The oldest [1] palm tree in Los Angeles is in Exposition Park, where it has survived for more than a century following its transplanting on September 5, 1914. [2] It may be the most-often-moved palm in the city. [3]
The Washingtonia filifera fan palm now on Exposition Park Drive just off Figueroa Street sits at the West 39th Street 34°00′51″N118°17′00″W / 34.014041°N 118.283257°W intersection.
It started life in the suburban wilds until it was uprooted and moved, probably to San Pedro Street between 2nd and 3rd streets in the 1850s. [4]
It was chosen in 1889 to be moved to a featured spot in front of the entrance to Arcade Depot, the Los Angeles station for the Southern Pacific Railroad, situated on Alameda Street between 4th and 5th Streets. [5] As one historian recalls: [6]
"It made the city’s first impression on tourists and transplants disembarking at the station, a sign that they had reached the promised land of sunshine after a long journey west."
A quarter of a century later, newspapers were describing the Arcade Depot as "ancient" and "unsightly and inadequate", [7] so Southern Pacific moved its operations to Central Station in 1914 and the Arcade Depot was history. The tree some called the "Arcade Palm" found a new home in Exposition Park.
Since Exposition Park (known as Agricultural Park until it was renamed in 1913) [8] was not complete in 1914, and the construction of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum was yet to come, it is uncertain whether the tree was moved to its present location in 1914, or whether it spent time elsewhere in the Park. [9] Whatever its exact journey, despite a "dent" a little more than halfway up its trunk, perhaps due to the 1947–1950 drought or some other environmental assault, the tree — now 100 feet (30 m) tall [6] — has flourished over three centuries and remains healthy. To reduce stress on the tree during frond removal, landscapers at Exposition Park now use a cherry picker as opposed to harmful tree climbing equipment that could leave additional pock marks in the tree's stem. [10]
Palms is a community in the Westside region of Los Angeles, California, founded in 1886 and the oldest neighborhood annexed to the city, in 1915. The 1886 tract was marketed as an agricultural and vacation community. Today it is a primarily residential area, with many apartment buildings, ribbons of commercial zoning and a single-family residential area in its northwest corner. As of the 2000 census the population of Palms was 42,545.
Washingtonia is a genus of palms, native to the southwestern United States and northwest Mexico. Both Washingtonia species are commonly cultivated across the Southern United States, the Middle East, southern Europe, and North Africa, where they have greatly hybridized.
Exposition Park is a 160-acre urban park (65 ha) in the south region of Los Angeles, California, in the Exposition Park neighborhood. Bounded by Exposition Boulevard to the north, South Figueroa Street to the east, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to the south and Vermont Avenue to the west, it is directly south of the main campus of the University of Southern California.
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Abbot Kinney was an American developer, conservationist, water supply expert and tree expert. Kinney is best known for his "Venice of America" development in Los Angeles.
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Palms station is an elevated light rail station on the E Line of the Los Angeles Metro Rail system. The station is located over the intersection of National Boulevard and Palms Boulevard in the Palms neighborhood of Los Angeles, after which the station is named.
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The Los Angeles Pacific Railroad (1896−1911) (LAP) was an electric public transit and freight railway system in Los Angeles County, California. At its peak it had 230 miles (370 km) of track extending from Downtown Los Angeles to the Westside, Santa Monica, and the South Bay towns along Santa Monica Bay.
Central Station was the Southern Pacific Railroad's main passenger terminal in Los Angeles, California. It was formerly on Central Avenue at Fifth Street, in eastern Downtown Los Angeles. The primary hub for Southern Pacific's passenger operations in Southern California, it was served by the Sunset Limited, Coast Daylight, Golden State, and other named trains. The station replaced the company's previous Los Angeles terminal, Arcade Depot, and was often referred to by the name of the older facility.
Owensmouth was a town founded in 1912 in the western part of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California. Owensmouth joined the city of Los Angeles in 1917, and was renamed Canoga Park on March 1, 1931. Owensmouth was named for the 1913 Owens River aqueduct's terminus in current Canoga Park.
The Arcade Depot was the main Southern Pacific Railroad passenger railway station of Los Angeles, California between 1888 and 1914. It was located on Alameda Street, between 5th and 6th Streets. This station consolidated intercity services at a location closer to Downtown Los Angeles than the previous terminal, the San Fernando Street Depot.
River Station, earlier known as the San Fernando Street Depot and later commonly referred to as old River Station, was a Southern Pacific Railroad passenger station location, southwest of the Los Angeles River and north of Downtown, in Los Angeles, California. The original building served as the company's primary Los Angeles terminal until the opening of Arcade Depot in 1888. A rebuilt station would continue to operate as a passenger stop until 1915 when it was retained for freight and storage. The location for both stations was at the Southern Pacific's Los Angeles freight yard, at the north end of present-day Chinatown in Central Los Angeles. It was demolished in 1940, though the site is noted within "The Cornfield" section of Los Angeles State Historic Park.
The Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad was Southern California's first railroad. Its 21-mile (34 km) line from San Pedro Bay to Los Angeles was built from 1868 to 1869 and began operations on October 26, 1869. The railroad was the brainchild of Phineas Banning and its primary purpose was to transport freight from the port to the city.
The Third and Townsend Depot was the main train station in the city of San Francisco for much of the first three quarters of the 20th century. The station at Third Street and Townsend Street served as the northern terminus for Southern Pacific's Peninsula Commute line between San Francisco and San Jose and long-distance trains between San Francisco and Los Angeles via the Southern Pacific's Coast Line. For service for destinations to the north, such as Seattle, and destinations to the east, such as Chicago, passengers generally needed to travel to Oakland, initially on ferries to Oakland Long Wharf, and later on buses to 16th Street Station. It was demolished in the 1970s and replaced by the Caltrain commuter station a block away at Fourth and King Streets.
Salt Lake Station was a railway station in Los Angeles, California. It was located on the east side of the Los Angeles River at 1st Street. It was built by the Los Angeles Terminal Railway and began service in 1891, becoming a part of the Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad in 1901 and the Union Pacific Railroad system in 1921. Local streetcar service was provided by the Los Angeles Railway. The building was heavily damaged in a fire in 1924, prompting the railroad to move passenger operations to Southern Pacific's Central Station.
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