Well, Troy, it seems I do need to get out more. 
(see my post right below yours)
I think there’re some near the Embarcadero sometimes; you might be able to catch them. Look over thisaway Friday and Saturday nights, that’s when I usually see them.
I’ll have to do that. I can get a good view from the pier, if there’s no fog.
I still occasionally see a real carbon-arc spotlight. I’ll bet it’s getting hard to find parts for them. When i was in High School, I re-built our antique carbon-arc followspot, and I had to make some of my own parts back then…
I remember that sound they made, the buzz of the arc. And the engine (m-g set?) that powered the light. they had to replace the rod occasionally.
Often, depending on the event, there would be entertainment and free samples and such.
There’s a permanent rotating searchlight on the top of Place Ville-Marie in Montreal. I can see it most nights out of my living room window; it can be seen from pretty far away (Wiki says as much as 50km!)
http://www.vieux.montreal.qc.ca/plaque/horizon/gares/eng/gare_4a.htm
I haven’t seen other spotlights around, but I admit that I haven’t really looked, either!
mangeorge, if you see this tonight, look toward SF Civic Center! There are two sets of four going as of ten minutes ago.
Dang, I missed it. Maybe tonight.
Thanks
We have two 60-inch General Electric WW2 searchlights here at the Fort, as well as 3 Gardner diesel engines as generators. We don’t run the lights, as the original cables running from the engine room and the beachfront emplacements were all stripped out in the 1950s. (Well, that and conservation concerns, as well as the Coast Guard’s dislike of large, powerful blinding lights on the seashore coming into action).
We do run the engines on a limited schedule however, as an aid to keeping them in good order. Keeps all the gaskets from drying out, pushes oil through the lines, keeps the pistons lubricated, etc.
I have interviewed several of the WW2 searchlight operators (now, sadly all gone) in years gone by; their job here was not skyward work (although the same 60-inch lights were used in an anti-aircraft support role); they were “fighting lights” for the close defence batteries here–small, fast-firing guns that would have broken up any torpedo boat attacks on the harbour.
The searchlight crews (Royal Canadian Artillerymen in WW2) called themselves “the Glowworms,” and used to tell gullible new recruits that the lights were so powerful that they could knock over a small boat.
Your basic GE 60-inch comes in two flavours: direct beam (which produces a one-degree beam that has a range on a dry, clear night of not quite ten miles), and diffuse beam (which has a series of vertical lenses on the front to broadened the light into a 35-degree floodlight, used as a short-range target illumination light). The direct beam is the type used after the war for movie premieres, advertising, etc.–the diffuse was specific to coast artillery forts.
The 60-inch is rated at 800 million candlepower. These type of lights were used during the campaign in north-west Europe (following D-Day) to create “artificial moonlight” for night attacks–they bounced the lights off low, heavy cloud to allow advancing troops to see where they were going.
We recently had a break-in at the engine room; there was almost nothing to steal (and thankfully, no real damage done). They did however, take a canister of positive carbon rods (actual WW2 stock). I took some small consolation when talking to the local press about the break-in by using the term “inanimate carbon rod” whenever possible.
DO they still make carbon-arc searchlights? I get the impression that maybe not.
Looks like new searchlights are all Xenon tube technology…but you can buy your own WW2 Sperry 60-inch carbon arc searchlight–complete with 1965 Crown Pumper fire truck for a mere $46,000right here!
(Same site gives the info that one-night rental cost runs $450-$525).
In our old house we used to regularly see them out our front window, from a busy road about a mile away. When our eldest was young, we directed her attention to the “angels, dancing in the sky.”
Years later she told us she had gotten in some heated arguments with her little classmates over her insistence that not only did angels exist, but she saw them dancing in the sky out her front window.
Lying to little kids is so fun, and you never know exactly when and how it will pay off! 
Down here in South Texas, we see them occasionally, most often around New Years and July 4th because they are used at fireworks stands to attract attention.
:::waves hand frantically::::
Ooooh, being an old bugger I remember the end of WW2 and there were searchlights galore just shining and flashing on and off…previous to the end searchlights meant the nasties were out to get me…again
That’s a very interesting post, Rodd Hill.
The ones I remember were most likely the same as those you describe. Things from when you’re young seem bigger than they are, maybe, but were very large and powerful.
I’ve read about the “artificial moonlight” you describe.
Anyway, thanks for the first-hand info. 
Cool!
I don’t think you’d have to add a lot of equipment to some of those to get effective anti-monster artillery…
A couple of weeks ago I learned that searchlights look creepy as hell on really foggy nights. The light is much more dense and distracting that is probably intented as a large blade of fog comes swipping at cars. What I can’t figure out is why they (probably being a car dealership) set them to pivot in an X low to the ground rather than point them way up in the sky like they’re supposed to. It’s the second time I’ve seen them this way recently.
I just saw some today. They appeared to be coming from a pool installer.
Whoopdeedoo, just what I was looking for at midnight.