LA dwellers flock to Hollywood pine
Sep 24 2007 12:00AM
People in Los Angeles have been trekking to visit a lone tree that survived forest fires there, according to reports.
Described by the LA Times as a "sprig of green standing bravely between heaven and hell", the pine stands on Cahuenga Peak, near the Hollywood Hills.
Jugs of water hang from its branches, said by the paper to "drip-feed" the tree's roots, while visitors leave notes and carve their names onto its bark.
"After feeling such anxiety and stress, a run to this tree always helps me to put life into perspective," wrote one visitor named Brian.
The paper points out that the pine stands on private property once owned by the billionaire industrialist and filmmaker Howard Hughes, recently portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator.
He reportedly sought to build a "love nest" for actress Ginger Rogers, but the tree and 138 acres surrounding it are now owned by investors from Chicago.
A 200-acre fire broke out in the hills above LA in May this year, while two teenagers were accused of starting a brush fire near the Hollywood sign two months before.
The Hollywood home of actress Drew Barrymore was destroyed in a fire in 2001.