AN OIL BOOMTOWN NAMED FOR THE SPANISH WORD FOR TAR
Brea
3
companies
$185.3M
total raised
Fintech, Industrials
top industries
A bit of history
"Brea" is Spanish for tar, named for the natural asphalt seeps Gaspar de Portolá's expedition reported in the area in 1769. Union Oil Company bought 1,200 acres here in 1894, and its first well, Olinda No. 1, struck oil in 1898, kicking off a boom that made the Brea-Olinda oil field responsible for roughly a fifth of the world's oil output over the next 25 years. The city incorporated on February 23, 1917, built directly on that oil-money foundation.
Sources: Brea, California, La Brea Tar Pits
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