History of Palm Plantings In Los Angeles

[Hillizard]

Why Are There Palm Trees in Los Angeles? (Turn out it's an image thing.) https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/why-are-there-palm-trees-in-los-angeles

 

[Mangosteen]

Several of the Three Stooges shorts were filmed outdoors in early Los Angeles. Its interesting to see the small Washingtonia street palms that were planted around LA at that time shown in these movies.

[PalmTreeDude]

Every time an article says palm trees are not native to California, I cringe. I know it is only one palm that is native, but please list it! Other than that, I really enjoyed the article. 

Edited July 7, 2018 by PalmTreeDude
Typos

[Hillizard]

In the article the author wrote "[t]here is a single species of palm native to the entire state of California, the California fan palm [Washingtonia filifera]... " But he was in error to report that naturalized W. robusta were "the tallest palms in the history of the world..." That botanical honor clearly belongs to Ceroxylon quindiuense.

[PalmTreeDude]

8 hours ago, Hillizard said:

In the article the author wrote "[t]here is a single species of palm native to the entire state of California, the California fan palm [Washingtonia filifera]... " But he was in error to report that naturalized W. robusta were "the tallest palms in the history of the world..." That botanical honor clearly belongs to Ceroxylon quindiuense.

Oops, missed that! Well, I guess I'll just say that other comment is for other articles that don't mention it. 

Edited July 7, 2018 by PalmTreeDude
Typos

[Mangosteen]

History of early southern CA palms

https://www.kcet.org/shows/lost-la/a-brief-history-of-palm-trees-in-southern-california

[Hillizard]

1 hour ago, Mangosteen said:

History of early southern CA palms

https://www.kcet.org/shows/lost-la/a-brief-history-of-palm-trees-in-southern-california

Great companion article. Thanks for sharing it!

Both Jason Dewees and Jeff Searle, among others, contributed to this article in Landscape Architecture: "There's A Palm For Just About Any Place You're Planting" https://landscapearchitecturemagazine.org/2018/07/05/palms-out/

[Mangosteen]

This palm is said to be the oldest palm in the Los Angeles area. It was transplanted originally from a desert oasis sometime in the middle of the 19th century. It was transplanted a couple of times before it was finally planted where it is today on September 5th, 1914.  One can see it in all its glory near the L A Coliseum ( 501 Exposition Drive.) 

[GottmitAlex]

L.A. has a wonderful palm history.

From the naturalized Robustas to the fake Coconuts at the Grove. 

However:

https://nypost.com/2017/10/02/las-palm-trees-are-dying-and-they-wont-be-replaced/

 

[gyuseppe]

in a film from the 80s of the last century, when the Cold War , some US secret agents had to enter an embassy in East Germany, the embassy building was full of palm trees Phoenix and Washingtonia  ans some syagrus,so the film was shot in los angeles,
it was a good quality film, but the authors made a big mistake, they did not know that there are no palms in East Germany?

[PalmatierMeg]

11 minutes ago, gyuseppe said:

in a film from the 80s of the last century, when the Cold War , some US secret agents had to enter an embassy in East Germany, the embassy building was full of palm trees Phoenix and Washingtonia  ans some syagrus,so the film was shot in los angeles,
it was a good quality film, but the authors made a big mistake, they did not know that there are no palms in East Germany?

They either did not care or believed viewers would never notice. Way back in the 80s I remember watching an ad for the miniseries "Backstairs at the White House" where the cast was marching across what was supposedly the lawn at the White House. In the background was a panorama of Washingtonia robusta. I almost fell out of my chair laughting. I was born in Washington, DC and lived in that area for 40 years. Washies are way too cold sensitive to ever grow in Washington.

[John in Andalucia]

An interesting article, if not interspersed with at least one glaring factual error:

The British tried it too, in a place called Torbay, although even in the far south of England it’s just not warm enough for palms to really thrive. 

[Palmaceae]

I have seen a lot of movies supposedly filmed in Florida with Washingtonia's in the background along with mountians! We are flat landers here 

[Mangosteen]

Here's a summer photo of Oak Street Beach in Chicago. Cheap palms trucked up from Florida for the 3 to 4 months of summer and grown as "annuals".

Edited July 9, 2018 by Mangosteen

[Rickybobby]

41 minutes ago, Mangosteen said:

Here's a summer photo of Oak Street Beach in Chicago. Cheap palms trucked up from Florida for the 3 to 4 months of summer and grown as "annuals".

This is to bad. I get that commercially there is a market. But so many years of care and time to waiste 

[Matt in OC]

1 hour ago, Rickybobby said:

This is to bad. I get that commercially there is a market. But so many years of care and time to waiste 

I loved seeing Adonidias and Hyophorbes in Manhattan (!) last summer. It was such a cool effect and keeps growers in business. 

[PalmatierMeg]

9 hours ago, Mangosteen said:

Here's a summer photo of Oak Street Beach in Chicago. Cheap palms trucked up from Florida for the 3 to 4 months of summer and grown as "annuals".

I bet beachgoers love it. I know I would if I lived there. It may be hard to understand but Adonidias and even some cultivars of coconuts are relatively dirt cheap here, so relatively cheap for venues to ship north. Sad they have to die in the next few months but Adonidias are weedy here so shipping them outta here can be a service to the environment.

[Mangosteen]

12 hours ago, PalmatierMeg said:

I bet beachgoers love it. I know I would if I lived there. It may be hard to understand but Adonidias and even some cultivars of coconuts are relatively dirt cheap here, so relatively cheap for venues to ship north. Sad they have to die in the next few months but Adonidias are weedy here so shipping them outta here can be a service to the environment.

But I see a few Bottle Palms. Are they cheap in FL, too?

[PalmatierMeg]

11 hours ago, Mangosteen said:

But I see a few Bottle Palms. Are they cheap in FL, too?

Relatively cheap too. They used to be very rare. We got our first in the mid-90s as a 1g in the Keys while on a trip to Key West. I thought I'd won the lottery.

[hbernstein]

On ‎7‎/‎8‎/‎2018‎ ‎9‎:‎46‎:‎20‎, Mangosteen said:

Here's a summer photo of Oak Street Beach in Chicago. Cheap palms trucked up from Florida for the 3 to 4 months of summer and grown as "annuals".

 

[hbernstein]

I moved from Chicago in the summer of 2016. By then, the restaurant had stopped using palms to provide that "Margaritaville" look.

Obviously the palms were no longer cheap enough.