Carson History & Facts

Carson is a city in Los Angeles County, California in the suburban area of Los Angeles, located 13 miles (21 km) south of downtown Los Angeles and approximately 14 miles away from the Los Angeles International Airport. Incorporated on February 20, 1968, Carson is the newest municipality in the South Bay region of Metropolitan Los Angeles. As of 2019, it was estimated that the city had a population of 91,394.

The year 1921 marked the first drilling for oil at Dominguez Hill, on the northwest side of the Dominguez Rancho, site of the famous battle during the Mexican–American War called the Battle of Dominguez Rancho in 1846. The mineral rights to this property were owned by Carson Estate Company, the Hellman Family, the Dominguez Estate Company, and the Burnham Exploration Company of Frederick Russell Burnham. On September 7, 1923, Burnham Exploration partnering with Union Oil brought in the first producer on the site: Callender No. 1-A well at a depth of 4,068 feet (1,240 m) and 1,193 barrels per day (189.7 m3/d). Before long a number of refineries were up and running, with over 350 oil derricks, tank farms, and sprawling industrial complexes becoming a familiar part of the scenery. The principal leases were with Shell Oil Company and Union Oil of California and the first two wells were located west of Central Avenue and north of Victoria Street. Oil led to an increase in jobs in the community and a subsequent post-war population surge. An average of 300 barrels per day (48 m3/d) was produced from each of these wells through 1960.

In 2011, Shell was ordered by the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board to clean up the Carousel neighborhood after benzene and methane gas contamination was discovered, as well as soil and groundwater contamination.

Famous Peoples From Carson

Forest Whitaker

Forest Steven Whitaker (born July 15, 1961) is an American actor, producer, and director. He is also an advocate of Sustainable Development Goals appointed by Secretary-general of the United Nations.

Whitaker has earned a reputation for intensive character study work for films such as Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), Bird, The Crying Game, Platoon, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, The Great Debaters, The Butler, and Arrival. He has also appeared in blockbusters such as Rogue One: A Star Wars Story as Saw Gerrera and Black Panther as Zuri.

For his performance as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in the 2006 film The Last King of Scotland, Whitaker won the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Golden Globe Award, National Board of Review Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, and various critics groups' awards for a lead acting performance.

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