A climate instability in the last glacial, corresponding to Dansgaard-Oeschger (D-O) events, has been already recognized in the California margin in northeast Pacific. Detailed sea surface temperature (SST) changes in this region, however, have not been so far well elucidated. Here we report estimates of alkenone-derived SSTs with the DO-time scale from ODP Hole 1017E, off Point Conception, over the last 80 kyr. Our results show that alkenone SSTs clearly record D-O and Heinrich Events. We also found that alkenone-SSTs during 82-58 ka and 18-15 ka were considerably higher, and those in 15-12 ka were lower than those derived from δ18O of planktonic foraminifera. These results appear to reflect fluctuations of water masses.