Wednesday, July 4, 2007

No. 41 - 114 Deodar Trees

144 Deodar Trees


114 Deodar Trees
1932
White Oak Avenue, between San Fernando Mission Boulevard and San Jose Street, Granada Hills - map
Declared: 8/3/66

My guess is not all 114 deodar trees on both sides of this eight-block stretch of White Oak Avenue collectively designated as a Los Angeles landmark remain after forty years, but I wasn't about to count the existing ones to make sure. My time is dear.

114 Deodar Trees

When John Orcutt, superintendent of the dairy farm and citrus orchard known as "Sunshine Ranch", was overseeing the planting of these Himalayan trees in 1932, Granada Hills was celebrating just five years of existence as 'Granada'. (According to this Department of City Planning site, 'Sunshine Ranch' was renamed 'Granada" eighty years ago today, July 4, 1927, and then changed to 'Granada Hills' in 1942. It also says Orcutt planted the trees in 1933, not 1932.) It's now a community of more than 60,000 people and home to this group of more than a 100 of these distinguishing Cedrus deodara trees.

144 Deodar Trees

114 Deodar Trees

144 Deodar Trees

These cedars, together with the variety of distinctive trees on the side streets throughout the area, give the neighborhood a decidedly non-Southern California feel.

144 Deodar Trees

114 Deodar Trees

Up next: San Antonio Winery
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4 comments:

  1. Peter GenoveseDecember 15, 2008 at 11:14 PM

    As a sidenote, one of the most famouse scenes in the classic blockbuster movie E.T. - The Extra Terrestrial, was filmed on White Oak St which is where most of these Deodar Trees are located.

    I was born and raised in Granada Hills so I am very familiar with the area. Here's a screenshot of the scene in ET with the trees seen in the background: http://images.allmoviephoto.com/1982_E.T._The_Extra-Terrestrial/2002_e_t_the_extra_terrestrial_005.jpg

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  2. Floyd B. BariscaleDecember 15, 2008 at 11:32 PM

    What a great piece of information to know. Seriously. Thanks, o2thx.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Peter GenoveseDecember 16, 2008 at 9:16 AM

    Oh, and by the way, for those who are really curious, the spot where that E.T. scene was filmed was on White Oak Ave, right around the Tulsa St. area.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousJuly 8, 2015 at 2:55 PM

    Does anyone have a pic of these trees covered in Snow? it happened many years ago, and a realtor sent a pic to GH residence years ago... but I sadly lost mine. THANKS :)

    ReplyDelete