Extracting property values and oil: Los Angeles’ petroleum booms and the definition of urban space in the twentieth century

Oil extraction began in the City of Los Angeles in the 1890s and continues to this day. A series of oil booms contributed to the city’s explosive growth in the early twentieth century. Because oil drilling was so dangerous, however, Los Angeles residents and city officials tried repeatedly to regulate oil exploration near homes and businesses. This article explains how oil drilling influenced Los Angeles residents’ understanding of property rights, how damage to residential property in the 1930s finally enabled city officials to pass and enforce limits on oil drilling, and then, how mobilization for World War II undermined those limits.