Lifestyle
Altadena’s Christmas Tree Lane survives. Volunteers hope to turn the lights on again
• Altadena’s 104-year holiday lighting tradition known as Christmas Tree Lane escaped damage from the fire despite a torrent of embers coming down on its historic deodar cedars.
• Fierce Santa Ana winds did break branches from some of the trees, but most on Santa Rosa Avenue — the real name of the street — appear unscathed.
• The lights are usually taken down every February, but the head of the volunteer association hopes they can be turned on again “to show we’re still here.”
The people who tend Altadena’s venerable deodar cedars have suffered incomprehensible community losses this week, but Santa Rosa Avenue, a.k.a. Christmas Tree Lane, is a tiny bright spot among the wreckage wrought by the Eaton fire.
Despite what residents described as a fiery rain of embers propelled by hurricane force winds, the street’s 135 cedars seemed unfazed by the fire. The raging Santa Ana winds have broken a few branches, but overall, the massive trees with their graceful drapey limbs seem fine, which means the community’s 104-year holiday light tradition can continue.
Tony Ward and his wife, Maureen, longtime residents of Santa Rosa Avenue and past presidents of the Christmas Tree Lane Assn., went out for dinner in Hastings Ranch on Jan. 7, after the power went out at their home.
Thousands of people turn out every year to drive under a nearly mile-long canopy of sparkly lights strung on 135 deodar cedars on Santa Rosa Avenue in Altadena, a 104-year, volunteer-led tradition known as Christmas Tree Lane.
(Los Angeles Times)
The wind was intense when they left “but there wasn’t any discussion on the media about a fire,” Ward said.
Their dinner outing was short. Before their meal was served, Ward said, “the waiter came up and apologized. He said, ‘We have to give you the meal to go because we have an evacuation order.’ ”
The Wards’ home of nearly 50 years is at the southern end of Santa Rosa Avenue, near Woodbury Road, about six miles west of Hastings Ranch. As the couple returned home and looked to the north, “we could see Eaton Canyon was totally involved in fire, from top to bottom, and we were flabbergasted. It happened so fast,” Ward said.
Once they got home, they began packing “all the things we could think of, photos and business records, into our car and van,” in case they had to evacuate, Ward said. “The wind was intense, and the smoke was just heavy, heavy, heavy.”
The gusting Santa Ana winds blew fiery embers throughout Altadena, including on Woodlyn Road, on Jan. 8 during the Eaton fire.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
The Wards have lived in their home for 50 years and never experienced this kind of fire event. Between the constant roar of the wind and the advancing flames, sleep was impossible that night.
They joined their neighbor standing watch outside “to see if anything flared up so we could run and stamp it out,” Ward said.
By 2:30 a.m. last Wednesday, “we noticed embers flying all the way down from way up in the [Angeles National] forest. They would strike the trees [the deodar cedars] and burst into little sparklers. And most of the embers went out, but this was something we’d never experienced before,” he said.
“And in addition to the wind roaring, there were very loud reports we could hear in the background, which we surmised to be exploding canisters of fuel for barbecues and outdoor space heater,” he added. “It was pretty scary because the wind was so intense, and the dust and ashes, everything was right in your eyes. And who thinks of wearing safety goggles? We had no idea that anything like this could happen so far away from the canyons and the national forest.”
When the evacuation order came at 5 a.m., the Wards finally left. They were able to return briefly last Thursday and found their home still standing. It turns out that most of the houses on Santa Rosa Avenue south of Mariposa Street escaped fire damage, although houses on adjoining streets were burned.
And the cedars, most of which were planted in the late 1880s, seemed fine.
A large broken branch from a deodar cedar hangs precariously from a string of lights on Santa Rosa Avenue the day after massive winds and the Eaton fire tore through Altadena.
(Jeanette Marantos / Los Angeles Times)
However, there is wind damage. A few large branches broken in the heavy winds dragged strings of lights with them to the street. But the trees didn’t burn, and it’s not clear why.
