Santa Monica City Hall: Junipers Last Days

In October 2011,  I wrote at some length of the lost fight to save Santa Monica's magnificent, sculptural Juniper trees- see Link.   Sadly, in the next few days these trees will be gone.  The four trees flanking the entrance now have the dreaded red-taped "Tree Removal Notification" attached to them:

This means they will be cut down- it being declared their roots are too intertwined with the structure of the building to re-locate them.  The two trees towards the sidewalk will be re-located to a new park that is being built.  Thus a wonderful city image will be lost- these fantastic, wild, dark silhouettes against the very elegant white Art Deco (or Deco Moderne) Landmarked building, to be replaced by a nondescript landscape design.  Here are some images of what we are losing:

Apart from the visual impact of the Junipers, they are valuable environmentally, being evergreen, drought tolerant and sustainable. Their replacements will be deciduous pollarded Western Sycamores...

Although yesterday I joined fellow Treesavers in a demonstration to mark the removal of these trees, we were unable to make an Appeal to save them, owing to a clause in the new Urban Forest Master Plan (which I, among others, objected to at meetings).  This states that: "Tree removal appeals do not apply to trees that have been identified for removal as a part of a City initiated public improvement project as defined in the Urban Forest Master Plan".

Apart from the loss of the Junipers, I find it hard to understand the designer has been permitted to replace with a "water feature" the Rose Garden that leads up to the entrance .  This was planted by the Gold Star Mothers on Armistice Day in 1951- in memory of local men killed in the 2nd World War.  One redeeming fact is that the roses are going to be given away (following in the steps of Treesavers' "Tree-for-all") this Saturday.

Junipers: Santa Monica City Hall

I have long been an admirer of Santa Monica City Hall. This Landmarked building was built in 1938- 1939. It is described as Deco Moderne, a cross between Art Deco and Art Moderne and seems to me to be an archetypal town hall. An elegant geometric white structure, detailed with rich terracotta tiles, its facade is wonderfully contrasted with the dark green, exotically sculptured shapes of Juniper trees on either side of the entrance. Two more Junipers act as sentries when you enter the grounds. The whole effect is both grand and iconic.

Here it is: but alas not for long!




Now, apart from being so decorative, these evergreen Junipers are drought-tolerant and having been there since the late 40's could carry on helping the environment for another 100 years. So what does the City Council do? agree to get rid of them!

This is all to do with a wondrous new plan, a redesign of the landscaping to complement and connect to the planned new Palisades Garden Walk. I am extremely puzzled: are we not in a financial crisis, are there not countless unemployed and homeless people? Is this the time to redesign a beautiful, stately design? And with what? a nondescript, bit of urban design- regardless of being by James Corner, a designer of repute. The layout has no stature, no character:



Yes, they have included more trees- pollarded Western Sycamores- and a boring water feature replaces the Memorial Rose Garden. The Rose Garden may not have been stunning but at least it was made up of living flowers, rather than a series of familiar spurts of water.

However, the design has finally been approved by the City, after an appeal regarding stipulations by the Landmarks Commission, which were overthrown. I attended this meeting on October 25th, trying with other Treesavers to save the Junipers. The Landmarks Commission had wanted to retain the planters which housed the Junipers and also the original red brickwork of the steps, which continued as a pattern round the paving, connecting the building to the courtyard:


James Conner, however, wanted to remove the handrail on the ramp on the Southern approach. This entailed extending the ramp to a shallower gradient. To maintain the symmetry, he wanted to repeat this on the North side - this meant removing the Junipers. The brickwork he regarded as incompatible with the new materials- therefore it, too, must go.... A rather odd solution to the patterns of bricks on the courtyard was to score demarcation lines where they had been! One Councilmember, Kevin McKeown, made a stand for both the Junipers and the brickwork- but receiving no back-up joined in voting to accept the plans...

The four Junipers against the facade cannot be transplanted as they are too interwoven with the fabric of the building, but the plan is to relocate the other two.

What a tragedy- to lose six magnificent, valuable trees and a wonderful, iconic landscape...and what a waste of money...

Hollywood Junipers Destroyed:

May 5th, and I still have a lot of catching up to do...

A month ago, on April 5th, Santa Monica City Council yet again sanctioned the destruction of healthy, useful trees for "design" purposes- this time 45 Hollywood Junipers- so named because they have been very popular and successful in the area.

When I first came to Santa Monica I was immediately attracted to photograph these crazy trees (described by one person as "Drama Queens"!), their dark green colour and mad misshapen, sculptural shapes making a great visual note in an urban setting.

These particular ones bordered Reed Park's tennis court on Wilshire Boulevard, between Lincoln and Seventh Street and I always enjoyed walking past them. However, the powers that be decided to re-design the park and this involved the removal of the trees, in spite of the fact that they are drought tolerant as well as environmentally invaluable- and have a life expectancy of 300 years! They were to be replaced by vines growing up the tennis court fence.

When Santa Monica's Treesavers learned of these plans they immediately took action, gaining the support of the local Wilmont Neighborhood Group as well as many individuals. City Hall's reaction was to say that these trees were a threat to pedestrians who found them "spooky", providing shelter for homeless people. Apparently, the trees obscured visibility of the tennis courts and area from the police- which seemed strange, as they were high upon a bank, with a clear view of the courts between their trunks...Next, it was decided that the Cities' own severe pruning had made them lose their structural integrity...



Although the battle was lost, at least the City climbed down in that it asked the Designers(!) if three trees could be incorporated in the design. This was a agreed, and 3 out of 48 trees were spared. Regardless that this was a nesting time for birds, the 45 Junipers were felled on April 5th...by Santa Monica, Tree City USA, in the Year of the Forest...

I just cannot get my head round this: every day we are made aware of the necessity of our tree canopy to fight global warming and yet every day City Councils all over the World- for no good reason- destroy them.



And who can seriously think that a few vines climbing up this fence will compensate for the loss of the Junipers?


First 4 photos taken by Cosmo Bua and 5th by Monica Mejia