Petroleum provided the raw materials for the gasoline that powered Angelenos’ automobiles as well as the asphalt on which they drove, so in one sense the middle of La Cienega Boulevard was a fitting place for an oil derrick. But many failed to see the logic. For decades, photos of this bizarrely located well, which sipped some 600,000 barrels of crude oil from the ground over its nearly 40-year lifespan, circulated around the world as visual proof of Los Angeles’ eccentricity.
Keep reading the full post on Los Angeles magazine's City Think blog.