On December 14th, 1963, in the small unincorporated area of Baldwin Hills near Culver City, the 292 million gallon Baldwin Hills Reservoir cracked and emptied in less than an hour and a half. The aftermath left more than $12 million dollars in damages, 5 people dead, and hundreds of houses and apartments destroyed in the watery rampage. It also cause a water shortage for more than 100,000 people for a short time.
Following the investigation the source of the failure was found to be the result of the years of oil drilling in the area that had caused a shift in the Newhall-Inglewood Fault. Subsequently, the reservoir was filled and landscaped with plants that were the gifts of foreign nations in the 1984 Olympic Games.