Signal Hill

Looking at a map of the city of Long Beach when we arrived and started looking or apartments, I noticed an area in the middle of the city that seemed cut-out of the city, a tiny enclave, a city within a city. It was labeled Signal Hill, and I thought it was just a rich area that resisted the annexing attempts of the early Long Beach city planners. From the 405, an innocuous hill on the left in the distance:



It turns out that the area, a hill in the middle of the city, was the last thing to incorporate and become a city, and that was when oil was struck. Nobody really lived on the hill because of the oil, and when it became able to be pumped and money could be made, the powers swiftly made all the municipal paperwork work out. A huge gusher was struck high up at the peak, visible for miles, and the name "Signal Hill" stuck for good.

In the oil history of California, and apparently the world, Signal Hill was one of the richest oil fields in recorded times. Really? It was a productive field for decades, and with so many oil derricks erected, the hill had the nickname "Porcupine Hill". Looks rather post-apocalyptic:



The Tongva aboriginal Californians had been using the hill for signal fires for thousands of years, even able to signal their tribal relatives out on Catalina Island. The Spanish, having noticed this on their surveys of Alta California, were already calling the hill Loma Senyal (no enya). There is also a rich supply of water underground in Signal Hill, which is weird: rich oil and rich water supplies?

Nowadays, it is a haven for the wealthy, as can be seen on approach by road in the otherwise flat LB area:



In the late twenties on the Hill was stationed the countries first all Jazz radio, and a jazz dance restaurant and nightclub saw many happy folks from the Southern California region come and have a good time. A park now lives on the spot of the old club.

This sculpture sits on the spot of the gusher, as well as the spot of the Tongva signal fires, signifying the varied history of Signal Hill.



Living on the Hill might be cool later on in life, but we'll bring any and all visitors to Lookout Park on the top, because you can't beat views like this:



On the left side you can see a round condo building, and to it's left is the odd one with the green spire that has made this site before, so maybe you might be able to get a sense of where we're located in the grand scheme. The view stretches all around to the Belmont Shores section of Long Beach, near the island neighborhood of Naples, right before the city ends and Orange County begins. I'll get some sort of panorama up later, but here's one down the east side, towards the OC (the inland blue is the bay around Naples):



When the skies are clear enough, you can look the other way and see the skyline of Los Angeles: