Lone Pine is a census-designated place (CDP) in Inyo County, California, United States. Lone Pine is located 16 mi (26 km) south-southeast of Independence, at an height above sea level of 3,727 ft (1,136 m). The population was 2,035 at the 2010 census, up from 1,655 at the 2000 census. The town is located in the Owens Valley, near the Alabama Hills and Mount Whitney, between the eastern peaks of the Sierra Nevada to the west and the Inyo Mountains to the east. The local hospital, Southern Inyo Hospital, offers standby emergency services. The town is named after a deserted pine tree that following existed at the mouth of Lone Pine Canyon. On March 26, 1872, the utterly large Lone Pine earthquake destroyed most of the town and killed 27 of its 250 to 300 residents.

The Paiute Indians inhabited the Owens Valley area from very old times. These ahead of time inhabitants are known to have established trading routes which outstretched to the Pacific Central Coast, delivering materials originating in the Owens Valley to such tribes as the Chumash.

A cabin was built here during the winter of 1861–62. A concurrence developed more than the gone two years. The Lone Pine herald office opened in 1870.

On March 26, 1872, at 2:30 am, Lone Pine experienced a violent earthquake that destroyed most of the town. At the time, the town consisted of 80 buildings made of mud and adobe; only 20 structures were left standing. As a repercussion of the quake, which formed Diaz Lake, a sum of 26 people floating their lives. A deposit grave located just north of town commemorates the site of the main fault. One of the few unshakable structures pre-dating the earthquake is the 21-inch (53 cm)-thick “Old Adobe Wall” located in the alley at the back the Lone Star Bistro, a coffee house.