When I took up residence at the end of August on Signal Hill to work the Congressional elections in Orange County I had little knowledge of the history of this little city of 2.2 square miles completely surrounded by the City of Long Beach. I had heard of Signal Hill because of the infamous police murder of CSULB football player Ron Settles in 1981. The fight for justice for Ron Settles was ongoing in 1983 when I arrived in California and worked in Long Beach on a battle to keep Long Beach Community Hospital open. Finally in 2022, over 40 years later, the City of Signal Hill issued a public apology to the Settles family for Ron’s death. 

But living on the Hill has pushed me to learn more about the history of the whole LA basin. It is often forgotten amid the glitz of Hollywood that LA is the largest urban oil field in the country. Oil was discovered in the 1890’s and powered the early economy. Oil continues to be pumped in many parts of LA County and the industry recently bristled at Governor Newsom’s support for legislation that would require capping wells near residential areas. 

Oil was discovered in 1921 in Signal Hill and huge geysers some 300 feet high were not uncommon. The City was incorporated separate from Long Beach in 1924 to protect the oil barons from regulation and taxation. Oil was discovered in Venice, California in the 1930’s and even to this day “pumpjacks” can be seen dotting the LA landscape in often the most unexpected places. Several wells in Beverly Hills are camouflaged by cosmetic tower structures. In the long running 1960’s TV sitcom Beverly Hillbillies Jed Clampett struck oil in the Ozarks in Missouri and moved his family to Beverly Hills. Turns out there is an active oil well next to Beverly Hills High School

Signal Hill features an amazing Promenade Park on its summit that has some of the best panoramas of the LA basin. It is one of the unknown gems of SoCal with views that rival anything from Griffith Park or the Getty It also features some crazy juxtapositions of oil pumps with luxury residential housing and retail businesses. You can eat excellent food at Curley’s Café on Willow and sit outside under a parasol as a silent pumpjack brings up more black gold.

My good friend Neal Sacharow obtained some vintage Signal Hill postcards online and  discovered even more at this link.

Now he has staked out his camera on the Hill and captured some current images of this little corner of the Los Angeles basin

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