“They are pretty lusciously green,” said Cristhian Mace, a natural areas biologist for Los Angeles County Parks and Recreation, “which makes me think they were well irrigated, and that’s probably one of the factors that saved them. They weren’t dry and brittle, and when you look at cedar bark, it’s thick and somewhat fire resistant. … I don’t know how else to account for their resiliency.”
The trees are well tended by the Christmas Tree Lane Assn., but they are largely cared for by the homeowners on whose property the trees reside, said Assn. President Scott Wardlaw. During drought years, the association has taken steps to give the trees extra water, but usually, Wardlaw said, it has to warn homeowners against overwatering the deodar cedars. Too much water can lead to Armillaria root disease, a deadly form of root rot.
Preserving the trees is critical, because without the cedars, there is no Christmas Tree Lane.
In November 2024, volunteers use ropes and pulleys to hang long strings of holiday lights on Christmas Tree Lane’s deodar cedars. Casty Fortich, far left, and Temple City High School student Patience Cam, pull as Scott Wardlaw, president of the Altadena Christmas Tree Lane Assn., and Feli Hernandez, right, look on.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
It takes 10 weekends and more than a 100 volunteers to string those lights every year; volunteers begin their work in September to be ready for Altadena’s free winter festival and tree lighting event in early December. The same volunteers usually start taking the lights down for the year in February to avoid winter rains.
The festival is traditionally held in the parking area of the Altadena Public Library at the corner of Mariposa Street and Santa Rosa Avenue. Last week, several buildings at the intersection burned, including the Altadena Senior Center next door, but the library was saved.
The area lighting event that began in 1920 still has a small-town, old-fashioned feel, with booths and hot chocolate, local leaders making speeches and attendees walking the route once the lights are turned on. The Christmas Tree Lane display itself is pretty low-tech, with no music or special effects. But it still draws thousands of people every year for the simple pleasure of driving slowly for a near mile under a canopy of sparkly lights.
Wardlaw said at least 13 of the Christmas Tree Lane volunteers lost homes in the fire. Also, the local school that had let the association park its truck and store its container of equipment for free was destroyed in the fire.
Now the association is grappling with where it will store its truck and equipment, which didn’t burn in the fire.
The trick will be finding a new storage place the cash-strapped nonprofit can afford. “The cheapest storage units charge around $5 a day for a truck, nearly $1,900 a year, which we can’t afford for just parking,” Wardlaw said.
The association relies on annual $35 memberships and sponsors to cover its expenses, and several of its sponsors, including Altadena Hardware, St. Mark’s School, Pasadena Waldorf School and Western Fence Co., lost buildings in the fire.
Those losses have weighed heavy on Wardlaw, who, like most displaced Altadena residents, is chafing to get into the burned areas, presently closed to the public, to see what has been lost, and what, if anything, can be saved. The broken tree branches on the street will have to be cleared away, he said, and the strings of lights, many of which are likely broken, will have to be repaired or replaced.
The work will require volunteers, many of whom will be preoccupied by their own losses, Wardlaw acknowledged, but he sees the work ahead as a tiny act of defiance against all the fire’s terrible destruction.
“Something I want to do, if it’s feasible, is turn the lights on again as soon as possible,” he said, “Just so we can say, ‘We’re still here.’ ”
On-air challenge
Today’s puzzle is called “Pet Theory.” Every answer is a familiar two-word phrase or name in which the first word start starts PE- and the second word starts T-. (Ex. What walkways at intersections carry –> PEDESTRIAN TRAFFIC)
1. Chart that lists all the chemical elements
2. Place for a partridge in “The 12 Days of Christmas”
3. Male voyeur
4. What a coach gives a team during halftime in the locker room
5. Set of questions designed to reveal your traits
6. Something combatants sign to end a war
7. Someone who works with you one-on-one with physical exercises
8. Member of the Who
9. Incisors, canines, and premolars that grow in after you’re a baby
10. Nadia Comaneci was the first gymnast to score this at the Olympics
11. What holds the fuel in a British car
Last week’s challenge
Last week’s challenge was a numerical one from Ed Pegg Jr., who runs the website mathpuzzle.com. Take the nine digits — 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. You can group some of them and add arithmetic operations to get 2011 like this: 1 + 23 ÷ 4 x 5 x 67 – 8 + 9. If you do these operations in order from left to right, you get 2011. Well, 2011 was 15 years ago. Can you group some of the digits and add arithmetic symbols in a different way to make 2026? The digits from 1 to 9 need to stay in that order. I know of two different solutions, but you need to find only one of them.
