Streets of Trees Took Root in College Thesis

If Larry E. Smith could rewrite the title of his 1989 college thesis, he would probably call it “A Tree Grows in North Hollywood.”

Thousands of them, in fact.

What began as the seed of Smith’s urban-planning senior thesis at UCLA has sprouted into a communitywide beautification effort to line the main streets of North Hollywood with 3,000 trees.

Under Smith’s guidance, scores of students and local businesses have banded together to rekindle community pride by sprucing up North Hollywood’s stark, concrete-laden image.

“My goal is basically to bring back the community of North Hollywood,” the 36-year-old Northridge contractor-turned-landscape architect said Friday. “I grew up in the San Fernando Valley, and I want people to feel like they belong.”

Over the next three or four years, students of all ages will tend hundreds of saplings representing 13 drought-resistant species, to be moved alongside streets when the trees are mature enough. Already, about 50 trees were planted in March on Lankershim Boulevard at Hart Street, including a few flowering peach trees that Smith said will be the signature tree of the community once known as “the home of the peach.”

The March 7 tree-planting ceremony put in motion a volunteer program that will save the city of Los Angeles hundreds of thousands of dollars in public works funds--and a lot of time.

“If this went through city contracts, it would never happen. We’d be waiting 10 years,” said Smith. He estimated that the project, funded by corporate donations, will end up costing only $500,000.

If all goes according to plan, a four-mile stretch of Lankershim between Sherman Way and Cahuenga Boulevard will be studded with 2,000 trees. Another 1,000 will dot the cross streets of Victory Boulevard, Oxnard Street, Burbank Boulevard and Camarillo Street.

The idea for the project began growing two years ago in Smith’s dissertation, which focused on how to revitalize North Hollywood. The Universal City-North Hollywood Chamber of Commerce sponsored the thesis, and member businesses donated money after Smith decided to put theory to practice.

Through the project, high school students will have the opportunity to decide where the trees will go and what unsightly objects will be displaced.

Scott Gorman, 16, who will be a senior this fall at North Hollywood High School, said he and two classmates are already thinking about how to beautify the three-way intersection of Lankershim Boulevard, Victory Boulevard and Colfax Avenue.

“We’re hoping to put some type of design on each corner, hoping to make a cozy, quaint effect,” he said.