  We have detected an optical jet in the BL Lac object 3C 371 that coincides
with the radio jet in this object in the central few kpc. The most notable
feature is a bright optical knot 3 arcsec (4 kpc) from the nucleus that occurs
at the location where the jet apparently changes its direction by ~30 degrees.
The radio, near-infrared and optical observations of this knot are consistent
with a single power-law spectrum with a radio-optical spectral index alpha =
-0.81. One possible scenario for the observed turn is that the jet is
interacting with the material in the bridge connecting 3C 371 to nearby
galaxies and the pressure gradient is deflecting the jet significantly.
