Oil Wells In Office Building Disguise

Los Angeles, California

If you've ever visited the La Brea Tar Pits, you know that Los Angeles sits atop a subterranean lake of petroleum. Oil and gas wells are hidden all over the city. Over 50 are disguised here, behind the walls of a fake skyscraper, at the Packard Well Site. The businesses along Pico Blvd, and the homes in the adjacent Mid-Wiltshire neighborhood, preferred to look at a beige, windowless office building, rather than at a bunch of oil wells.

Behind the facade, which is roofless, an oil derrick moves on tracks to tap the various wells. Thousands of gallons are pumped every year, helping fuel the vehicles of the mostly oblivious drivers who pass by.

The ersatz office building was a tourist attraction when it was completed in 1968. People could walk through its front doors, view an educational display in the lobby, and watch the pumps in action. Unfortunately, that open access ended years ago; the structure is now locked and gated. But someone still mows the outside grass, trims the hedges, and prunes the trees.