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This native Angeleno has finally seen one too many palm trees.
Granted, it has been awhile since I have lived elsewhere. Maybe I'm overdue. But some palm trees are just out of place, and for those we're starting a photo series here I'll call Ridiculous Palm Trees. Occasionally we'll highlight a palm that stands out, even in this city of misplaced Washingtonia and Phoenix. Such as the specimen above, growing out of the side of the Herald Examiner building on Broadway.
Not all palms in Los Angeles are ridiculous, of course. There is the city's oldest palm tree, possibly:
(By the way, Jared Farmer — whose new book Trees in Paradise: A California History is a wonderful exploration of the state's iconic trees, posted last week on the spot south of Downtown where the old-timey photographers used to go to shoot the pictures of palm trees that formed so much of the early Los Angeles image propaganda.)
These palms outside the Mar Vista fire station on Venice Boulevard aren't really so bad:
I'm more likely to still abide palms of the Canary Island date variety or similar, and appropriate to the scale. This tree in front of the attractive Morgan, Walls and Clements building on Wilshire that houses La Fonda, the mariachi restaurant, and the Hayworth Theatre works for me.
I don't mind some of the mature trees in Elysian Park.
Even this fan palm that stands with the Wilshire Christian Church has its charm, in context.
But I'm tired of palms placed as uncreative skyline, such as on Van Nuys Boulevard, below. From now on, when I see one that I feel is ridiculous, I'll post it. If you have nominations, send them along.
Noted: San Francisco has its own ridiculous palm trees, such as these that conjure an odd and unwelcome Miami vibe on the waterfront outside of AT&T Park.
