Take a Hike, Ficus

The first casualties in West Hollywood’s Master Plan to revitalize and redesign its 2.7-mile segment of Santa Monica Boulevard are the street’s ficus trees. Next month, when construction begins, all but 14 of the 122 ficus that have lined the boulevard for 20 years, before West Hollywood became the city of West Hollywood, will be summarily uprooted. Some may be relocated, assuming a corporate entity ponies up the hefty 10 to 12 grand necessary to transplant each 25-foot mature tree. But the majority will, in all likelihood, be reduced to kindling.

This is a pity for a lot of reasons, not the least of which being that the spreading canopies of a row of interweaving ficus--when allowed to mature--is about the most majestic and lush an urban street can look. Unfortunately, they do not peacefully coexist with concrete, and city engineers curse ficus roots as among the most destructive of all vegetation. (Teenagers are unruly as they grow, but do we replace them?)

Last winter, the West Hollywood City Council, urged by a small grass-roots group to spare the ficus, sent questionnaires citywide. But, says city Senior Planner Hassan Haghani, residents returned them 2-1 in favor of getting rid of the dark evergreens.

Pat Smith, the landscape architect who’s working on the ominously named Master Plan--widening sidewalks, reducing the 40-foot median, adding bike lanes--assures that this stretch of historic Route 66 won’t become a wasteland. “We’re replacing the ficus at more than a 3-to-1 ratio with fast-growing evergreen elms and jacarandas,” she says, “slightly over 1,000, actually.” Add to that the double row of queen palms to line the narrowed median, and you’ve got a flock of really irate commuters tied up in 20 months of construction hell. Welcome to the jungle.