Tree Known as ‘Grandpa’ Finally Comes Down

They came to remember, to mourn and to pay their last respects.

But most of all, a steady stream of people came Monday simply to salute Port Hueneme’s oldest resident, a 375-year-old Monterey cypress that crews felled because it had succumbed to the ravages of old age.

Eight years of intensive care by the city had failed to revive the diseased and parasite-ridden tree that municipal workers had affectionately labeled “Grandpa.”

A portion of Market Street built around the tree was even removed in 1991 in a last-ditch attempt to save what is believed to be the second oldest Monterey cypress in California.

But reluctantly, officials deemed the treasured tree, which stood next to the Chamber of Commerce building and the city’s museum, a liability and safety hazard.

Clinging precariously to the tree more than 100 feet from the ground, arborist Jon Cook used a chain saw to dismember the landmark, limb by limb. Each cut sent a chunk of the tree’s dead canopy crashing to the ground with a shotgun-like crack.

Crews carried pieces of weathered wood, and what little green foliage remained, across the street to a vacant lot, where people stopped to pick up pieces for posterity.

Three generations of the Howard family--77-year-old Joe, 43-year-old son John and 8-year-old grandson Caleb--came to claim a tree segment.

“The tree made the town,” Joe said. “It’s been here a long time. I hate to see it go, but it should be cut down because it was getting dead.”

The cypress had exceeded its usual 100-year life span almost three times over.

That longevity captured the imagination of people like Oxnard horticulturist Jaime Rodriguez, who came to collect seedpods and cuttings he hoped to propagate.

“I’m seeing a piece of history going down,” he said.

On Sunday, about 80 people attended a kind of wake, lighting candles and watching Chumash members give thanks to the tree.

Much of the tree will be recycled as walking sticks, sculptures and other art.

One artist has requested the entire trunk, which has an estimated weight of eight tons, for a massive sculpture, said Corinne Sharkey, who organized Sunday’s ceremony.

Today, crews will bring in a 14-ton crane to help move the tree’s 19-foot-circumference trunk, which will be cut into 6-foot lengths. By day’s end, only a 20-inch-high stump will remain.

Municipal officials had wanted to remove that as well, but an impromptu “Save Our Stump” committee plans to attend Wednesday’s City Council meeting to lobby for it to remain.

“I think we should preserve that stump so our children and grandchildren can count the rings,” said organizer Lisa Morgan, a decade-long resident of Market Street.

“I can’t stop the world from changing, but I can hold onto a little piece of it.”