ONE YEAR AGO DEPT.
Before choir practice in Santa Monica one night, I turned down La Mesa Drive, north of San Vicente, and found an accidental paradise. Apparently the story is that these trees were sold to the developer as magnolias — which are excellent street trees for SoCal. But they turned out to be these majestic ficuses, imports from Australia, outsized giants with a prodigious thirst. One of the oldest and most famous of these trees is in the courtyard of the Miramar Hotel (remember folks?) The story is that an Australian sea captain had no money to pay his tab at the rooming house, and so gave the fig to the alewife in payment. It’s possibly true — the Long Wharf at Santa Monica might indeed have attracted an Australian merchantman in the 1880s. Anyway here is the LA TImes feature on the trees. It seems as rain-forest dwellers, they want a bit of help from the homeowners to thrive in our dry climate. But if anyone can afford to nurture exotic trees it’s the Santa Monicans; and thrive these trees certainly do.
As a feat of urban arboriscaping, now 100 years old, the street is marvelous. As the article says, these trees have had to make their own microclimate to survive. Haven’t we all?
https://latimesblogs.latimes.com/home_blog/2009/09/stately-morton-bay-fig-is-worth-a-look.html
The Valley Village View 