Posted on 05/21/2017 3:10:33 PM PDT by Lorianne
I remember reading somewhere many years ago that on the 7th of December 1941, California was the number one oil exporting COUNTRY in the world.
Within thirty years that’d all changed.
Your feet can get a good coating of asphalt! Beachcombers, beware, and take a towelette moistened with solvent!
I lived in Santa Barbara in the 1970’s and 1980’s and remember getting tar on my feet, but only if I walked near the high tide line. If I stayed away from the high tide I didn’t have a problem.
I heard stories of clipper ships crews in the 19th century who saw clumps of oil floating on the water off Santa Barbara.
The locals when I lived there called it “natural seepage.”
Then again, there are God knows how many earthquake faults in the Santa Barbara Channel.
You could see the oil platforms in the distance.
I remember the local drug stores sold these small bottles of oil remover at the checkout counter. It was used to rub small oil stains off the soles of one’s feet.
I had heard about the Kern Cty oil fields, but I didn’t know it was right down on the beaches. wow.
Back in the mid-late 1980’s, my family knew a woman who told me that some of the skyscrapers on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles were actually hollow but contained oil wells.
I figured she knew what she was talking about; she was the sister-in-law of Bob Hope and handled many of his real estate holdings.
Up here in NorCal, we have oil in San Mateo County just south of San Fran. There's "Oil Creek" near Butano State Park by Pescadero. We even have our own seeps in the back woods. Oil and gas were recovered until the 80s when low prices shut the wells down. Not much chance of getting tar on your feet unless you go looking for it, though.
Cool pics, thanks for posting.
“I remember reading somewhere many years ago that on the 7th of December 1941, California was the number one oil exporting COUNTRY in the world.”
The Japanese could bomb Pearl Harbor because of our oil——and perhaps it came from California.
Synchronicity?
.
Looks like California alone is Saudi Arabia.
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