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NPR talk radio interviewed David Slater, Executive Vice President and COO for Signal Hill Petroleum, discussing how the Oil Industry turned Los Angeles into the thriving city that it is today. See below for the written article associated with the interview, along with the audio clip.
Before Hollywood, The Oil Industry Made LA
April 5, 20165:42 PM ET – Heard on All Things Considered
Jonaki Mehta
Ever watch The Beverly Hillbillies and wonder why Jed Clampett moved to Beverly Hills and not Texas or some town that we more closely associate with oil?
Even Angelenos forget sometimes that the Clampetts came first, then the swimming pools and movie stars. Think J. Paul Getty or Edward Doheny, men who made their fortunes on oil and then made LA.
Los Angeles is a world center for transportation, fashion, manufacturing and — above all — entertainment. In the heart of this metropolis, oil is hidden in plain sight. If you go on a walk to clear your head at NPR’s Culver City studios, cross the street and you’re in one of the largest producing urban oil fields in America.
“When you think about Los Angeles, you tend to think of big skyscrapers and beaches. You don’t generally tend to think of oil wells,” says Lars Perner, a professor at the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California.
“This is fairly valuable real estate, with some rather expensive homes close by,” he says of the Inglewood oil field. Perner points to the Baldwin Hills and View Park neighborhoods that are considered the “Black Beverly Hills” for former residents such as Tina Turner, Ray Charles and Nancy Wilson. “This oil is clearly very valuable to justify using that space for those oil pumps,” Perner says.
He says that as iconic as the Hollywood sign or the movie studios are, it’s the oil wells that made modern life in LA possible. The LA Basin is very isolated and vast. That makes getting goods into the area difficult, and it made transporting goods around the region very tough. That is until the invention of the automobile and the discovery of oil.
“Back in those days there weren’t really a lot of regulations as to how you could drill, so a lot of people got very entrepreneurial. And they were trying to get pumps onto their property before their neighbors could,” Perner says.
You can find oil wells hidden all over Los Angeles. Beverly Hills High School has multiple oil wells on its campus. (The school’s wells were the subject of a class action suit brought by Erin Brockovich). Edward Doheny, for whom the major thoroughfare in Beverly Hills is named, discovered oil under a private residence in 1892. His find set off an oil-drilling spree. The battle over the rights to that oil could fill several history books and many films. As J. Paul Getty once said, “The meek shall inherit the earth, but not its mineral rights.”
Part of what made Los Angeles oil so attractive, Perner says, was that the oil was close to the surface and easy to extract. Add to that the newly invented automobile, incredible weather and a port, and that’s a recipe for exponential expansion.
But Perner suggests that without oil there would be no modern LA. “Well, the petroleum industry of course made it possible to have Hollywood.” And he says it made it made it possible to build an infrastructure to transport agricultural produce from other areas to help support the growth of a relatively large city very quickly.
“Los Angeles was a sleepy pueblo that became LA, and Hollywood and the studios all popped up and people got wealthy because of oil,” says David Slater, chief operating officer of Signal Hill Petroleum. In 1921, oil was discovered on Signal Hill, a city near the Port of Long Beach. These two discoveries are what made Los Angeles one of the world’s major petroleum fields.
It’s difficult to overstate just how much oil was being produced in LA back in the 1920s.
“The production from here made Los Angeles the equivalent of Saudi Arabia today,” Slater says.
Today, the city of Signal Hill is one of the largest urban producers of oil in the U.S. But the steep drop in oil prices has had a big impact on smaller oil companies like Signal Hill Petroleum.
“The painful part, though, is when prices go down, contracting our business and eliminating jobs is never ever a fun thing to go through,” says Slater. His company has shrunk from 150 employees to 85.
As he looked out over the bay of Long Beach, where supertankers line the horizon, Slater said he wished he could drill more. He joked that cheap gas wasn’t completely bad, as he drove us down Signal Hill in his white Escalade.
The Long Beach Business Journal wrote an article about the benefits CSULB gains from private partnerships; continue to read below to see why SHP agrees the benefit is mutual.
