Christmas Tree Lane

The Woodburys planted the deodars along Santa Rosa Avenue in 1885, and F.C. Nash had them strung with lights in 1920. Volunteers have done it by hand ever since, on ropes and pulleys, with no lift trucks. The Eaton Fire came through Altadena in January 2025 with the lights still on the branches. Houses along the lane burned and nineteen people in the community died. All 135 cedars came through it, and the lane was lit again that December after a minute and nineteen seconds of silence.

What the plaque says

The 135 deodar cedar trees were planted in 1885 by the Woodbury family, the founders of Altadena. First organized by F.C. Nash in 1920, the "Mile of Christmas Trees" has been strung with 10,000 lights each holiday season through the efforts of volunteers and the Christmas Tree Lane Association. It is the oldest large-scale Christmas lighting spectacle in Southern California. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 990 Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with Altadena Heritage, December 14, 1990.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Colorado Street Bridge — 3.0 mi
  Beaux-Arts concrete arches curving 150 feet above the Arroyo Seco, opened in 1913 and later a link in Route 66.
• Mission San Gabriel Arcangel — 6.3 mi
  The fourth Alta California mission, built on Tongva land with Tongva labor, rebuilt after arson and now telling that story straight.
• Santa Monica Pier — 24 mi
  Where the Mother Road runs out of continent, and where the End of the Trail sign gives the drive somewhere to finish.

More markers nearby

• The Gamble House — 2.6 mi
• Pacific Asia Museum (Grace Nicholson's Treasure House of Oriental and Western Art) — 2.6 mi
• Pasadena Playhouse — 2.7 mi
• Old Mill — 4.5 mi