Palm Trees in Los Angeles, Fireworks in the Sky

I was recently visited by my girlfriend from Illinois who had never left the midwest. Shocking, I know. Despite picking her up from LAX at 11:00pm she was floored and excited by, what else, palm trees. She stuck her head out of the window like a puppy and gawked at the shadows of the tropical giants. I more than understand her excitement as palm trees symbolize vacations, hot climates, and exotic locales. The next day we drove around and hit the beach so we could see the palms in all their glory, setting the perfect background with the waves as we took our picture.


While she was in town I had remembered reading an article that palm trees weren't actually native to southern California. Gasp. I found the article.
I put it at the bottom.

As it turns out, there is one species of palm native to California. The California Fan Palm. This sad looking excuse for paradise that needs a trim. However this tree didn't exist along the coast. It only grew near naturally occurring oasis's in the desert areas.


The palms I remember reading about were the Date Palms. These were brought over by Spanish Franciscan and Jesuit missionaries to California in 1769. And later in the early 1900s, date palm seedlings were brought from Egypt, Algeria and Iraq. The date palm joins roughly a few hundred species of other palms that were brought over from the east coast, Asia, Mexico, etc.

Upon further reading, I got really bummed out. In the coming years California will be pretty devoid of palm trees. Here's why:


Because palms produce neither shade nor marketable fruit, they are a completely ornamental tree. They simply make people feel like they're living a Jimmy Buffett song. Which is fine by me.
These palm trees were originally planted in 1931 as a "beautification process" and as unemployment relief fund. This $100,000 program employed 400 workers to plant 40,000 palm trees, and many of these palms are still alive. But they are approaching the end of their lifespan. 

The LA Department of Power and Water has indicated that they will not be replaced with more palms since they require lots of water and are not fit for this desert region. You may have to travel just a bit farther to see palms in the future.


http://www.kcet.org/updaily/socal_focus/history/la-as-subject/a-brief-history-of-palm-trees-in-southern-california.html

http://www.metafilter.com/110578/A-Brief-History-of-Palm-Trees-in-Southern-California