A Christmas Tree-dition : Harry Noonan Has Been at Same Stand for Half a Century

Harry Noonan has been selling Christmas trees on the same street for 50 years. He’s seen them all. Knows the best from the worst. Can tell a Douglas from a Noble at a glance. Can practically make the annual trip to Oregon blindfolded.

He’s even been known to wax philosophical about them, until they become more than just trees waiting to be bought on an otherwise empty lot at Victoria Street and Newport Boulevard.

“After spending hours of decorating it, you might step back and look at it and admire it,” said Noonan, 72, in the trailer that is his sales office. “But after a while, you don’t just see the tree. After a while you start to see more. You start to see the past, the future, your children, the history of the family and, sometimes, even the Holy One.”

Noonan didn’t always feel this way. At one time, a Christmas tree was just a Christmas tree, as when Noonan came home from World War II in 1944, with shrapnel wounds in a knee and hip from fighting on Omaha Beach.

Having nothing to do and no income, Noonan was asked by an old friend, Barney Bernstein, if he would like to help around Bernstein’s department store in Santa Ana.

Noonan obliged.

“And before I knew it I was selling Christmas trees for him,” Noonan said. “Then, one day, Barney said, ‘Those are your Christmas trees, Harry, you can have them. I have no use for them.’ I guess he figured I needed some help.”

Noonan had found his seasonal calling.

During the off season, he worked as a painter and remodeler. But once Christmas rolled around and the decorations started going up, Noonan found himself driving to Oregon and handpicking the trees that would wind up in hundreds of living rooms.

“My wife, she’d always stay home to take care of the kids while I took care of the Christmas trees,” Noonan said.

But times have changed. The longtime Orange County resident now lives most of the year in Henderson, Nev., but is in Orange County for the Christmas season and to visit relatives.

During the tree season, his two sons, a daughter-in-law and three grandsons take care of the Christmas trees while Noonan sits back and runs the show.

More than 4,500 Christmas trees should be sold by the time Noonan closes shop on Christmas Eve. His son, Doug, 42, made the trip to Oregon this year, looking for the best trees he could find.

The elder Noonan, Doug Noonan said, suffered a small stroke six months ago and skipped the trip.

“Dad’s the kind of guy who, if you tell him he can’t go or if you tell him to stop working, he’ll get mad,” the younger Noonan said. “But this year he listened. This year he knew he’d have had a difficult time.”

The senior Noonan said one of the best things about selling Christmas trees, besides the smell of pine, is visiting with old friends.

“That’s the greatest, them stopping by to say hello and talk to you, which doesn’t happen very often today,” he said. “Everybody always seems to be in such a hurry.”

Noonan said he plans to enjoy these reunions and stay in the tree-selling business for quite a long time.

“God willing, of course,” he said, with a smile.