of the lifeguard tower at Dockweiler beach:  (They seem to have
repainted the number, and it now reads simply 49, rather than S 49.)

( Thanks, Holger! )

Q. How the heck did you figure out where it was?

A. Try as I might, I couldn't seem to find that original S 49 tower. But finally, I found it, thanks to an aerial photo I found at the California Coast website. (You can see the photo at http://www.californiacoastline.org.)

Oh yes, I originally found the California Coast website because a fan named Alex sent me a link to a large photo of Holly's beach house, which he had found on that site. Once I saw the site, I decided to do a search of the site for the term "lifeguard tower" and there it was, "S 49" and all.

Why did I have such a hard time tracking it down?  Because it's located at a very unlikely location.  I had checked out all the usual O.C. beaches: Redondo, Hermosa, Long Beach, Santa Monica, Malibu... but it wasn't there. The last place I expected it to be was behind LAX - but there it is.