The THUMS islands off the coast of Long Beach, CA are another amazing job of hiding drilling rigs and production facilities in plain sight. THUMS stood for Texaco, Humble, Unocal, Mobil and Shell, the original partners in the field, and the islands are named after Apollo astronauts.
That one at Beverly Hills H.S.; it was none other than Erin Brockovich, fresh off her namesake movie, who helped lead the lawfare fight against the oil well.
As with all things Erin Brockovich, her legal case was bullshit. But the publicity for self-promotion was totally fanstastic.
Ten years ago, from the great Walter Olson: https://www.overlawyered.com/2007/11/update-erin-brockovich-vs-beverly-hills-high-school/
Waiting for the AGW crowd to hide the ghastly visual pollution they forced upon us. The wind farms littered across the west. Maybe a camo dirigible airship. Or an oxy-acetylene torch.
LA was an oil town long before the movie biz came to town. I worked as a consultant for a startup in Houston that planned to set up geophone stations for seismic measurements back in the early 90s, a no brainr since we were using natural seismic events and LA is in california.
My former company used to put up towers like that all the time. We had many methods of camouflaging them - we called them "Stealth towers". Frankenpines, Frankenpalms, and some really funky designs that we'd put on buildings that looked like they totally belonged there, or were undetectable from all but a few viewing angles.
My favorite was a type that we installed in parking lots - started as a one-off design but ended up becoming a whole batch run. Frankenficus. I doubt that one fooled many people. Used mainly outside of stadiums to add local capacity because they weren't very tall, so LOS was limited.
I grew up in West LA. There were active wells scattered around the area, not disguised at all, with a big field in the Baldwin Hills. Some were on lots right on main streets. My parents owned a house in Culver City, and they got a small check monthly for oil that was pumped out from under their house from the Baldwin Hills field.
That reminds me of the neighborhood pump stations that are disguised to look like homes. http://wunc.org/post/video-whats-inside-house-wade-avenue#stream/0
@Kyzernick ... I think the pines and palms are the most common stealth cell towers. I'd love to see a fake ficus one! Do you have any pics? My son and I were driving to Vegas the other weekend and there was a row of Frankenpalms with little red aircraft warning lights on top ... sort of makes sense around Christmas time, but we were deep into January already.
If you want an eye-opener, search for the underground drilling and pipelines that connect the few wells and pumping stations in the field. The potential for a leak is huge and all on the dime of the greens.
There are thousands of active oil wells in the L.A. area. Most of the pumpjacks and derricks operate in plain sight. This Atlantic article from 2014 shows many of them. It also shows additional photos of some of the "hidden" ones, only with wider angle shots that shows the context.
@Josephbleau the asphalt at La Brea forms from oil that seeps naturally from the ground. Oil has been seeping there for thousands of years. It's 100% natural.
@ Art in LA No, all the pics and schematics I had were still on my corporate laptop when I returned it after finding a different job. I lost a lot of interesting pics when I turned in that laptop, including about 2 dozen pics from the tops of towers that various technicians sent me over the years. Some of the views were spectacular.
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22 comments:
The THUMS islands off the coast of Long Beach, CA are another amazing job of hiding drilling rigs and production facilities in plain sight. THUMS stood for Texaco, Humble, Unocal, Mobil and Shell, the original partners in the field, and the islands are named after Apollo astronauts.
That one at Beverly Hills H.S.; it was none other than Erin Brockovich, fresh off her namesake movie, who helped lead the lawfare fight against the oil well.
As with all things Erin Brockovich, her legal case was bullshit. But the publicity for self-promotion was totally fanstastic.
Ten years ago, from the great Walter Olson:
https://www.overlawyered.com/2007/11/update-erin-brockovich-vs-beverly-hills-high-school/
My hometown! I'm sure somebody has done an article of "the hidden cell phone towers of L.A." by now. Now those are hilarious ...
Here's one on LA cell towers ... https://la.curbed.com/2013/7/8/10222828/getting-a-better-look-at-las-many-fake-tree-cell-towers
Waiting for the AGW crowd to hide the ghastly visual pollution they forced upon us. The wind farms littered across the west. Maybe a camo dirigible airship. Or an oxy-acetylene torch.
LA was an oil town long before the movie biz came to town. I worked as a consultant for a startup in Houston that planned to set up geophone stations for seismic measurements back in the early 90s, a no brainr since we were using natural seismic events and LA is in california.
Art in LA:
My former company used to put up towers like that all the time. We had many methods of camouflaging them - we called them "Stealth towers". Frankenpines, Frankenpalms, and some really funky designs that we'd put on buildings that looked like they totally belonged there, or were undetectable from all but a few viewing angles.
My favorite was a type that we installed in parking lots - started as a one-off design but ended up becoming a whole batch run. Frankenficus. I doubt that one fooled many people. Used mainly outside of stadiums to add local capacity because they weren't very tall, so LOS was limited.
Harder to hide the smell I think.
More oil, less Prius drivers.
Interesting. They always tell you that there is no more production from the LA basin, but it's really because they hide the oil derricks.
I grew up in West LA. There were active wells scattered around the area, not disguised at all, with a big field in the Baldwin Hills. Some were on lots right on main streets. My parents owned a house in Culver City, and they got a small check monthly for oil that was pumped out from under their house from the Baldwin Hills field.
That reminds me of the neighborhood pump stations that are disguised to look like homes. http://wunc.org/post/video-whats-inside-house-wade-avenue#stream/0
@Kyzernick ... I think the pines and palms are the most common stealth cell towers. I'd love to see a fake ficus one! Do you have any pics? My son and I were driving to Vegas the other weekend and there was a row of Frankenpalms with little red aircraft warning lights on top ... sort of makes sense around Christmas time, but we were deep into January already.
If you drive North on La Cienega from LAX, you see all the oil derricks.
Those wells look Marhvelous. It's not how they pump, it's how they look in LA.
If you want an eye-opener, search for the underground drilling and pipelines that connect the few wells and pumping stations in the field. The potential for a leak is huge and all on the dime of the greens.
There is even a place there called the La Brea tar pits, where they leave the toxic goo out in the open for everyone to look at.
There are thousands of active oil wells in the L.A. area. Most of the pumpjacks and derricks operate in plain sight. This Atlantic article from 2014 shows many of them. It also shows additional photos of some of the "hidden" ones, only with wider angle shots that shows the context.
@Josephbleau the asphalt at La Brea forms from oil that seeps naturally from the ground. Oil has been seeping there for thousands of years. It's 100% natural.
That's not a well completion, it's a work-over rig. Also, it's proly over several wells drilled in all directions.
"The hidden oil wells of L.A."
An apt metaphor for all manner of secret activity in Hollywood.
@ Art in LA
No, all the pics and schematics I had were still on my corporate laptop when I returned it after finding a different job. I lost a lot of interesting pics when I turned in that laptop, including about 2 dozen pics from the tops of towers that various technicians sent me over the years. Some of the views were spectacular.
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