Challenge answer
12 × 34 × 5 – 6 – 7 + 8 – 9 [or] 1 + 2 + 345 × 6 – 7 × 8 + 9
Winner
Daniel Abramson of Albuquerque, N.M.
This week’s challenge
This week’s challenge comes from listener Ward Hartenstein. Think of a well-known couple whose names are often said in the order of _____ & _____. Seven letters in the names in total. Combine those two names, change an E to an S, and rearrange the result to name another famous duo who are widely known as _____ & _____.
If you know the answer to the challenge, submit it below by Thursday, January 15 at 3 p.m. ET. Listeners whose answers are selected win a chance to play the on-air puzzle.
After retirement, Paul Gripp still visited the nursery often, helping with weeding, as he’s doing here in this file photo, or just talking with customers.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
Orchid expert Paul Francis Gripp, a renowned orchid breeder, author and speaker who traveled the world in search of unusual varieties for his nursery, Santa Barbara Orchid Estates, died in a Santa Barbara hospice center on Jan. 2 after a short illness. He was 93.
In a Facebook post on Jan. 4, Gripp’s sister, Toni Gripp Brink, said her brother died “after suffering a brain hemorrhage and loss of consciousness in his longtime Santa Barbara home. He was surrounded by his loving family, day and night, for about a week in a Santa Barbara hospice before he passed.”
Gripp was renowned in the orchid world for his expertise, talks and many prize-winning hybrids such as the Santa Barbara Sunset, a striking Laelia anceps and Laeliocattleya Ancibarina cross with rich salmon, peach and magenta hues that was bred to thrive outside in California’s warmer climes.
In a 2023 interview, Gripp’s daughter, Alice Gripp, who owns and operates the business also known as SBOE with her brother, Parry, said Santa Barbara Sunset is still one of the nursery’s top sellers.
Santa Barbara Sunset is one of the most popular orchids that Paul Gripp bred at his famed orchid nursery, Santa Barbara Orchid Estates a.k.a. SBOE.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
Gripp was a popular speaker, author and avid storyteller who talked about his experiences searching for orchids in the Philippines, Myanmar (then known as Burma), India, the high Andes, Mexico, Guatemala, Brazil, New Guinea and other parts of the world, fostering exchanges with international growers and collecting what plants he could to propagate, breed and sell in his Santa Barbara nursery.
“Working in orchids has been like living in a dream,” Gripp said in a 2023 interview. “There’s thousands of different kinds, and I got to travel all over to find things people would want. But the first orchid I found? It was in Topanga Creek, Epipactis gigantea, our native orchid, and you can still find them growing in [California’s] streams and canyons today.”
Gripp was “one of the last orchid people who went looking for these plants in situ — where they occurred in nature,” said Lauris Rose, one of his former employees who is now president of the Santa Barbara International Orchid Show and owner of Cal-Orchid Inc., a neighboring nursery that she started with her late husband James Rose, another SBOE employee who died in January 2025.
These days, Rose said in an interview on Thursday, orchids are considered “something to enhance the beauty of your home,” but when she and her husband first began working with Gripp in the 1970s, “they were something that totally captivated your interest and instilled a wanderlust spirit that made you want to explore the species in the plant kingdom, as they grew in nature, not as produced in various colors from laboratories.”
She said Gripp’s charm and self-deprecating demeanor also helped fuel his success. “People flocked for the experience of walking around that nursery and learning things from him,” Rose said in a 2023 interview.
“Paul lectured all over the world, teaching people about different species of orchids in a very accessible way,” Rose said. “He didn’t act like a professor. He got up there with anecdotes like, ‘One time I climbed up this tree trying to reach a plant in another tree, and all these red ants infested my entire body, so I had to take off all my clothes and rub all these ants off my body.’ A lot of people’s lectures are boring as dirt, but Paul could command a room. He had charisma, and it was infectious.”
