Christmas Trees That Appeal to the High-Minded

Rising above the department stores and boutiques of Fashion Island in Newport Beach is a Christmas tree so massive that shoppers must squint to see its crown.

But the message posted at the base of the 112-foot ornately decorated white fir isn’t your typical holiday greeting.

“Please enjoy this spectacular tree with peace of mind, knowing that tremendous care was taken to preserve the environment,” the sign tells shoppers.

The upscale outdoor mall is this year’s winner in the increasingly intense competition to claim the nation’s best and biggest Christmas tree. And these days, size alone isn’t enough to avoid a backlash -- the trees must be harvested in a way that persuades shoppers they need not feel any environmental guilt.

At the Grove shopping center in Los Angeles, for example, signs around the 100-foot white fir tell shoppers that “not just any tree would do for our first holiday season. It had to be special. It had to be magic. And ... it had to be ecologically sound.”

The Grove’s message also notes that if the 80-year-old tree stayed in the forest much longer, it could become susceptible to disease and fall over -- “an ignominious end for a noble tree.”

Carlsbad Company Stores, an outlet center, offers concerned shoppers a brochure describing the environmentally friendly process that brought its 87-foot tree to San Diego County. “We have had customers come in and sometimes be a little upset because they do think we randomly go up to the forest and cut down a tree,” said mall spokeswoman Anita Boeker.

Huge Christmas trees have been drawing visitors to the White House grounds and landmarks such as New York’s Rockefeller Center for generations. In recent years, however, shopping centers and other public places have competed with increasing ferocity to claim the tallest tree.

“The big Christmas tree is a celebration of the commercialization

This year, the bragging started in November, when the Missouri Division of Tourism proclaimed its 100-foot tree at Kansas City’s Crown Center mall the nation’s tallest.

By the end of November, however, Miami officials announced they had a 110-foot Norway spruce at a downtown park.

The New York Times, in a front-page story, proclaimed Miami’s tree the biggest, and city officials predicted it would draw long-sought visitors to its downtown.

Within a day, however, many in Orange County were challenging the claim, saying Fashion Island’s 112-foot tree was actually the nation’s tallest. So began a flurry of missives between California and Florida.

Miami eventually admitted its tree wasn’t the tallest, but with ill-concealed reluctance. “Ours is far prettier,” said Carlos McDonald, a city spokesman.

Though Fashion Island downplays the importance of size, the mall has a contract that guarantees it will receive the biggest tree felled by Victor’s Strictly Custom Christmas Trees, a Dana Point-based firm that supplies mega-trees to Southern California shopping centers and other institutions.

The tree’s journey from the timberlands near Mt. Shasta to Fashion Island was long and expensive. Fashion Island officials flew there this summer to survey prospective trees.

They settled on a 65-year-old fir. But simply cutting the tree down was out the question. Victor’s specializes in what the company describes as an environmentally conscious approach to Christmas tree harvesting that appeals to mall officials who don’t want to offend ecologically minded shoppers.

The company drove a 200-ton crane into the forest. The 20,000-pound tree was rigged to the crane so that it remained suspended vertically after it was cut, preventing it from crashing into nearby trees. It was then placed on a flatbed trailer for the 650-mile drive to Newport Beach.

“The tree never hits the ground,” said Vito Serrao, owner of Victor’s. “We don’t disturb the forest, and we plant 14 for every one we cut.”

Serrao maintains that removing the biggest trees from the forest actually helps the environment by allowing more sunlight to hit smaller trees. Environmentalists agree that the company’s approach is better than indiscriminate cutting. Still, they said, there are more ecologically friendly ways to celebrate the season.

“They could plant a permanent tree, which they could truly celebrate and make into a real community festival,” said Andy Lipkis, president of Tree People, a Los Angeles-based group that encourages the planting and care of trees in urban areas.

Workers at Fashion Island secured the tree in a plaza outside Bloomingdale’s, and spent two weeks decking it out with 17,000 twinkling lights, shiny beach-ball-size ornaments and big glittery bows. The whole operation costs $100,000.

For all the expense and effort, shoppers expressed mixed feelings about the grandiose display.

“It’s big. It’s beautiful. It’s a little outrageous -- the cost and the age of the tree and cutting it down,” said Susan Kosareff of Huntington Beach, who brought her children to see it. “But it’s still very beautiful.”

“You’ve got to be bigger and better,” scoffed Troy Gideon of Huntington Beach. “The poor tree has been around forever and we had to cut it down.”

The tree’s journey won’t end at Fashion Island. On Jan. 2, it will be stripped of its decorations and ground up for mulch.