This past summer I took a break from investigative reporting to look into a new subject…oil! I had the opportunity to host a segment of “The LA You May Not Know” for NBC4. I didn’t know how prominent oil was in Los Angeles history until I started researching it and it sort of became a mini investigative piece on its own.
During the process of creating this story, I traveled across Los Angeles. From Venice Beach to Beverly Hills, I noticed more hidden oil rigs popping up. California in the early 1900’s was once producing nearly one quarter of the world’s oil. These rigs lined up the coast of some of the most famous beaches in California before they were closed. Decades later, while more were closing, there were also many more being built in urban areas.
Very few oil rigs are left in Los Angeles and you would barely notice them if someone didn’t point them out to you! Oil rigs are camouflaged in architecture now so that they fit into their communities, some even move! To learn more, check out the story on the NBC4 website or watch the video below which highlights the history of oil in Los Angeles and how oil rigs operate today.