Los Angeles: Hollywood, palm trees and urban oil fields For most outsiders, Los Angeles is all about Hollywood, palm trees and sunny skies. But the huge metropolis that is home to nearly four million people is also the largest urban oil field in the country. Hundreds of active oil wells sit in densely populated and mostly low-income neighbourhoods of the county, butting up against schools, homes, parks, shopping malls or cemeteries. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES