Family Trees

Jack Price didn’t set out to be a tree farmer. He had left Sherman Oaks for a horse ranch in Oregon, a fitting retirement for the longtime insurance broker.

But a new chapter of his life grew from a telephone call 26 years ago. A friend from the Reseda Elks Lodge wanted to know if Price would bring down some Christmas trees to sell.

Price and his wife, Valerie, got such a kick out of selling trees that year, they decided to go into business.

The Prices have since planted, grown and cut tens of thousands of pines on their Oregon property, selling them each year in the San Fernando Valley.

For the past 13 years, the couple has transformed a local baseball diamond into a retail winter wonderland. They decorate their lot with Santa and reindeer figures, lights and handcrafts to attract customers to their Douglas, noble, grand, Fraiser and Nordmannfirs and Scotch pines.

“We work hard to create a family atmosphere here,” Valerie Price said as she unloaded boxes of Christmas decorations.

The tree-selling operation begins in late November, when Valerie leads an inspection team through the family’s Oregon tree fields.

She closely examines each tree for its strength, color, fullness and shape. The selected evergreens are cut, lifted by helicopter and loaded onto trucks for the 1,000-mile ride south.

Once the trees arrive at the lot, they are separated by species and height. Tree prices range from $14 for a tabletop pine to $150 for a 20-footer.

Through Christmas Eve, the Prices, including son Jack Jr. and daughter Lora, are joined by 70 employees, working late into the night selling trees and other yuletide trimmings.

“A lot of people tell me that it’s not Christmas until they come here,” Price said.