City's Cutting of Ficus Trees Has San Marino on Opposite Sides of the Street

This story was posted by Craig Clough. It was written by Natalie Rivera. 

Huntington Drive through San Marino suddenly looks a lot different lately after some iconic ficus trees were cut down by the city between Kenilworth and Del Mar avenues, and also between and the area from Kenilworth to Ridgeway Road.

The city is replacing the ficus trees with a variety of Chinese pistache trees. Whether this was an improvement or desecration of Huntington Drive depends on whom you ask. 

Trees that produced berries were cut after business owners complained that the berries were making too much of a mess for the stores and their customers. According to the Los Angeles Times, there were 35 trees the San Marino City Council voted to cut down last year. 

“It’s been four, five years that we asked, cause in some seasons you can see black all in my store,” said Greg Garibian, owner of the Lamp Clinic store. “It’s making a mess here. We had to clean every morning with the air blower but it doesn’t help so we have to wash with brushes and soap.”

Garibian went on to say that though the city does provide help with the cleaning, sometimes the help the city offers isn’t enough.

“They would send someone outside to clean, but I would have to clean the windows cause they would leave water and make it all dirty. They wouldn’t do a good job, that’s why its better to have trees removed,” Garibian said. 

Alyysa Horrada, an employee at the the San Marino Toy and Book Shop, agrees, but said many customers are not happy. 

“There was one customer that was really angry when we first cut them,” said Horrada. “I think she is a naturalist, so yeah, she was really upset.”

This customer is not the only local that feels this way. Julia Klimko, a student at the local high school, walks on Huntington Drive to get home almost everyday. Klimko explained that since some of the trees were cut, she has decided to walk on the opposite side of the street because the trees there haven’t been cut yet.

“I don’t really like it, I walk by here a lot and now it looks all empty,” said Klimko. “I used to walk on that side but now I walk here cause there’s more trees.”

Klimko’s feelings, that the street now looks too empty, was also shared by a local that wishes not to be named. She described the street as, now, being  “too naked” and “not looking good at all.”

Mia Khadour, however, believes that the absence of the trees now allows the community to see details they may have not noticed before.

“See how you can see the spider webs?” Khadour asked. “Now you can see that the buildings need a paint job. You couldn’t even see the signs on some of them.” 

Khadour also said that the lack of berry trees allows for locals to walk on the street safely, after there have been numerous incidents where people have slipped on the berries.

“I also hope that the city waters them, because we don’t have sprinklers here,” Khadour said. “But other than that, I think this was a great idea.”

What do you think of the city's decision to cut down the ficus trees on Huntington Drive? Tell us in the comments.