Pictured is the Shell Oil well, named Discovery, on Signal Hill. Discovery was the first oil well in Long Beach and started the city’s oil boom. Work began on the Alamitos #1 well on March 23, 1921 and had only a showing of oil by the time the hole was about 3,000 feet deep May 2. It wasn’t until June 23, 1921 that oil erupted 114 feet in the air.

The discovery led to a stampede as some 500 spectators were on hand at 4am on June 25, 1921 to watch Alamitos No. 1 begin to pump. Future residents has already purchased lots but had not yet built their homes. So, instead of homes, homeowners built oil wells, hoping to get rich quick and many did. Ten months after the discovery, Signal Hill was covered with 108 wells, producing 14,000 barrels a day. Here’s the Los Angeles County historical marker.

 This photo comes from the Long Beach Public Library archive. 

Here’s a little Los Angeles oil history as reflected in the historic lobby of the Downtown Standard. The Los Angeles Times recently recounted LA’s oil history in its article about the current capping of some of LA’s oldest oil wells:

The sealing of the long-abandoned wells by Allenco Energy to make way for a 45-unit affordable housing project marks the end of an era for the Los Angeles City Oil Field, which sparked Southern California’s oil boom 120 years ago.

The photo above is of the ceiling relief in the historic lobby of the Downtown Standard, built by architect Claud Beelman in 1955 for the Superior Oil Building.