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Mitchell, E. D. (audio interview #1 of 1)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This single interview was conducted in the offices of the Mitchell Land and Improvement Company on a side street, among oil supply, service and equipment businesses, in Signal Hill. The outside of the building blended into its neighborhood, but the inside was nicely decorated. The interviewer felt somewhat familiar with him although she had never before met him. She had grown up living across the street from one of Mitchell's cousins and, when she arrived for the interview, was struck by how much they looked alike; this familiarity also informed some of her questions. Mitchell seemed comfortable during the interview and seemed to enjoy telling stories about the oil business in the old days. 8/16/1998
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- 2020-12-17
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- *** File: peedmitchell1.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-0:08)... Brief introduction (0:08-3:02)... Mitchell's father worked in the oil industry beginning 1905 or 1906 in Taft, California. From 1911 to 1916 he worked in Mexico drilling oil wells for E. L. Doheny. He left Mexico due to political unrest and went to Texas were he was not very successful. So his father returned to Taft in 1916 and married. Mitchell was born in 1918. His father was involved in the 1920 oil workers strike in Kern County. The workers lost the strike, but as a result of his involvement in the strike, his father couldn't get a job with any major oil company. His family moved to a ranch in Livingston, California were they stayed until they moved to Long Beach in 1923; oil had been discovered on Signal Hill 2 years earlier and his father decided to come here since he was familiar with work in the oil fields, (3:02-4:14)... The Kern County strikers closed the Ridge Route between Los Angeles and the central valley in 1920. The refused to let the oil well owners import "scabs" to take their jobs and break their strike. Replacement workers had to come from San Francisco on the railroad to Bakersfield. (4:14-6:32)... His father grew up in Missouri. When he was 18 he went to Oklahoma, which was Indian territory in those days, where he worked on ranches. Then he went to Texas where he worked on the XIT ranch. Later he and his brother made a land claim in New Mexico; Mitchell still has that 160 acres which is now good for nothing except grazing. From there, he went to Taft, California and became involved in the oil business. (6:32-11:22)... The first place Mitchell remembers living in Long Beach was off 6th Street near where Wilson High School and the Colorado lagoon were at the time of the interview. There used to be a city dump there. His father bought a service station on Cherry and Willow and started a contract drilling business with 3 other men called Four Drillers. In 1925 or 1926 his father and uncle started Coast Supply Company. They got the salvage rights to some wells in the Salt Lake oil field in west Los Angeles and went into the used oil field equipment business. They salvaged all the equipment that they could sell and "somehow the rest of it caught on fire." This happened quite often. They kept the business until 1970. (11:22-15:52)... While operating Coast Supply, his father got involved in the oil production business having as many as 50 to 60 wells operating at one time in Long Beach, Huntington Beach, Wilmington and Santa Fe Springs. At the time of the interview, he was pretty much out of the oil production business, except for collecting royalties Now he's in the land business. He remembers old names and buildings that are now gone from Signal Hill. There's a street named for Jessie Nelson. Mitchell used to have a warehouse nearby. R.R. Bush came to Long Beach from the midwest and got into oil drilling and production. His father taught Freeman Fairfield and John Phillips about the oil supply business which they later took up themselves. The said that he "taught them real good." A. S. Johnson was involved in the oil production business. (15:52-20:02)... He attended schools in Long Beach and Signal Hill including Roosevelt, Los Cerritos and Burnett grammar schools, Washington Junior High, and Poly High where he graduated in 1936. In 1928 his family moved to San Antonio and Pacific where he still lived at the time of the interview. As a child he remembers returning home from Orange County and seeing all the lights on the derricks in Signal Hill. And he remembers he could see downtown Los Angeles from the top of Signal Hill. (20:02-22:32)... There were not many homes in Long Beach at that time. On the corner of Walnut and Willow, during the Depression, there was a bootleg place run by Mike Spencer who later owned Mike's Restaurant in Hawaiian Gardens. His place in Hawaiian Gardens was built about 4 feet off the ground because it flooded frequently there. Oil wells used to blow out frequently because there was a lot of natural gas underground with oil. (22:32-26:42)... He was at a friend's house when the 1933 Long Beach earthquake occurred. There was some damage to a house across the street. His home had a little damage and he recalls camping out overnight following the quake. The Navy sent sailors out for protection. The Bixby Knolls area was developed but there were few houses north of them. Primarily there were hay fields. There was damage to Poly High from the earthquake and classes where held in tents. (26:42-30:36)... His first job was working as a pumper for his father. This job entailed oiling the walking beams and checking the belts, water level, oil level, engine and oil bearings. Along with other workers, he washed his clothes using the steam from the engines that ran the oil wells. He also worked in a production gang servicing oil wells. The first time he worked on a steel derrick, he was going into high school. He went up in the derrick, about 70 feet above the floor. His job was to strand on a standing on a 2' x 12' and rack the pipe. He later attended Stanford and graduated in 1942. End of tape *** File: peedmitchell2.mp3 (0:00-2:19)... In October 1945 Mitchell's father died and he took over the business. He still owns the land where his father's equipment yard was located. Now it has warehouses on