The Future of Small Town California Part IV: Avenal

Aired on The California Report evening magazine on March 18, 2011.

http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R201103181630/d

With a reporter's notebook:

http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R201103181630/dx

In 1929, oil was discovered in the Kettleman Hills -- and the nearby town of Avenal was born. But by the 1960s, the oil business dried up, and Avenal struggled to find a new economy and identity. They found one, but in an industry most towns had previously shunned: a prison.