Gripp was born on Oct. 18, 1932, in Greater Los Angeles and grew up in Topanga Canyon. He went to Santa Monica College and then UCLA, where he earned a degree in horticulture, and worked as a gardener on weekends, primarily for Robert J. Chrisman, a wealthy Farmers Insurance executive and hobbyist orchid grower who lived in Playa del Rey.
After college, Gripp served a stint in the Navy after the Korean War, and when he got out, he called Chrisman, his old boss, who invited him to come to Santa Barbara and manage the orchid nursery he was starting there.
After retirement, Paul Gripp still visited the nursery often, helping with weeding, as he’s doing here in this file photo, or just talking with customers.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
The nursery opened in 1957, with Gripp as its manager, and 10 years later, after Chrisman died, he purchased SBOE from the Chrisman family.
In 1986, Gripp and his then-wife, Anne Gripp, divorced. In the settlement, Gripp got their cliff-side Santa Barbara home with its breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean, and his former wife got the nursery. When Anne Gripp died, her children Parry and Alice inherited the nursery and took over its operation in 1994, Alice Gripp said in 2023.
Gripp officially retired from the nursery, but he was a frequent helper several times a week, weeding, dividing plants, answering customer questions and regaling them with his orchid-hunting stories.
“Paul loves plants, but what he loves most in life is teaching other people about orchids,” Alice Gripp said in 2023. “He chats with them, and I try to take their money.”
Gripp wasn’t a huge fan of the ubiquitous moth orchids (Phalaenopsis) sold en masse in most grocery store floral departments, but he was philosophical about their popularity.
They’re good for indoor plants, he said in 2023, but don’t expect them to live very long. “A house is a house, not a jungle,” he said, “so there’s a 99% chance they’re going to die. But they’re pretty cheap [to buy], so it works out pretty good.”
“He used to say, ‘I’m an orchid man. I love every orchid equally,’ and he does,” his daughter said in 2023. “I don’t know if he would run into a burning building to save a Phalaenopsis from Trader Joe’s, but he told me once, ‘I’ve never thrown out a plant.’ And that’s probably true. When he was running things, the aisles were so crammed people were always knocking plants off the benches because they couldn’t walk through.”
Gripp is survived by his children and his second wife, Janet Gripp, as well as his sister Toni Gripp Brink. In a post on the nursery’s website on Jan. 5, the Gripp family asked for privacy.
“We are still very much grieving Paul’s sudden passing,” the message read. “If you would like to share your memories of Paul, please send them by mail or email for us to read in the days to come. We will welcome your remembrances and gather these into a scrapbook to keep at SBOE. We appreciate your understanding of our need for peaceful reflection at this time. In the coming weeks, we will announce our plans for honoring and remembering Paul with our orchid friends.”
Actor TK Carter arrives for the premiere of “The LA Riot” at the Tribeca Film Festival, Monday, April 25, 2005, in New York.
Mary Altaffer/AP
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Mary Altaffer/AP
DUARTE, Calif. — Veteran actor T.K. Carter, who appeared in the horror film “The Thing” and “Punky Brewster” on television, has died at the age of 69.
Carter was declared dead Friday evening after deputies responded to a call regarding an unresponsive male in Duarte, California, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Police did not disclose a cause of death or other details, but said no foul play was suspected.
Thomas Kent “T.K.” Carter was born Dec. 18, 1956, in New York City and was raised in Southern California.
He began his career in stand-up comedy and with acting roles. Carter had been acting for years before a breakthrough role as Nauls the cook in John Carpenter’s 1982 horror classic, “The Thing.” He also had a recurring role in the 1980s sitcom “Punky Brewster.”
Other big-screen roles include “Runaway Train” in 1985, “Ski Patrol” in 1990 and “Space Jam” in 1996.
“T.K. Carter was a consummate professional and a genuine soul whose talent transcended genres,” his publicist, Tony Freeman, said in a statement. “He brought laughter, truth, and humanity to every role he touched. His legacy will continue to inspire generations of artists and fans alike.”
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