Oil Islands

In Long Beach, Calif., there’s a 42-acre oilfield — offshore, in plain view of tourists, port traffic and beach lovers — with 175-foot-high drilling towers and 1,100 wells that penetrate a vast underground. It may well be the most unique and beautiful oil drill site in America. To drill for oil within site of a major city and do it in a way that would please the residents was and is revolutionary.