it. The office building where the interview is taking place was built in 1933 by Hamer Valve Company, which made valves for oil refineries. He has a sentimental attachment to it because he's know it all of its life, although he didn't build it himself. (2:19-7:49)... He did not see a lot of change in the city following WWII, but as oil production declined more and more oil wells were abandoned. Cities of Long Beach and Signal Hill started condemning derricks and derricks were removed. Although he was born into the oil business he did not really care for it. He incorporated a land company in 1945. In 1955 there was a flurry of drilling in Huntington Beach and big supply companies forced smaller companies out of the business. Bigger companies offered to help finance oil drilling but Mitchell refused to finance those "counterfeit rascals." Since he didn't enjoy oil supply business, he moved into the land business. (7:49-11:06)... Signal Hill was the first oil field drilled with rotary tools. Cable tools weren't used on Signal Hill but he rented cable tools to water well drillers San Diego and Mexico. In Sespe, oil well drillers used rotary tools to drill down to the oil sand and then used cable tools to drill into the sand. Some of the tools are just as good as they were 50 years ago. (11:06-12:08)... There are oil supply businesses on Signal Hill, like the one run by John Phillips who died just a few months before the interview, that are still doing business in places like Texas, Alaska, Oklahoma, and even Nevada. There was a good well that came in near Elko recently. (12:08-17:44)... Mitchell's father bought a quarter block of land in Long Beach in 1947 on which he built a successful retail complex with a dress shop, an optometrist, a flower shop and lawyers' offices. Later they acquired and ran a hotel until he made it into a parking lot. Mitchell traded for a beautiful building on Ocean and Linden that was designed by a European refugee. The building has a special storage room for furs. Fidelity Federal and Safeway had land leases with Mitchell at the time of the interview. The city has condemned some of his land and taken some of his land for downtown redevelopment. In 1958 he built a shopping center on Alondra and Lakewood. (17:44-21:56)... He bought and developed land in Signal Hill in addition to Long Beach. He regrets selling some of his property because its value has gone up some much recently. He had a marginal oil lease called the Painted Hills lease, but decided not to abandon it just to make someone else rich. Mitchell didn't want to own residential property, so he worked with Signal Hill realtor, Thelma Stevens, who picked up 22 lots in the area of the lease and offered them for sale. She'd made quite a few commissions by arranging for him to buy property. He didn't want to pay her again, so he offered her 2 lots in place of a commission and soon that property was worth $100,000. (21:56-25:45)... In 1955 he drilled a well on 17th Street in Huntington Beach; at that time he bought a few 25 foot lots and sold them for double the amount he paid thinking he had made a real good deal. Now that property is worth $60,000 to $70,000. He owns a block in Huntington Beach on the bluff. He had bought the lots for $1200 on the bluff. He bought two lots from May Gardner whose family owned XLNT Tamales; she was difficult to work with. (25:45-29:35)... When he started building in Signal Hill, the city didn't play a very large role in his work. Many times the city didn't require people to have complete plans when they started buildings and permits were received in 3 or 4 days. Oil inspectors in the early days were oil men, unlike today when the city hires "some punks" who has just read a book. He got involved in the Long Beach Mounted Police in 1946 through the elder Frank Vessels. (29:35-30:31)... At the time of the interview, he held Badge #1 which goes to the man who has been in the Mounted Police the longest. He's not very active any more although he has always been interested in horses. At one time, he owned a ranch. End of tape *** File: peedmitchell3.mp3 (0:00-0:10)... Brief identification (0:10-1:11)... He raised and bred Arab and Quarter horses. He spent his first 2 years of college at the New Mexico Military Institute where he was part of the cavalry. When he went on the Stanford, he joined the horse drawn artillery. (1:11-2:01)... Bob Maxfield had a wrecking yard on Cherry. Then he built a new place on Burnett. His wife, Virginia, was raised near where his office was located at the time of the interview. She has a good memory and would be a good person to be interviewed for this project. (2:01-5:15)... Mitchell belonged to the old Pacific Coast Club, the Virginia Country Club and Long Beach Rotary. He is a charter member of the Petroleum Club and recalls the club first being on the second floor above Rickard's restaurant. Early members played gin rummy at a cafe, possibly at the Green Shack. In the 1930s Sis Aston operated a cafe called the Lady Catherine just north of Poly. End of tape
- SUBJECT BIO - E. D. Mitchell grew up in the oil business. He took over his father's oil field supply and production business and responded to changes in the oil business and his own preferences, by shifting the emphasis of the business from oil to real estate. He incorporated Mitchell Land and Improvement Company and continued to increase and develop its holdings. In this single interview, Mitchell talks about growing up in Long Beach and recalls stories about how his father and his contemporaries operated in the early days of the Signal Hill boom. During summer vacations, Mitchell worked on drilling and producing oil wells. Later he graduated from Stanford and served in World War II before returning home take over the family business. He observed and participated in changes in the oil business. The interview was part of a project to document the history of Signal Hill. TOPICS - oil industry; family background; Kern County; Coast Supply Company; Los Cerritos school; Depression; 1933 Long Beach earthquake; and Long Beach Polytechnic High School;oil industry; family background; Huntington Beach, California; Signal Hill, California; real estate business; and Long Beach Mounted Police;oil industry; horses; and Long Beach Petroleum Club;
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