Cal State Long Beach student researchers gain from private partnerships
David Slater, right, chief operating officer and executive vice president of Signal Hill Petroleum, join professor Rick Behl, left, of CSULB in Long Beach. A partnership with private industry has led to employment for student researchers at Cal State Long Beach. One of the biggest partners, Signal Hill Petroleum, has donated $250,000 for an environment geosciences lab in the Hall of Science to support the MARS project — Monterey and Related Sedimentary Rocks — as part of a consortium’s efforts to explore oil and gas supplies in the Monterey Shale formation. (Thomas R. Cordova / Press-Telegram)
By Josh Dulaney, Long Beach Press Telegram Posted: 11/06/15, 7:49 PM PST
A partnership with private industry has led to employment for student researchers at Cal State Long Beach. One of the biggest partners, Signal Hill Petroleum, has donated $250,000 for an environment geosciences lab in the Hall of Science to support the MARS project — Monterey and Related Sedimentary Rocks — as part of a consortium’s effort to explore oil and gas supplies in the Monterey Shale formation. “Quite frankly, Cal State Long Beach is an amazing institution,” said David Slater, chief operating officer and executive vice president of Signal Hill Petroleum. “Three-fourths of our geologists and geophysicists are from Cal State Long Beach. They’ve been a great resource for us. Highly trained, technical personnel.” The consortium supports several graduate and undergraduate student research projects, and helps provide equipment for students and faculty. In return, Signal Hill Petroleum benefits from the research. “They’re great people,” Slater said. “They do a fabulous job. It’s a great regional resource for California, with the quality of students they turn out.” Chief among projects is the MARS research, led by professor Rick Behl. Now more than four years old, the project is concerned with the Monterey Shale formation, a 1,750-square-mile area which cuts through much of the Central Valley and coast and runs south of San Francisco into the northern tip of Los Angeles County. The Monterey Shale is home to California’s primary petroleum source rock, which some say holds a large amount of oil reserves. CSULB researchers are focused on the geology of the area. According to the MARS project’s website, the Monterey Shale formation has served as a laboratory for “countless studies of silica, clay, carbonate, phosphate, organic matter, and petroleum.” Study of the formation can be “applied to shale gas and shale oil reservoirs in other basins,” according to the website. The project is a training ground for graduate students while also providing them opportunities to interact with leaders in the energy industry. “The MARS project is really the first industry-affiliated program at Cal State Long Beach, where we have a number of companies’ interest in what we’re doing,” Behl said. “And they’re interested in our students, and they support us with a yearly membership fee and that money goes to the program. Because of their generous support, I’ve been able to support a program that has eight to 11 graduate students working at one time.” Behl said before Signal Hill Petroleum and other companies provided funding, graduate students were engaging in a labor of love — conducting research while holding down part-time jobs. Juggling research while trying to pay the bills meant taking quite a long time to complete their research. “This allows my students to concentrate so they hit the ground running,” Behl said. “They come up with a research project early, and most of our students are finishing in just over two years. It’s particularly important at a school like ours. Although we have students that go on to Ph.D. programs, the greatest focus of our students is building their qualifications for career and working.”
SHP’s Executive Vice-President and COO, David Slater sitting down to discuss STEM programs with the students from VCHS.
Signal Hill Petroleum is proud to be a contributing member to the growth and development of America’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) students. We strongly believe in encouraging and supporting our youth in the pursuit of their passions and hopefully careers in STEM industries.
Last week, SHP hosted the Valley Christian High School (VCHS) Robotics Team to learn more about their program, goals and mission. Our staff was impressed by the dedication and the complexity of their plans for the upcoming competition. The students gave SHP’s Executive Vice-President and COO, David Slater, a presentation on the robot’s development, their strategic plan for the competition and how their decisions were made as a team. As a result, Slater was not only impressed by the students, but furthermore explained how the knowledge and experience they are gaining now will be extremely beneficial and directly relatable to the oil and gas industry in the future.
SHP would like to wish the VCHS Robotics Team good luck in their upcoming competitions. We know they are going to do great, but more importantly we know the skills they are building today are going to benefit them in the future.
SHP’s Executive Vice-President and COO, David Slater and students from VCHS Robotic Team
To learn more about the VCHS Robotics Program Click Here
The opening of the new Chipotle at the Signal Hill Gateway Center received news coverage from two local papers; the Signal Tribune and Long Beach Gazettes.
Read the articles below, or click on the links for the digital versions.
Photo Courtesy of Signal Tribune: Signal Hill Mayor Ed Wilson cuts the ribbon with Emre Comertoglu, manager of the new Chipotle restaurant on Wednesday Dec. 10, 2014 at the Signal Hill Gateway Center. Also pictured are: Police Chief Michael Langston (far left), Signal Hill Chamber of Commerce President Terry Rogers (second from left), Signal Hill Petroleum representatives, councilmembers and city staff.
