OCEAN BEACH – Last year’s traditionally left-leaning Christmas tree in Ocean Beach tilted the wrong way.
This year, that’s going to be corrected, said Shelly Parks, an Ocean Beach Community Foundation advisory board member and co-chair of the tree committee responsible for ensuring this year’s standout pine gets planted and properly displayed in the sand on the beach at the end of Newport Avenue.
The prize pine hits the sand on Tuesday, followed by a lighting ceremony kicking off the OB Holiday Parade on Dec. 6. Enjoy the tree all month long. But be sure to visit before it comes down on Jan. 2.
Parks said the “star” of OB’s holiday festivities, the two- to three-story pine repurposed from a Peninsula donor, will fit right in with this year’s holiday theme – Galactic Holiday Beach Bash.
“We’re going to have some weird aliens and planets on it,” said Parks of the decorations, noting the theme, though a little otherworldly, definitely is in keeping with the community’s offbeat character. “It’s eclectic and weird and that’s very Obecian,” she pointed out.
Parks added that community members wishing to participate in decorating the OB Christmas tree can pick up wooden stars to paint at the Vervor Shop, 4689 Voltaire St., and the Ocean Beach Business Center, 4967 Newport.
OB Elementary students will be pitching in to decorate the pine with spacemen, aliens and spaceships, during a field trip on Friday after the Christmas tree has been installed at the beach.
Of this year’s donated tree, Parks said it’s presently leaning against a fence in an apartment complex.
On Tuesday, the chosen tree will be transported by flatbed truck with a police motorcycle escort down Newport where it will be planted with the aid of a crane. It’s a significant effort with a sizable price tag.
“The budget for this year’s tree is $4,000, and it may end up costing up to $6,000,” noted Parks, who explained that this year’s tree is three stories and a bit longer “so the cost of transporting it is a little bit more.”
Parks said everyone involved in the annual OB Christmas tree planting and decoration is proud to be involved because, “We want to be OB, leaning a little to the left, a little funky and a little bit different than everyone else. That’s why we can put aliens in our tree, and it’s going to fit right in with our community.”
Tree origins
Mike James, who is currently involved in Luminosity, a long-term project to find a viable high-tech alternative to launching Fourth of July fireworks from OB Pier, related the tale of how the community’s first Newport Avenue Christmas tree got chosen, inaugurating the community’s tree-planting tradition.
“One evening, in the fall of 1980, my brothers Ron and Rich were having a few beers at the Sunshine Company Saloon,” said James, noting that, earlier that year, Ocean Beach had its first community-supported Fourth of July Fireworks Festival. “The brothers began talking about what could be done to continue that positive community spirit for the upcoming Christmas holidays.
“Rich mentioned the famous Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center (in New York City) and thought maybe OB could have its own community Christmas tree.”
Added James: “The story goes that at first they talked about a 20-foot tree. Then, as more beer was consumed, the proposed tree grew, so by the end of the night it became a 60-foot-tall tree.”
The next morning, said James, “Rich began making phone calls to find out how someone could get a 60-foot tree. He finally found the people who supplied Disneyland with its giant Christmas tree and made an order. A committee was formed and money was raised to pay for the tree and the lights by mainly selling commemorative T-shirts.”
“To save cost, Rich talked his friend Kenny into taking his semi-truck to Mt. Shasta to pick up the tree,” said James. “They returned to Ocean Beach with a stunning 70-foot Star Pine to grace the beach at the foot of Newport Avenue.”
Which is almost – but not quite – the end of James’ story.
“A few days after the tree had arrived, Rich went to numerous bars up and down Newport and handed out kazoos to his many friends,” he said. “They then assembled in front of Pacific Shores and Rich then led them down the middle of the street to the tree, while they hummed Christmas carols on their kazoos.”
Want more insights? Join Working Title - our career elevating newsletter and get the future of work delivered weekly.
