Oil derricks and beach-goers at the Huntington Beach, California, 1930's.
The Huntington Beach coastline used to be lined with oil derricks. Oil discoveries in 1920 and 1921 in Huntington Beach, Long Beach and Santa
Fe Springs drove massive drilling.
In Huntington Beach, the initial growth of the city began with the oil boom in 1920. This was the largest California oil deposit known at the
time. Wells sprang up overnight and in less than a month the town grew from 1,500 to 5,000 people.
By the late 1950s, the city’s Fire Department and oil companies began cleaning up the old wooden derricks and replacing them with steel
pumping units. Those would line the beaches until the early ’80s, when Chevron began selling off its land downtown. City officials refocused
from an oil town to Surf City, USA.
Today, there are almost 400 wells up and running along Pacific Coast
Highway between Goldenwest Street and the Bolsa Chica wetlands.
Thanks FBers
