A Look Back

Jerry Person

Many of our early citizens were in some way or other connected with

Huntington Beach’s rich oil history. Some worked with their hands and

others with their minds. These men and women worked for Chevron,

Associated and others were independent oil operators. Their jobs ranged

from being the president of the company to being an well roustabout.

This week we will be looking at the life of a pioneering civic and oil

leader, William Alison Greer.

Al, as he was known to his friends, was not a native Californian. He

was born in the small town of Florence just west of Pittsburgh, Penn., on

a cold January day in 1875.

His parents were farmers and when Greer was 10 his father Joseph moved

his family to Derrick City, Penn., where he got a job in the nearby oil

fields.

Greer received his basic education in the nearby town of Gilmore and

afterward went to work in the same Pennsylvanian oil fields.

He moved to sunny California in 1900 and settled in the coal producing

town of Coalinga near Kettleman City just off of Interstate 5.

When he arrived in Coalinga he became employed by the Whale Oil

Company as an oil prospector.

I guess he was very good in his work for in the next five years

Coalinga became one of the biggest oil fields in California history.

In 1906 he went to work for the Tidewater Associated Oil Company and

just two years later was made a superintendent of drilling and

development for the company.

During this time Greer joined and became a charter member of

Coalinga’s Masonic Lodge.

He stayed in the central California region until 1922 when Associated

Oil transferred him to the company’s Huntington Beach oil fields. At that

time these were Associated’s Amalgamated Oil and Miley-Keck Oil

companies.

In the early 1920s Huntington Beach was a wide open town and the oil

flowed fast and steady along with its bootleg liquor.

During these early days Greer brought in wells that were producing

between 3,800 to 4,500 barrels of oil a day.

Huntington Beach was sure a major player in the oil industry.

During this time he was married to Ethel Aline.

Their family lived at 922 10th St. in the Downtown area.

Greer received a special commendation from Associated for his

excellent executive abilities and in November of 1937 Greer retired from

the company to lead an active civic life.

When World War II came to Huntington Beach and rationing was a thing

of the day, Greer was made chairman of the rationing board that doled out

allotments of sugar, meat, gasoline and what ever was being rationed.

Remember the A1 sticker in your car’s window or the blue and red

tokens for meat and sugar?

Greer was so good at rationing that when his duties were concluded,

the Chamber of Commerce and many of the townspeople paid homage to him

with a large testimonial dinner.

Greer was a lifelong member of our local Chamber of Commerce.

He was a member of the Huntington Beach Rotary Club for 34 years and

also served as its president.

He had joined the Coalinga Masonic Lodge #387 in 1904 and when he came

here transferred to our lodge in Huntington Beach.

In 1956 our Masonic Lodge #380 presented Greer with a 50 year pin.

He was also associated with the Scottish Rite and El Bekal Shriners.

Couldn’t find out if he drove one of those little cars in our Fourth

of July parade though.

But for more than 50 years he was a member of the Eastern Star and for

30 years a member of the peace officers of Orange County.

His active life came to an end on Dec. 13, 1957. Huntington Beach lost

one of its distinguished citizens.

* JERRY PERSON is a local historian and longtime Huntington Beach

resident. If you have ideas for future columns, write him at P.O. Box

7182, Huntington Beach, CA 92615.