EcoWatch: The story of the rise and fall of Edward Doheny, the first oil baron of Southern California, would seem the archetype of a LA noir tale: A man rises from rags to riches and presents a veneer of respectability to the outside world, but behind closed doors lurks corruption, even violence. Elaborate stagecraftHollywoods specialtyhides the machinery and political machinations that fuel what boosters like to call progress. A kind of prosperity veils danger. Heres how the story goes:
In 1892 Doheny,...