Photo credit: Stuart Guest-Smith
If you’ve visited Exposition Park in the last hundred years or so, you may have overlooked one of LA’s most unassuming luminaries. Yet, just in front of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum stands the oldest of the palm trees in Los Angeles. Or perhaps we should clarify the oldest known palm tree in LA. If age ain’t nothin’ but a number to you, then perhaps you’ll find it more impressive that this desert fan palm has likely moved around more than any of the city’s palms. A truly spectacular feat for something that doesn’t have feet. Officially dubbed the Historic Palm Tree of Los Angeles, much of its life will forever remain a mystery. But you can still visit it while time does its best to catch up to this ancient icon.
Born and Raised in LA
Many of the palm trees that pepper LA are invasive species. Yet, there is one native among the bunch: the Washingtonia filifera or California fan palm. And the oldest palm tree in LA just so happens to be a California fan palm that started its life in the wild. As suburbs grew around 1850, developers uprooted the palm to serve as landscaping. Integrated into the lawn of a home on San Pedro Street in a neighborhood that would become Little Tokyo, it looked like any other native palm, radiating LA’s budding sense of the exotic. But as that aesthetic fully bloomed, so did the fate of the Historic Palm Tree of Los Angeles.
Symbols of Ramona
On this blog, we’ve talked at great length about the Ramona-mania that gripped the U.S. in the late 1800s. For those unfamiliar, let’s run through a quick refresher. In 1884, author Helen Hunt Jackson published her novel Ramona to national acclaim. Its popularity ignited an obsession with the era of Mexican colonialism, and tourists came en masse to see the frontier lands where it all happened.
With LA quickly becoming an ambassador for this exaggerated fantasy of the Western frontier, few symbols could sell the dream quite like the exotic palm tree. And with the Southern Pacific Railroad serving as most travelers’ portal into this exaggerated world, it became imperative to ensure a palm tree was among the first visions greeting arriving tourists.
The Arcade Palm
In 1888, planners selected the tree that brought its storied beauty to San Pedro Street from all of the palm trees in Los Angeles for the honor of greeting arriving tourists at the brand-new Arcade Depot, LA’s Southern Pacific Railroad station located on Alameda between 4th and 5th Street. At this point, experts estimate the tree was somewhere between 65 and 75 years old. By placing it at the entrance of Arcade Depot, designers elevated the tree to celebrity status long before the movie industry filled the city with stars.
When tourists disembarked from their tiring journeys, this veritable god amongst Los Angeles palm trees delivered on a promise. The romanticized version of the western frontier they sought was here. Angelenos even began referring to it as the “Arcade Palm” because of its prominent placement at the station.
Parking Its Stem at Exposition Park
However, the palm’s career as a railroad ambassador didn’t last long. At least considering its lifespan. By 1914, Arcade Depot had closed to make way for the nearby Southern Pacific Central Station. Rather than discard the legendary palm tree among the ruins, the powers-that-be relocated it to the newly opened Exposition Park. Up until that point, the area was known as Agricultural Park.
On September 5, 1914, it was planted in a spot that’s been the subject of debate. No one can say for certain if planners moved the oldest of the Los Angeles palm trees around the park or if they immediately settled on the spot where it continues to reside today. But, at some point, it ended up in front of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (though the Coliseum wouldn’t be built until 1921).
The Wounds That Only the Tree Remembers
Yet, with all that we know about the alleged oldest of the Los Angeles palm trees, an immense amount of its story is still left to mystery. For example, you’ll instantly notice that the trunk thins a bit toward the upper center. That’s most likely due to the drought that ravaged Southern California in 1947. But what about the tree’s numerous scars? What about the odd nail that blemishes its coarse skin?
While we can’t cover up the wounds of its past, the gardeners in charge of the tree’s well-being have taken a gentler approach to its maintenance in recent years. Rather than using tree climbing spikes during frond removal, they simply use a cherry picker platform. But with the tree now standing at over 100 feet, it’s still an ordeal.
Visiting the Oldest of the Los Angeles Palm Trees
If you’d like to see this legend among Los Angeles palm trees for yourself, simply head to Exposition Park. The Historic Palm Tree of Los Angeles can be found along Exposition Park Drive just in front of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. If you still have any doubts, just look for its commemorative plaque. Palm trees typically don’t live as long as this one, estimated to be around 180 years old. It’s lived through Spanish, Mexican, and American authorities, and, if it holds on for four more years, it will have witnessed three Olympic games. Whether it’s truly the oldest palm tree in LA or not, that’s worthy of respect.
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