The iconic Christmas tree planted in the sand on Tuesday, Nov. 28, carried on the tradition of leaning a little to the left, mirroring the quirky bent of Ocean Beach.

“We never know until it goes in,” said Ocean Beach Town Council president Corey Bruins. “The community will welcome this year’s OB holiday tree, generously donated by a local neighbor. It will be established at the corner of Newport and Abbott. The official tree lighting is set for 5:05 p.m. on Dec. 2, igniting the start of the OB Holiday Parade.”

Bruins said several proposals for trees coming from outside the Peninsula were submitted for consideration this year. But he added this year’s tree, as always, “is carefully selected locally from trees already slated for removal, so we won’t be uprooting a perfectly good tree. This year’s tree is coming from the north side of town, so it won’t have far to travel.”

The 40-foot tall star pine tree is from a home in the 4600 block of Larkspur Street. The tree was planted 27 years ago after being used as a family’s Christmas tree.

Every year just before December, the chosen pine is conveyed to a pre-designated spot on the beach near OB Pier. “The tree gets cut down by arborists and, using a huge crane, it is hoisted onto a truck and driven down to Newport with the police coming out to make sure it’s done safely,” said Bruins. “Then the crane puts it in a hole in the sand at Newport and Abbott, moving it around to make sure it’s stable before it gets all decorated.”

Initial decorating of the Christmas tree starts in the morning and usually lasts into the early afternoon. “Students from OB Elementary decorate the tree with ornaments, then more decorations are added to make it look nice and pretty,” said Bruins who noted the decorated Christmas tree will remain up throughout December. “The tree stands as a reminder, all month long, of the neighborhood’s generosity and of the OB spirit,” he concluded.

The Ocean Beach holiday season kicks off this year on the evening of Dec. 2 with the lighting of the Christmas tree, which will usher in the 44th annual Ocean Beach Holiday Parade, this year themed “Santa’s Disco Luau,” with more than 10,000 attendees drawn to partake in the festivities.
Bruins pointed out that the Christmas tree planting ritual in OB dates back to the five James brothers – Ron, Rich, Greg, Mike, and Pat – whose family founded the James Gang Graphics company on Newport Avenue in 1976. They were the ones who brought down the first Christmas tree from Mt. Shasta.

ORIGIN OF OB’S CHRISTMAS TREE & PARADE
Mike James, one of the James Gang brothers of local printing fame, related the tale of how Ocean Beach’s first Newport Avenue Christmas tree got chosen to inaugurate the tree-planting tradition on the beach.
“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,” James said. “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-tall 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 their 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 tree 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.”

Photo by Thomas Melville