16 photos of sunny California, the beaches of which were once decorated with oil rigs (17 photos)

Californian beaches once looked less idyllic like today, because instead of cafes, shops and hotels on the warm sand Dozens of oil rigs towered.





The skyline of Los Angeles and other cities in the state looked very depressing: it was before the heyday of show business and, of course, long before the state became the innovation center of the country. Once upon a time here extracted oil.

California has another name - the golden state. called its so because in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada, which are located in California, in the XIX century found gold. So this American region Nicknamed golden, but in fact, California is much larger earned on "black gold" - on oil production.

When Europeans arrived in the New World, Native Americans oil has been used for centuries: for example, it was covered with canoes to protect from water. And in the 19th century, Californian oil began to be produced in industrial scale: in 1859, the first well was drilled in Humboldt County. A few decades later, California has become a real oil giant, and everywhere towered oil rigs pumping tons of black gold from the bowels of the earth.

Southern California has become the hotbed of oil production: a forest of rigs in Long Beach



The oil boom has resulted in huge areas being home to hundreds of oil rigs





They stick out everywhere like giant needles, making the sunny state look very gloomy.



Los Angeles was no exception: the Venice area was built up with towers all the way to the ocean.



It's all the same, 1937.



In Venice, in general, the towers mixed with residential areas and beaches



And here is Marina del Rey, where today one of the largest parking lots for boats and yachts is located



The beach of Huntington Beach was littered with oil rigs back in the 1960s.



Oil extraction rigs near Santa Barbara in the early 20th century



Canal bridge in Venice, Los Angeles and towers behind the bridge



Road to Los Angeles, 1930s



An oil rig disguised as a Christmas tree, 1939



Oil production near Los Angeles in 1952



Towers rise behind a Catholic church in Huntington Beach, 1937



1932 Olympics



California beach in the 1930s