It amazes and shocks me to think that Southern California’s Long Beach ever looked like this. It was covered with so many oil wells that you can begin to think of counting them. (I bet somebody probably did, but they must have been at it an awfully long time.) That slightly higher hill on the right is Signal Hill, which acquired the nickname “Porcupine Hill” because of its prickly appearance. It’s still a productive oil field with several wells and derricks, but now has a residential and commercial mix.