# The irony of the Beverly Hillbillies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 16, 2023, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-irony-of-the-beverly-hillbillies/979921 "2023-02-16T22:25:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2023, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-irony-of-the-beverly-hillbillies/979921/21 "2023-02-17T13:57:02Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Wasn’t there actually a Beverly Hillbillies episode where Jed found some bubbling crude on his property in Beverly Hills and he was all like, “here we go again”…? Yes. But that time, he punctured an underground pipe. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2023, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-irony-of-the-beverly-hillbillies/979921/22 "2023-02-17T14:05:42Z")
Sounds like a Maverick episode. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2023, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-irony-of-the-beverly-hillbillies/979921/23 "2023-02-17T14:28:23Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Having grown up out there then, the oil pumps were everywhere, sometimes in large fields and sometimes just a solo behind a cyclone fence next to the rest of suburbia. It was just part of the landscape, no more noteworthy than the palm trees. Yes, I remember these from my one and (regrettably) only trip to California around Labor Day 1967. I should have moved there when I had the chance ten years later. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2023, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-irony-of-the-beverly-hillbillies/979921/24 "2023-02-17T15:09:59Z")
Pumpjacks (we called them “horsies”) were omnipresent growing up in Southern California in the 1960s and 70s. Most in my area occupied beachfront property that multimillion dollar homes now occupy. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2023, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-irony-of-the-beverly-hillbillies/979921/25 "2023-02-17T15:11:20Z")
[![](https://www.ocregister.com/wp-content/uploads/migration/nfb/nfbt37-b88261878z.120141119230400000ghv6cfai.60.jpg?w=620) ](https://www.ocregister.com/wp-content/uploads/migration/nfb/nfbt37-b88261878z.120141119230400000ghv6cfai.60.jpg?w=620) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2023, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-irony-of-the-beverly-hillbillies/979921/26 "2023-02-17T15:11:41Z")
Lots of pumps still around. Beverly Hills High School, for example. > **[Hollywood-Worthy Camouflage: Uncovering the Urban Oil Derricks of Los Angeles...](https://99percentinvisible.org/article/hollywood-worthy-camouflage-uncovering-the-urban-oil-derricks-of-los-angeles/)** > > Standing over 150 feet tall, the so-called Tower of Hope on the campus of the Beverly Hills High School started as a bland concrete spire, and was later covered with colorful art. To a casual observer, its purpose is shrouded in mystery — why build... ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2023, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-irony-of-the-beverly-hillbillies/979921/27 "2023-02-17T15:30:15Z")
This quote from that article was interesting, “By 1930, California was responsible for a quarter of the world’s oil output.” ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2023, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-irony-of-the-beverly-hillbillies/979921/28 "2023-02-17T17:00:17Z")
I was curious as to what these are. Maybe gravel pits? [https://goo.gl/maps/TvUgKQF2FicPCbQv5](https://goo.gl/maps/TvUgKQF2FicPCbQv5) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2023, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-irony-of-the-beverly-hillbillies/979921/29 "2023-02-17T17:02:18Z")
Yep. Lots of gravel pits out in the IE. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2023, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-irony-of-the-beverly-hillbillies/979921/30 "2023-02-17T19:44:58Z")
@Elmer_J.Fudd: I spent many a happy teen afternoon not far from where you’re standing holding that postcard. Good times. ---
**Author:** ![mtnmatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a3d4f5/32.png) [@mtnmatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mtnmatt)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2023, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-irony-of-the-beverly-hillbillies/979921/31 "2023-02-17T20:54:40Z")
When we were on a two-day house-hunting trip in advance of a corporate relocation from metro NY back in 2007, we saw what was left of this pumps in HB and decided to look elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2023, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-irony-of-the-beverly-hillbillies/979921/32 "2023-02-18T23:43:42Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > As little kids it was always fun to see the “**[donkey pumps](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumpjack)**” nodding up and down, and disappointing to drive by one that wasn’t moving. > [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Pumpjacks (we called them “horsies”) We called them oil cows. And, of course, El Segundo (the second) was the second Standard Oil refinery on the West Coast. We lived nearby, and whenever we drove through El Segundo, we’d flop around on the car floor, holding our noses, and yelling about the stink. It wasn’t good, but it wasn’t quite that bad. I know there was a derrick on BH High school grounds when a friend of mine went there. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2023, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-irony-of-the-beverly-hillbillies/979921/33 "2023-02-19T00:57:02Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > … whenever we drove through El Segundo, we’d flop around on the car floor, holding our noses, and yelling about the stink. Was this before or after you came to the fork in the road? 🤣 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-irony-of-the-beverly-hillbillies/979921.md?page=1)