Beverly Hot Springs | |
---|---|
Oxford Hot Springs Beverly Hills Hot Springs | |
Location | Koreatown, Los Angeles |
Coordinates | 34°04′35.8″N118°18′27.5″W / 34.076611°N 118.307639°W |
Elevation | 300 feet |
Type | geothermal |
Discharge | 250,000 gallons per day |
Temperature | 105 °F (41 °C) |
Beverly Hot Springs is the only remaining natural geothermal hot spring within the center of the city of Los Angeles. It is located between Beverly Hills and downtown Los Angeles on what is now Oxford Avenue. [1]
The spring was used by the local Indigenous people prior to settlement of the area. [2] In 1769 the Portolá expedition passed through this geographic area and noted the quantity of water sources, from springs to streams and marshes. [3]
The hot spring was discovered by oil drillers in 1910, [4] when a well was drilled in the area. [2] [5] This occurred prior to 1915, when the first water mains were developed in Los Angeles. [6]
At the beginning of the 1920s, the Los Angeles leadership began the process of filling-in wetlands and burying natural sources of water – including hot springs – as an effort to promote real estate sales. [3]
After re-discovery in 1931, the mineral water was bottled and sold for drinking under the name "Wonder Water" and was claimed to be "Natures own formula," until just after World War II. [7] It was sold for ten cents per gallon, and was claimed to have healing properties that could resolve "acidity and kindred troubles." [6]
In 1984, a thermal spa was established at the site [7] by Yang Cha Kim, a Korean doctor of Oriental medicine and her husband. Later the property turned over to another owner. [2]
In 2023, KCRW radio reported that plans are in the works cap the artesian thermal spring source and to demolish the spa facility to build a housing development. [2] An organization was formed, the Save Beverly Hot Springs Alliance, to designate the springs as a protected historical site. [8]
The natural artesian hot spring water emerges from the aquifer located at 2,200 feet below ground. [1] It is cooled to a range of 96 °F (36 °C) to 105 °F (41 °C) into several tile-lined soaking pools. [5] The hot spring water temperature is 105 °F (41 °C). [1] The water discharges at a flow rate of 250,000 gallons per day. [4] [9] The alkaline water [6] has a mineral content of aluminum oxide, iron, magnesium carbonate, silica, sodium bicarbonate, sodium carbonate, sodium chloride, and sodium sulfate. [10]
Beverly Hot Springs is located in the Koreatown neighborhood of Los Angeles. At one time, this area contained numerous hot springs. [3]
The Széchenyi Medicinal Bath in Budapest is the largest medicinal bath in Europe. Its water is supplied by two thermal springs, one at 74 °C (165 °F) and the other at 77 °C (171 °F).
Waiwera Hot Pools is a hot springs system located in the small coastal village of Waiwera, just north of Auckland, New Zealand. They were known to the Māori people for centuries before being developed. In the 1960s and 70s overproduction and overpumping of the geothermal aquifer led to significant loss of pressure and desiccation of the springs in the late 1970. A decade later the thermal springs began to recover, although the system has not returned to the former artesian conditions.
Bimini Baths was a geothermal mineral water public bathhouse and plunge in what is now Koreatown, Los Angeles, California, US. It was situated just west of downtown, near Third Street and Vermont Avenue. Bimini Baths contained a natatorium, swimming pools, swimming plunge, Turkish baths, a medical treatment department, and bottling works.
Summer Lake Hot Springs are natural hot springs at the south end of Summer Lake in south-central Oregon. They are artesian mineral springs with four surface sources. The springs have complex water chemistry. The temperature of the main source is approximately 123 °F (51 °C) with a water flow of approximately 20 US gallons (76 L) per minute. Over the years, the site has been developed as a rustic family bathing and relaxation resort. The hot springs are 124 miles (200 km) southeast of Bend, Oregon, near the small town of Paisley, Oregon.
Ojo Caliente Hot Springs is a group of thermal springs located in Taos County, New Mexico, United States. They are also known as the Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs. These hot springs were used by native New Mexicans for many years. In the late 19th century the springs began to be developed for therapeutic use for several ailments, including tuberculosis.
Desert Hot Springs is a geothermal geographic area in Riverside County, California with several hot springs. Since 1941, the California Department of Conservation has recorded approximately 200 geothermal wells that have been drilled in this geographic area; approximately 50 of which are used for commercial spas and pools.
Baranof Warm Springs are a series of ten geothermal mineral springs located in the small community of Baranof Warm Springs in Sitka, Alaska. The springs are surrounded by the Tongass National Forest.
Big Caliente Hot Springs are a grouping of thermal mineral springs located in the Los Padres National Forest of California.
Truth or Consequences Hot Springs is a thermal spring system located in the Hot Springs Artesian Basin area of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico in Sierra County.
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Hot Well Dunes is a hot spring in the San Simeon Valley of Arizona, located on BLM land southeast of the town of Safford.
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Radium Sulphur Springs, located on the north side of Melrose Avenue between Larchmont and Gower Street in Los Angeles, California, U.S., was an early-20th-century hot spring that resulted from an unsuccessful attempt to drill 1,500 feet (460 m) for oil. "Discovered" in 1905 and opened as a spa by G. P. Gehring in 1908, the owners claimed that the water was radioactive, germicidal, and blood purifying. The supposed radioactivity of water was advertised as "liquid sunshine" and was part of the larger radium fad of the early 20th century. The spa was located in Colegrove, an electric-railway stop and associated community just south of Hollywood.
Encino Hot Springs are historic thermal springs located at the site of Siutcanga village, a settlement of the Tongva-Kizh people of the area now known as Southern California. It was used by several tribes of Indigenous peoples for thousands of years. Later, after settlement, the artesian springs were used as a water source for Rancho Los Encinos in what is now the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles County, California. In the 1880s it was a rest stop on the Butterfield Stagecoach route. The springs are located in the modern-day Los Encinos State Historic Park.
Soboba Hot Springs are a historic hot springs and resort in Riverside County, California, United States. The springs issued from the side of a steep ravine "with narrow, precipitous sides, and the rock exposed is largely a crushed gneiss...the thermal character of the springs is due to crushing and slipping of the rocks". The Soboba Hot Springs resort was adjacent to the reservation of the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians. Soboba means hot water in the Luiseño language.
Montecito Hot Springs is a thermal spring system and former resort locatedwithin the Los Padres National Forest approximately 5 miles northeast of Santa Barbara, California.
Gaviota Hot Springs is a geothermal feature in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. The two pools are accessible from the Gaviota Peak trail in Gaviota State Park. Gaviota Hot Springs is sometimes called Las Cruces Hot Springs or Sulphur Springs. The hot springs lie within the Hot Springs Creek watershed, near the junction of U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1.
Camas Hot Springs, also known as Big Medicine Hot Springs, is a group of historic hot springs in Hot Springs, Sanders County, Montana, United States.