Hay Tree

This was a trading floor. The camphor went in around 1883 and came up between the biggest hay supplier in Southern California and the state's largest dairy broker, and the men who sold hay met under it each morning to fix the day's composite price, which went on to brokers in Chicago and New York as the standard. Hynes and Clearwater ran twenty-five thousand milk cows between them, many in Dutch and Portuguese hands. The towns became Paramount in 1948. The dairies went out to Chino, and the tree is what is left.

What the plaque says

The towns of Hynes and Clearwater, later incorporated as Paramount, were the center of the hay and dairy industry in Los Angeles and Orange Counties from the 1920s through the 1960s. Considered the "Milk Shed of Los Angeles," Paramount developed into the largest hay market in the world. Each day the price of hay sold here was quoted by brokers in Chicago and New York City as the International Standard. Major hay sellers would gather each morning under this 120-year-old camphor tree to determine the day's price. The Hay Tree was also a cherished spot where truckers, workers and farmers gathered for a lazy lunch or a spirited game of cards. The camphor is the last remnant of the "World's Largest Hay Market." California Registered Historical Landmark No. 1038 Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the City of Paramount, June 2004.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Mission San Gabriel Arcangel — 15 mi
  The fourth Alta California mission, built on Tongva land with Tongva labor, rebuilt after arson and now telling that story straight.
• Colorado Street Bridge — 18 mi
  Beaux-Arts concrete arches curving 150 feet above the Arroyo Seco, opened in 1913 and later a link in Route 66.
• Santa Monica Pier — 21 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

• Domínguez Ranchhouse — 3.5 mi
• Rancho Los Cerritos Historic Site — 3.7 mi
• Heritage House — 3.7 mi
• Site of the Initial United States Air Meet — 4.5 mi