Olinda Oil Museum

Olinda -- "Where the heck is Olinda?" That's what I thought when I drove past a sign, pointing the way to the Olinda Oil Museum & Trail.

Olinda was once as booming oil town in the city of Brea, and was established in the1890s (which is old for us Southern Californians). At the time, the hillside was spotted with pumpjacks, drilling as far as 8,000 feet below the surface. The Olinda Oil Museum is part of a 12-acre preserve.

The Olinda Oil Well #1 (not pictured) was drilled in 1897 and is still in service. The Olinda Museum claims Old #1 is the longest continuously-running oil pump in Southern California. It was nothing to look at so I replaced it with another, more interesting rig on the left.

The car pictured above is a classic, Ford Model T, and is part of the museum. But that's a different subject for another time.