Family Dental Plus — Dental Care for Signal Hill, CA
Signal Hill is a self-governing city of 2.19 square miles, completely enclosed by Long Beach on every side — the only independent municipality sitting entirely within Long Beach’s city boundaries. Its 11,848 residents (2020 census) live on a hill that stands 365 feet above the surrounding flatlands, with a city government shaped entirely by oil.
Signal Hill is a self-governing city of 2.19 square miles, completely enclosed by Long Beach on every side — the only independent municipality sitting entirely within Long Beach’s city boundaries. Its 11,848 residents (2020 census) maintain their own city government and their own services. The hill at the center rises 365 feet above the surrounding flatlands of Long Beach, and on clear days the summit parks offer sightlines to the Santa Monica Mountains, downtown Los Angeles, and the Pacific coast.
The Oil Discovery That Defined the City
The hill earned its modern identity on a single dramatic morning. On June 23, 1921, at 9:30 a.m., Royal Dutch Shell’s Alamitos Well No. 1 — drilled under field leader O.P. “Happy” Yowells and spudded on March 23 of that year — struck oil at roughly 2,765 feet. Pressure drove the blowout 114 feet into the air. The find grew fast: within ten months of completion, 108 wells covered the hill and produced 14,000 barrels daily. By the fall of 1923, nearly 300 wells were yielding 259,000 barrels of crude every day, and that year alone the field produced more than 68 million barrels — making it, measured by barrels per surface acre, the richest oil field on earth.
The physical density was startling enough to earn a lasting nickname. Within two years of the discovery, more than 250 rigs crowded roughly 500 acres, their timbers standing so close they nearly touched. Photographs from 1922 and 1923 showed a skyline that looked almost absurd, and the label “Porcupine Hill” stuck immediately.
An Independent City Born From the Oil Boom
In 1924 the hill sat in unincorporated Los Angeles County, fully surrounded by Long Beach, which levied a per-barrel tax on oil production. On April 22, 1924, Signal Hill’s founders voted to incorporate as an independent city expressly to avoid that tax. More than seven decades later, Signal Hill became a charter city on November 7, 2000.
Alamitos Well No. 1 was designated California Historic Landmark No. 580 on May 1, 1957. The state landmark marker stands at the northeast corner of Temple Avenue and Hill Street, and the City of Signal Hill has created Discovery Well Park on the surrounding site.
Schools and Higher Education
Signal Hill Elementary School, located at 2285 Walnut Ave and serving grades K–5, enrolled 599 students in 2024–25 as part of the Long Beach Unified School District. The American University of Health Sciences — a private institution established in 1994 — operates its campus at 1600 East Hill Street. AUHS holds full accreditation from WSCUC, with the most recent commission action dated November 19, 2024, and awards bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in health sciences fields.
Dental Care for Signal Hill Residents
Family Dental Plus has served the communities along this stretch of the South Bay and Harbor area for years. Signal Hill residents are true neighbors: a short drive from the hill connects you to our office and to the same team that Long Beach families, Torrance residents, and others nearby already rely on for routine and more involved care.
Our dental services cover general and preventive care — cleanings, exams, X-rays, and fillings — alongside restorative and cosmetic work for patients of every age. We keep insurance and financing as straightforward as possible, because consistent dental care for the whole family should not be complicated to access.
To confirm that your plan is accepted or to ask about appointment times, the contact page is the fastest way to reach us. Families in the surrounding communities we also serve will find more information on our Long Beach and Torrance pages.
Sources
This page is general information about our practice and the communities we serve. It is not dental advice, and it is not a description of any specific treatment outcome. Please speak with us about your own situation.
Last reviewed October 1, 2026.