Tag Archives: Oil
Oil wells line Atlantic Ave, Long Beach, California 1948
I can’t imagine a Sunday drive down Atlantic Ave in Long Beach would have been a particularly pleasant way to spend an afternoon in 1948, when this photo was taken. The closest I’ve been to an oil well is watching … Continue reading
Aerial view of Wilshire Boulevard at La Brea Ave, Los Angeles, 1922
Thank goodness for those magnificent men in their flying machines (in case you don’t know, I’m quoting the title of a Twentieth Century-Fox movie from 1965) otherwise we’d never have spectacular aerial photos of LA like this one taken in … Continue reading
A small pond at La Brea tar pits near what is now Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, 1910
The young girl to the left is standing at a small pond in what we now know as the La Brea Tar Pits near Wilshire Blvd and Fairfax Ave. This was taken in 1910, when the only development was the … Continue reading
Gilmore “Gas-a-teria” self-service station, Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, 1948.
Gilmore isn’t a name we see much of anymore but during the first half of the 20th century, it was everywhere. Not just the many gas stations but the Gilmore field and stadium and drive-in. In 1948 they opened the … Continue reading
A forest of oil derricks crowds the Huntington Beach coastline, Los Angeles, January 1940
After oil was discovered in Huntington Beach and Long Beach south of Los Angeles, oil wells popped up in their hundreds and pumped out oil for decades. This is a 1940 shot of Huntington Beach—not exactly the sun-dappled, picture-postcard vista … Continue reading
Oil derrick as Christmas tree, Huntington Beach, 1939
Huntington Beach is a lovely ocean-side community just south of Long Beach but back in the 1930s it was dotted with oil wells pulling from the large reserves that lay underground. It can’t have been a very pretty landscape so … Continue reading
Looking east along Wilshire Blvd toward the Fairfax Ave intersection, Los Angeles, 1929
In this photo, we’re treated to a view looking east along Wilshire Boulevard. The intersection in the middle is Fairfax Ave, which means the northeast corner where the billboard (for Newmark’s Mountain Grown Coffee) is the future site of the … Continue reading
Aerial view of Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, between Highland Avenue and La Brea Avenue, circa 1920
In this aerial view from 1920, we’re looking at Wilshire Blvd near the bottom, La Brea Ave to the left, and Highland Ave to the right. (I didn’t know it used to bend like that.) There’s acres and acres of … Continue reading
Looking north up Fairfax Ave at Drexel Ave toward oil wells, Los Angeles, 1931
In this photo, we’re looking north up what was in 1931 a very sparsely populated Fairfax Ave at Drexel Ave. Miraculously, that building on the left is still around and is currently occupied by Samy’s Camera. All that empty land … Continue reading
Oil island on La Cienega Blvd, south of Beverly Boulevard, Los Angeles, circa 1931
From this circa 1931 photograph, we can see that oil was king in Los Angeles. If there was an oil well in the way of building a road—even a major one like La Cienega Boulevard—you build around it and everybody … Continue reading