Gary Casella hovered over a 17-foot bundled Christmas tree one recent morning under a large white tent on the Burbank High School soccer field. Casella’s 75-year-old Christmas tree business -- founded in 1937 by his father, Paul Casella -- has been operating in Burbank for nearly five decades.
Raul Martinez, 19, of Burbank, carries a 7-foot Christmas tree as he and a crew unload a tractor trailer filled with 650 trees at Casellas Christmas Trees in Burbank in back of Burbank High School on Tuesday, November 27, 2012. Casellas has sold trees in Burbank for 75 years. (Tim Berger/Staff Photographer)
Students Harry Avetisyan, 16, and Robert O’Brien, 16, work together to carry a Christmas tree as they and a crew unload a tractor trailer filled with 650 trees at Casellas Christmas Trees in Burbank in back of Burbank High School on Tuesday, November 27, 2012. Casellas has sold trees in Burbank for 75 years. (Tim Berger/Staff Photographer)
A crew unloads a tractor trailer filled with 650 Christmas trees at Casellas Christmas Trees in Burbank in back of Burbank High School on Tuesday, November 27, 2012. Casellas has sold trees in Burbank for 75 years. (Tim Berger/Staff Photographer)
Adolph Noce, 93, of Glendale, keeps trees organized as they are unloaded from a tractor trailer filled with 650 Christmas trees at Casellas Christmas Trees in Burbank in back of Burbank High School on Tuesday, November 27, 2012. Casellas has sold trees in Burbank for 75 years. Noce has worked with the tree lot for 50 years. (Tim Berger/Staff Photographer)
A crew unloads a tractor trailer filled with 650 Christmas trees at Casellas Christmas Trees in Burbank in back of Burbank High School on Tuesday, November 27, 2012. Casellas has sold trees in Burbank for 75 years. (Tim Berger/Staff Photographer)
Helpers unload a tractor trailer filled with 650 Christmas trees at Casellas Christmas Trees in Burbank in back of Burbank High School on Tuesday, November 27, 2012. Casellas has sold trees in Burbank for 75 years. (Tim Berger/Staff Photographer)
Andrew Share, of Burbank, who has worked with Casellas for 7 years, loads a side truck with a just unloaded Christmas tree from a tractor trailer filled with 650 trees at Casellas Christmas Trees in Burbank in back of Burbank High School on Tuesday, November 27, 2012. Casellas has sold trees in Burbank for 75 years. (Tim Berger/Staff Photographer)