The Plaza Fig Trees
Approximate location.
On 2 March 2019 one of these figs came down during a Chinese lantern festival in the plaza. It was 144 years old. Nobody was hurt, which given the crowd and the size of the tree was a considerable piece of luck. Three of the original four are still standing. All of them were planted in 1875 by the horticulturist Elijah Hook Workman around the old Plaza, the square the pueblo of Los Angeles was laid out from and the closest thing the city has to a founding address. That makes them among the oldest documented plantings in Los Angeles, level with the fig at St John's church in Palms and older than the figs of Beverly Hills and Figueroa Street by a generation. This is one entry for the group rather than three. The gazebo at the centre of the plaza is the place to stand, with the survivors around it and Olvera Street a few steps north. After the collapse the city inspected the remaining trees and found no risk to the public, and El Pueblo began a process to decide what should be planted in the gap. That is the last dated word we have on their condition, from 2019. If you have walked through the plaza lately, tell us how the three of them look.
This tree looks much the same in every month of the year, so there is no season to chart.
Los Angeles Plaza (the Plaza/gazebo at El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument), near Olvera Street, Downtown Los Angeles, CA 90012You can recognise them by the count, three big Moreton Bay figs left of an original four after one came down in 2019. They stand around the gazebo at the centre of the Los Angeles Plaza, with Olvera Street a few steps north.
Free. Stand in the open plaza around the gazebo at El Pueblo de Los Angeles / Olvera Street, open to the public at all times as a city park and historic monument.
Downtown LA; Union Station (Metro Rail B/D/L lines, Metrolink, Amtrak) is directly across Alameda St, about a 5 minute walk.
Sources
Where the facts on this page come from.