Signal Hill residents who drive up to Hilltop Park on Sunday afternoons to catch the sunset and the oldies music are doing something most of them can't fully explain. The views are obvious. The vibe is real. But the reason this particular hill has a trail system, six interpretive viewpoints, public art, and one of the best unobstructed sightlines in Los Angeles County has almost nothing to do with city planning — and everything to do with a century of oil extraction that is, in several places along the path, still happening.
The walk from Discovery Well Park to Hilltop Park runs directly through an active oil field. The pump jacks are not decorative.
The Walk, Named
Great Runs maps the full circuit: start at Chittick Field, which has a running track and perimeter paths; exit into Jenni Rivera Memorial Park; connect to Signal Hill Park; then climb to Hilltop Park via the Panorama Promenade, with Discovery Well Park and Sunset View Park on the way back down. The city publishes a trail map for the full hilltop system.
The cleaner two-mile version, documented by Weekend Sherpa, starts at Discovery Well Park at the corner of Temple Avenue and East Hill Street, follows Panorama Road northwest past workout stations and interpretive signs, and arrives at Hilltop Park at 2351 Dawson Ave with views of downtown Long Beach, the Port of San Pedro, and Santa Catalina Island on clear days. Twenty-five-cent telescopes are mounted at the top. The trail is free and open from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
What most trail guides skip is what you are actually standing on.
What Happened Here in 1921
On June 23, 1921, the Royal Dutch Shell Oil Company spudded Alamitos No. 1 near the corner of Hill Street and Temple Avenue — the same corner where Discovery Well Park now stands. The well struck oil at 3,114 feet and blew in as a gusher. Within two days it was flowing 1,200 barrels per day.
By April 1922, ten months later, Signal Hill was covered with 108 wells producing 14,000 barrels daily. By 1923, 270 wells operated by 37 companies were pulling over 140,000 barrels per day. The hill became so dense with wooden derricks that people called it Porcupine Hill. The legs of adjacent derricks physically intertwined.
Before the strike, Signal Hill was being subdivided into residential lots. A landscape architect named Charles Deusner and his wife Helen Dupuy Van Pelt had drawn plans for an ambitious public park on the summit. On March 2, 1921, a local newspaper ran two side-by-side headlines: one pushing for the park, one reporting that oil drilling had begun. The park was never mentioned again. The planned green space became, within months, one of the most productive oil fields on earth. The families of people buried at Sunnyside Cemetery on Willow Street received royalty checks for oil drawn from beneath the grave plots.
What the Trail Is Actually Built Around
The American Oil and Gas Historical Society notes that Signal Hill's parks now contain commemorative art displays of the oil era. That is accurate but understates what is still present.
Along the Panorama Promenade, six viewpoints carry interpretive signs explaining the oilfield's history. The Unity Monument, honoring those killed on September 11, 2001, stands near the start of the trail. On Skyline Drive, a statue called "Tribute to the Roughnecks," dedicated on September 30, 2006, marks the labor that extracted more than one billion barrels from this hill since 1921.
The Alamitos No. 1 well at Temple and Hill is still producing. Pump jacks remain active on Willow Street between Cherry and California, and along California, Orange, and Walnut streets north of Willow. The oil infrastructure is not historical — it is operating, intermixed with the residential and commercial development that grew up around it over the past hundred years.
Signal Hill incorporated as an independent city in 1924, three years after the strike. It is the only city in the United States completely surrounded by another city, which is Long Beach. That geographic fact is a direct consequence of the oil boom: the city incorporated specifically to control its own oil revenues, including a city-owned municipal well that once produced $360 per day for the city's general fund.
Between 1913 and 1923, Hollywood filmed on Signal Hill, using its forest of derricks as backdrops in films featuring Buster Keaton and Fatty Arbuckle. In 1957, what many consider the world's first all-jazz radio station, KNOB (now KLAX), broadcast from a small studio at the top of the hill. The residents who moved back after the oil era quieted were settling a hill that had already been famous twice over.
Sunday at the Top
The Sunday evening ritual at Hilltop Park has no official sponsor. It organizes around Wax Syndicate, who host free oldies music sessions typically running 5 to 8 p.m. No tickets. No registration. Residents bring blankets and arrive early for the better spots. The 25-cent telescopes point west. The sunset from the Promenade blankets downtown Long Beach, the port, and Catalina in orange light, and after dark the city lights are worth staying for on their own.
Food trucks and ice cream trucks appear regularly but without a fixed schedule. Parking at Hilltop Park is limited; street parking on Skyline Drive works, but arriving before golden hour is the practical move for anyone who wants a picnic table.
The Summer Concert Calendar
The city runs a separate, structured series: Concerts in the Park, held Wednesday evenings in July and August at Signal Hill Park on Cherry Avenue. It is free, family-friendly, and sponsored by the Signal Hill Community Foundation. Past lineups have included a Fleetwood Mac tribute, Motown nights, and the band Cold Duck. Food trucks rotate each week.
Doors open at 6 p.m. for the Voice of Signal Hill, a live singing competition for local teens. The concert begins at 6:30 p.m. The Community Foundation arranges free rides for residents with a Signal Hill address — call Parks, Recreation and Library Services at 562-989-7330. The 2026 lineup has not been announced as of March 2026, but the series has run annually for years without interruption.
Through March 31: The City Photo Contest
The City of Signal Hill is running a community-wide photo contest through March 31, 2026, open to residents of all skill levels. The prompt is open: capture the essence of Signal Hill. The Panorama Promenade at sunset, the pump jacks still turning on Willow, the long view to Catalina through a 25-cent telescope — all of it qualifies.
Signal Hill runs about 11,000 residents across three square miles. The walk from Discovery Well Park to Hilltop Park takes under an hour. What it covers is a century of industrial history, public art, still-active extraction, and a Sunday evening habit that needs no Wi-Fi and costs a quarter.
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