Ocean Front Street.
This year’s OB Christmas Tree, which will soon stand sentry at the foot of Newport Avenue, is a true OBcean.
Sheila Landon and tree
Sheila Landon knows – for she planted it twenty years in her OB backyard. And Tuesday morning starting at 7 am, it will be cut down and hauled through the streets of OB to its destination and public display of the community’s very own Christmas Tree.
It had to come down – it was destroying the foundation and pipes of the building it was planted next to, the current owners of the tree say.
“I actually didn’t plant it,” Sheila told me the other day, “it was already in a pot and I just set the pot out in the yard.” Two decades later, it towers over the neighborhood.
“It’s a Northfork Island Sound tree,” she said, “from New Zealand.” It looks like a type of Star Pine.
It was 1997 when Sheila placed the 5 to 6 foot tree in the yard where she then lived – at 1619 Ocean Front Street in south OB. She, her hubby, Charlie, and their 3 kids lived in the small 2 bedroom 2 bath upstairs unit. They moved to another place in OB in 2010.
Kim Rogers and Dave Tyler with Sheila. All photos by Frank Gormlie
Sheila’s actually a horticulturist – having been certified in Georgia in the early 1980s. She moved to OB in 1987 and at one point worked at the Nurseyland Garden Center in the Midway area (since bought by Armstrong).
Kim Rogers and Dave Tyler own the lot and live in the front house on Del Mar. It’s their tree and they’ve maintained it and enjoyed it for all these years. But, as Dave pointed out, it’s starting to tear up the foundation and their pipes. They were going to have it removed this month, he said, for around $800.
But then Kim saw something on Nextdoor about OB looking for its annual Christmas tree and got in touch with the people involved. They came out to take a look at it and were impressed. The rest is history. Kim’s a former Special Ed teacher at OB Elementary where she worked for 5 years, plus she worked for another 5 at Point Loma High School.
Kim and Dave are glad their tree will become the community’s special one – but they’re sad at the loss and how its removal will disturb the dozen or so doves that reside there. “It’s horrible,” Kim said, and wondered out loud where the birds would go now.
Yet, there ought to be a lot of smiles this year as the new Christmas Tree is installed right on the beach. And people should know – first, it had to come down, and second, it’s a tree OBcean – planted and raised right here in OB.
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