Signal Hill, California

Encyclopedia : S : SI : SIG : Signal Hill, California

Signal Hill is a small city (2.2 mi², 5.8 km²) in Los Angeles County, California that is completely surrounded by the city of Long Beach. As of 2005, the city population was 10,951. The city was incorporated on April 22, 1924, roughly three years after oil was discovered on Signal Hill.

The city once shared three different postal ZIP codes with Long Beach, but in July 2002, the City of Signal Hill received its own ZIP code, 90755. It is in the 562 area code. It is in the 4th Supervisorial District of Los Angeles County, with Don Knabe the current Supervisor. Signal Hill is in the 37th Congressional District of the U.S. Congress, represented by Congresswoman Juanita Millender-McDonald (D). It is in the 27th California State Senate District, represented by Alan Lowenthal, and the 55th California Assembly District, represented by Betty Karnette.

For sixteen years, Signal Hill contracted for their fire protection services from the City of Long Beach. On November 6, 2003, Signal Hill returned to Los Angeles County Fire Department protection as Station 60 (Battalion 9). [link]

Signal Hill (aka "Porcupine Hill") on May 1, 1923 ([media])

Contents

1 History
2 Miscellaneous information
3 Geography
4 Demographics
5 Education
6 Business
7 See also
8 External links

History

The hill that the city is named after is 365 feet (110 m) above the surrounding community of Long Beach. Because of this height, it was used by the local Tongva Indians for signal fires that could seen throughout the surrounding area, and even out to Catalina Island, 26 miles (42 km) away.

After the Spanish discovered Alta California (Northern California), Signal Hill eventually became part of a 300,000 acres (1,200 km²) land grant given to a soldier, Manuel Nieto, by King Carlos III of Spain in 1784 (later reduced to 167,000 acres (676 km²) in 1790).

Between 1913 and 1923 an early California movie studio, Balboa Amusement Producing Company, also known as Balboa Studios, used 11 acres (45,000 m²) on Signal Hill for outdoor locations. Buster Keaton and Fatty Arbuckle were two of Balboa Studio actors who had films shot on Signal Hill.

Before oil was discovered in Signal Hill, there were homes built on the hill itself, and in the lower elevations was an agricultural area where fruits, vegetables, and flowers were grown. Many of the truck farmers were Japanese.

Signal Hill changed forever in the early 20th century when oil was discovered; the hill would soon become one of the most productive oil fields in the world. On June 25, 1921, Shell Oil Company's Alamitos #1 well erupted. The gas pressure was so great the gusher was 114 ft (35 m) in the air. Soon Signal Hill was covered with over 100 oil wells and was known as "Porcupine Hill".

The city was incorporated on April 22, 1924. Among the reasons for incorporating was avoiding annexation by Long Beach with its zoning restrictions and per-barrel oil tax. Signal Hill's first mayor, Jessie Nelson, was also California's first female mayor.

One of the city's more colorful residents was the boxer Kid Mexico (real name, Tod Faulkner) who was the state's bantamweight in 1914 (at age 14—he had lied about his age) and the state's welterweight champion in 1925. He put his earnings into businesses and real estate in Signal Hill, including a gambling hall (which included keno) across the street from his 8 lane bowling alley. He also owned a bingo parlor and restaurant. He was known for his large annual Christmas party with presents for children from Signal Hill and Long Beach, and handing out candy to kids (the local children called him the "Candy Man"). Besides his bowling alley, he also had a single lane for bowling in his nearby home.

In 1975 the first professional Street luge race was held at Signal Hill, but by 1978, the races were canceled because of injuries to racers and spectators. There also used to be a Model T Hill Climb up Signal Hill. The Long Beach chapter of the Sierra Club does conditioning hikes twice a week in Signal Hill.

Today, many of the oil wells and Nodding donkey oil pumps are gone, although some remain. Signal Hill is now a mix of residential and commercial areas.

Miscellaneous information

In the 1920s and early '30s, before he became a writer, Raymond Chandler worked in Signal Hill running the offices of the Dabney Oil Syndicate.

Upton Sinclair's 1927 muckraking novel "Oil!" (written while Upton Sinclair briefly lived in Long Beach) was inspired by the oil boom in Signal Hill and the oil scandals of the Harding administration including Teapot Dome. (ISBN 0-520-20727-0)

The five story collection "Signal Hill: Stories" by Alan Rifkin includes one novella, "The Idols of Sickness", that involves Signal Hill. (ISBN 0872864243)

Signal Hill is often used as a reference point for pilots flying in the Long Beach Municipal Airport area.

