Aoyama tree

After driving to Compton for a look at the easy-to-miss Eagle Tree, I read up on another historic tree in Los Angeles County...the Aoyama Tree in Little Tokyo...and then took a walk over there.

Turns out I've passed by this sprawling ficus tree a dozen times without realizing its historic significix. It's in the parking lot (or I should say literally in the parking lot as the roots are covered by asphalt) next to MOCA, and the 50-footer was planted in 1920 in front of the Koyasan Buddhist Temple before it relocated to the current location on 1st Street. The resilience of the tree through the years, including the wartime internment of Japanese Americans, makes it a symbolic force to reckon with...and now even the anti-ficus crowd will leave this bad boy alone.