Permanent Planting : Ocean Beach Tradition Gets Some New Roots

While sea gulls soared and ocean waves rolled in, workmen from a San Diego nursery Monday morning transplanted a 30-foot-high Christmas tree in Ocean Beach.

The star pine was placed at the foot of Newport Avenue. For five years, the Ocean Beach Christmas tree had been cut and brought from places like Mt. Shasta, then discarded after New Year’s Day.

But this year, the pine will hold its ground after the Christmas season and become a permanent part of the landscape, a change inspired by City Councilman Bill Cleator, whose district includes O.B.

The city tree was transplanted from Hospitality Point on Mission Bay by Evergreen Nursery, which donated its services. Finding a tree to transplant that had already been near the ocean was important because it had to be acclimated to salt water, ocean breezes and sandy soil, said Robin Krumm, a member of the Ocean Beach Christmas Tree Committee.

A seaside tree has become a holiday tradition in Ocean Beach, and the group hopes this one will take root, to be used in years to come. Workmen used a 25-ton crane to ease the transplanted pine into its new home.

“It’s smaller than last year’s,” said Star Hayward, 8 1/2, who is planning to decorate the tree with her elementary school class. “I’m making a star, a bell, or a Christmas tree,” she said.

She will be one of many schoolchildren bringing handmade decorations for the tree’s dedication at 1 p.m. Wednesday.

A spokesman for Cleator said the city donated $15,000 to put a bench near the tree, landscape the area, install an irrigation system, and run an electrical line to the tree from the lifeguard station.

The tree will be guarded around the clock through New Year’s by Securitree, volunteers who want the tree to flourish.