The hook
A sixty-foot stone tower shaped like a castle turret stands on a Laguna Beach cove, and the tide has to be out for you to reach it.
01Why it's worth it
A Los Angeles state senator built it in 1926, but not as a folly. It's an enclosed spiral staircase, the way down from his clifftop house to the sand, dressed up as a French castle tower because he and his wife had fallen for the ones they saw on a trip to France. The pirate part came later, from the next owner, a retired naval captain who liked to dress up and hide coins in the tower's nooks for the neighborhood kids to find and keep. It sits right at the water in a residential cove most people drive past, and at high tide the surf cuts it off entirely. Come at low tide and it's a small, genuine oddity: a fairy-tale turret against the cliffs and the Pacific, with the real staircase still inside.
02How to experience it
It's at Victoria Beach in Laguna, about seven hours from the Bay or an easy trip from anywhere in Orange County. Check the tide chart and go at low tide, or you won't get to it. Parking is scarce residential street parking, and the beach access is a narrow path down between the houses. Bring nothing you mind getting wet.