Geography

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Signal Hill is located at [33°48′7″N, 118°10′14″W]^{[Geographic references#1GR1]}.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 5.8 km² (2.2 mi²), all land.

The city is surrounded on all sides by the city of Long Beach, California.

Demographics

The 2005 population according to the State of California's Department of Finance is 10,951 [link].

As of the census^{[Geographic references#2GR2]} of 2000, there were 9,333 people, 3,621 households, and 2,096 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,615.9/km² (4,182.0/mi²). There were 3,797 housing units at an average density of 657.4/km² (1,701.4/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 45.48% White, 12.99% African American, 0.59% Native American, 16.49% Asian, 2.08% Pacific Islander, 16.18% from other races, and 6.19% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 29.00% of the population.

There were 3,621 households out of which 31.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 36.8% were married couples living together, 14.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.1% were non-families. 30.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.56 and the average family size was 3.34.

In the city the population was spread out with 26.4% under the age of 18, 9.1% from 18 to 24, 35.3% from 25 to 44, 22.0% from 45 to 64, and 7.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 97.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.1 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $48,938, and the median income for a family was $46,439. Males had a median income of $41,487 versus $36,460 for females. The per capita income for the city was $24,399. About 13.6% of families and 17.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 31.1% of those under age 18 and 3.9% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Signal Hill is served by Long Beach Unified School District.There are three elementary schools within the city limits, Signal Hill Elementary, Juan Bautista Alvarado Elementary School and Burroughs Elementary School (with a Teacher Resource Center adjacent to the Burroughs campus). Because of the irregular shape of the city, some students in Signal Hill may go to other schools within the LBUSD, such as Butler School, a K-8 school.

High school students usually go to Long Beach Polytechnic High School (usually referred to as Long Beach Poly) or Long Beach Wilson Classical High School, and community college students go to one of the two nearby campuses for Long Beach Community College.

Recently there has been a rocky relationship between the City of Signal Hill and the LBUSD, especially after the school district located the short-lived (1998-2001) Preparatory Academy alternative middle school within the city limits without consulting the city. In 1999, the city council looked into trying to secede from the LBUSD, but they never went further with those efforts. The biggest problem for secession proponents is that the city is too small according to the California State Board of Education's criteria for new district formation, and may have troubles meeting some of the other criteria.

Signal Hill Elementary School has earned the California Achieving Schools Award, and the National Achieving Schools Award. Signal Hill and Alvarado are both California Distinguished Schools.

Business

Signal Hill benefits from its location roughly in the center of the city of Long Beach, the second largest city in Los Angeles County and the fifth largest in California. Both the San Diego Freeway and Pacific Coast Highway runs through the city, and the city is very close to the Long Beach Municipal Airport and not too far from the Port of Long Beach.

Many small, family-owned businesses prosper along the stretch of Pacific Coast Highway that runs through Signal Hill due to the large volume (over 60,000 vehicles per day) of commuter traffic that flows through the city coming from the suburbs of Orange County in the south, through the Long Beach Traffic Circle, to jobs in the South Bay area of Los Angeles County. ^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}

With the changes that resulted from Proposition 13, local sales tax revenue became much more important to the finances of California cities. Signal Hill has been very successful in attracting large retailers to the Town Center Mall, as well as attracting several auto dealers to the Signal Hill Auto Center.

Large retail stores in Signal Hill include Costco, Home Depot, PetSmart, Office Depot, Office Max, Food 4 Less and Target. Home Depot recently opened a second store in Signal Hill (in December 2005), with their original Signal Hill store specializing in servicing building contractors. Office Depot also has a Business Service Division with part of the business in Signal Hill and the rest in Long Beach. In January 2006, Toys "Я" Us announced they were closing their Signal Hill store along with several others, but Best Buy has announced they are purchasing the site.

The Signal Hill Auto Center near the San Diego Freeway includes Nissan/Daewoo, Mercedes Benz, Mazda, Honda, Hyundai, Chrysler/Jeep, Dodge, Buick/Pontiac/GMC, and BMW/MINI/BMW motorcycles dealers.

Because of the close proximity to the Long Beach Municipal Airport, Signal Hill has a number of business that are associated with the airport, including DHL. Since there are still working oil wells in Long Beach and Signal Hill, the city still has several oil industry-related companies, such as Signal Hill Petroleum and Schlumberger.

The HMO Universal Care is headquartered in Signal HIll.

Because Signal Hill is a small city completely surrounded by Long Beach, several of the business in Signal Hill have Long Beach instead of Signal Hill in their name.

External links

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