Poinsettias: Hollywood's Christmas Gift
Merry Christmas from Under the Hollywood Sign!
Poinsettias of Old Hollywood, Part I
December 26, 2013 § 2 Comments
I was surprised to find this vintage postcard in the collection of Tommy Dangcil because I had not previously heard of poinsettias being grown in Hollywood. Judging from the single building in the hills, the image dates back more than a century, to when Hollywood still had large agricultural tracts. Most were planted with lemons and oranges, crops that would soon give way to movie studios and other commercial properties.
What makes the postcard even more striking is the fact that the poinsettia was not well-known at the time, and less a commercial crop than a curiosity. Native to Mexico, the plant–despite its red color–was not even particularly identified with Christmas. Its popularization was largely the work of Paul Ecke, a San Diego County grower who not only tirelessly promoted the poinsettia as the Christmas “flower” (in fact, the red parts are leaf-like bracts, while the yellow centers are the flowers) but who, with his son Paul Jr., created the white, pink, yellow and variegated types that are available today. Because of Ecke, Encinitas has long been the undisputed capital of poinsettia cultivation, producing 80% of the world’s plants. In light of its long history in Encinitas, discovering the poinsettia’s early connection to Hollywood was an unexpected pleasure.
Related posts:
https://underthehollywoodsign.wordpress.com/2013/01/11/visiting-tommy-dangcil/ https://underthehollywoodsign.wordpress.com/2013/03/14/vintage-hollywood-by-night-part-ii/ https://underthehollywoodsign.wordpress.com/2013/03/12/vintage-hollywoodland-by-night/ https://underthehollywoodsign.wordpress.com/2013/02/20/a-hollywood-newcomers-cabin-1909
Poinsettias of Hollywood, Part II
Hollywood Poinsettias/Courtesy Tommy Dangcil
After I posted my last piece, I discovered an article in the current issue of Discover Hollywood * that completes the poinsettia's history in Hollywood. It seems that it was none other than Paul Ecke's father, Albert, who started growing the plants in here in 1900. Like many Angelenos of the era, Ecke was headed somewhere else--in his case, Fiji--when he discovered Hollywood's ideal year-round growing conditions and decided to stay. He settled his family on Hayworth Avenue and soon established an orchard and a dairy.
Noticing that poinsettias grew wild in Hollywood and bloomed at Christmastime, Albert Ecke cultivated them in the field on Sunset Boulevard shown in the postcard above. Father and son sold them in pots from roadside stands in Hollywood and later Beverly Hills, where winter visitors as well as locals bought them. The painter Paul DeLongpre painted them (one of his watercolors is featured in the article) adding to their popularity beyond Southern California.
As many have noted, the poinsettia is memorialized as a street name in Hollywood. Now we know why.
*The issue is available free of charge now, but isn't up yet on the magazine's website www.discoverhollywood.com Presumably it will be soon.