In the 1890s Crown Hill was the epicenter of a massive oil boom. Miners Edward L. Doheny and Charles A. Canfield bought a $400 lot at Colton Street and Glendale Boulevard. They purchased it from the Witmer family, which at that time owned 650 of Crown Hill's 900 acres.
According to legend, Doheny had seen a cart with wheels that were coated in tar. When he asked the man where the substance had come from, he pointed to the northeast, in an area called Crown Hill. Forty days later, in November 1892, Doheny and Canfield struck oil by using a 60-foot eucalyptus tree as a drill. The boom was on.
By 1897, the once quiet Crown Hill neighborhood was overrun with promoters, drillers and more than 500 chugging and wheezing derricks. Gingerbread houses and neatly trimmed gardens were quickly transformed by homeowners and leasing companies attempting to turn their backyards into pay dirt.
A local music teacher, Emma Summers, was one of the most successful investors in the first years of the initial boom, and by 1900, Summers controlled half the production in the original Los Angeles Field. For obvious reasons, Summers became known as "California's Petroleum Queen."
A local music teacher, Emma Summers, was one of the most successful investors in the first years of the initial boom, and by 1900, Summers controlled half the production in the original Los Angeles Field. For obvious reasons, Summers became known as "California's Petroleum Queen."
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