Signal Tribune
Chipotle restaurant opens in Signal Hill as ‘final puzzle piece’ to shopping center
POSTED ON DECEMBER 12, 2014; Sean Belk (Staff Writer)
City officials, business owners and community members gathered on Wednesday, Dec. 10 to celebrate the opening of Chipotle restaurant, which completes the Signal Hill Gateway Center off of Spring Street between California and Atlantic avenues.
The opening comes after a Starbucks and a Sprint retail store opened their doors last month while two Bank Of America ATMs are expected to be operational by the end of December, said Ashley Schaffer, real estate manager for Signal Hill Petroleum, developer and property owner of the shopping center
“It was the final puzzle piece,” she said, adding that development at the shopping center first began in 2007. “We’re very happy it’s finally done.”
The businesses are the latest addition to the shopping center, which is also home to In-N-Out, Petco, Ross Dress for Less and Home Depot.
“We’re excited about Chipotle being here,” said Signal Hill Mayor Ed Wilson in an interview with the Signal Tribune. “New businesses mean new jobs, but also this is an establishment that’s really, really liked by the millennials, the younger people. I know it’s one of my daughter’s favorite restaurants to go to. We’re just excited for them to be here, and we’re going to look forward to a long-term, working relationship with them.”
Wilson noted that the new restaurant includes a patio that allows diners to eat while enjoying the view from Signal Hill.
During the invitation-only event that included a ribbing-cutting ceremony, community members, local business owners and city officials were treated to free food from Chipotle.
“We’re just really excited to get a Class-A tenant and a great new amenity for the city here at the Signal Hill Gateway shopping center,” said David Slater, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Signal Hill Petroleum, developer and property owner of the center. “The completion of this pad with Starbucks, Sprint and Chipotle builds out Signal Hill Gateway Center with a great addition and some great tenants, but it wouldn’t have happened without the support of the city and a great amount of support from city staff.”
Long Beach Gazettes
BUSINESS BEAT: New Chipotle In Town; Capture Long Beach Video Contest; Hotel Maya Additions
Posted: Tuesday, December 16, 2014 9:13 pm; Ashleigh Ruhl (Editor)
Fresh Chipotle
A new Chipotle Mexican Grill opened last week at the Signal Hill Gateway Center on Spring Street near Atlantic Avenue.
Members of Signal Hill Petroleum, which owns the majority of the shopping center, as well as city leaders, hosted a ribbon cutting on Wednesday (Dec. 10). Signal Hill Mayor Ed Wilson and Signal Hill Chamber of Commerce President Terry Rogers were among those in attendance.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Chipotle to the Gateway Center,” David Slater, executive vice president and COO of Signal Hill Petroleum, said in a release. “We welcome them to the business community and wish them much success going forward.”
The 1,800-square-foot Chipotle is located at 959 E. Spring St., and is open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. The restaurant, which is fast-casual, is part of a chain that got its start in 1993 and has grown to include 1,500 locations. Menu items include burritos, burrito bowls, tacos and salads.
Chipotle’s opening finished work that started in 2006 when the Signal Hill Gateway Center first broke ground. Signal Hill Petroleum to develop the 23.5-acre Gateway Center, which also includes Home Depot, an Applebee’s, Dollar Tree, Home Depot, Jack in the Box, In-N-Out, Petco, Ross, Sprint and Starbucks drive-thru. A Chick-fil-A restaurant also is planned to open in the shopping center soon.
The Long Beach Press Telegram and Signal Tribune covered the Grand Opening of the newest Starbucks in the Signal Hill Gateway Center.
Click on the links below for the full articles.
City officials celebrate new Starbucks in Signal Hill
The new Signal Hill Starbucks is located at 899 E. Spring St. Photo courtesy of the Signal Tribune.
A new drive-through Starbucks has officially opened at 899 E. Spring St. in Signal Hill at the Signal Hill Gateway Center as the shopping center’s newest addition. Signal Hill city officials and staff from Signal Hill Petroleum, which owns the shopping center, celebrated the store’s opening with a ceremonial ribbon-cutting and reception on Wednesday, Nov. 12.
Courtesy of Neena Strichart/Signal Tribune
Signal Hill Mayor Ed Wilson and Starbucks District Manager Fauzia Adams cut a ceremonial ribbon marking the grand opening of the company’s new location in the Gateway Center of Signal Hill. Also pictured are various city officials, Chamber of Commerce members, Starbucks employees and Signal Hill Petroleum representatives.
The new coffee shop features an outdoor dining and seating area. In addition, a new full-service Sprint retail store, a Chipotle restaurant and ATMs are expected to open at the center once construction is completed.