Museums, historic locations, and other oddities in California.
West Kern Oil Museum 1168 Wood St, Taft, CA 93268 Taft, CA 93268 Driving past the orchards, stockyards, and oil wells of central California, it seems only natural to come across the expansive yard of retired oil derricks and other oilfield equipment that greets any visitor to the West Kern Oil Museum. The West Kern…
Kern County: Rich in Oil and History Kern County has been a major oil hub since oil started being extracted back at the turn of the 20th century. Even before wildcats began drilling for black gold, Native Americans had been using the black, sticky material that seeped out of the ground to waterproof baskets and…
Nestled in the middle of a block of industrial buildings in Santa Fe Springs is a time capsule of ranching and oil life from the yearly twentieth century. The Hathaway Ranch & Oil Museum is 5 acres of historic buildings and artifacts from the Hathaway family’s work in cattle ranching, water, and oil drilling. Artifacts…
The Olinda Oil Museum & Trail spans 12 acres and preserves the first (and still) operating Olinda oil well, a records vault, a yard of old equipment, and the operation’s field house, which now houses a small museum open on Sunday’s and Wednesdays. The museum is located in present day Brea, a city named from the spanish word…
In the heart of Los Angeles is one of the most popular and notable deposits of oil that bubbles to the surface as the La Brea Tar Pits. Like the city of the same name, Brea refers to the spanish word for natural asphalt or tar. The Land The land was part of a Mexican…
The California Oil Company Museum is an educational and historic site located in the Union Oil Building in Santa Paula, California. Displays span subjects from oil history, its uses, the development of oil drilling technology, and the companies that distributed it. The museum is open to the public with a suggested $4 donation per person….
