With whirring power saws and a huge crane, a crew reduced the 135-year-old landmark pepper tree in front of Laguna Beach City Hall to a 12-foot stump.

The chop-down Wednesday, Oct. 4 started promptly at 7 a.m. and was overseen by staff from the city’s Public Works Department.

“It was very solemn,” said Shohreh Dupuis, director of Public Works. “It was hard to see it come down.”

The tree removal wasn’t publicized by City Hall, but those who were in the area when it happened — morning walkers, people doing business at City Hall and residents in their cars on their way out of town — stopped to watch.

It took the four-person crew about four hours to do the job.

Carol Lloyd’s great, great uncle George Rogers planted this 135-year-old pepper tree in the 1880’s. The Laguna Beach resident will keep a piece of the limb as a family heirloom. The 135-year-old tree graces the entrance of Laguna BeachÕs City Hall and was cut Weds., Oct. 4. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Lottie Rogers and daughter Elizabeth, 8, helped Lottie’s husband George Rogers plant a pepper tree in the 1880’s. The massive landmark tree, in front of Laguna Beach’s City Hall, was diseased and about 90 percent hollow. It was chopped down to 12 feet on Weds., Oct. 4. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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Carol Lloyd of Laguna Beach says her great, great uncle George Rogers planted this pepper tree in the 1880’s along with naming the street it overlooks, Forest Ave., in Laguna Beach. The tree was cut down to 12 feet on Weds., Oct. 4. It sits at the entrance of Laguna BeachÕs City Hall. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The 36-foot pepper tree was cut to a 12-foot stump Weds., Oct. 4. The view from the sidewalk in front of Laguna Beach City Hall is now an unobstructed one of the hillside. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Chris Osuna, Laguna Beach Public Works maintenance lead, records history as he captures a now 12-foot pepper tree, chopped down by 24 feet, at Laguna Beach’s City Hall on Weds., Oct. 4. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, Orange County Register/SCNG)



Before. This view of a 36-foot pepper tree is no more. The aging pepper tree was fenced off at Laguna Beach’s City Hall. The City Council decided Tuesday to cut the tree down to 12 feet. Photographed on Thurs., Sept. 14. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, Orange County Register/SCNG)

After. The Laguna Beach City Council decided Tuesday to cut the tree down to 12 feet. Photographed Weds., Oct. 4. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Signs of decay and aging are noticeable on this 135-year-old pepper tree in front of Laguna Beach’s City Hall on Thurs., Sept. 14. The landmark which graced the entrance of Laguna BeachÕs City Hall and was cut Weds., Oct. 4. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Before. This view of a 36-foot pepper tree is no more. The aging pepper tree was fenced off at Laguna Beach’s City Hall. The City Council decided Tuesday to cut the tree down to 12 feet. Photographed on Thurs., Sept. 14. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, Orange County Register/SCNG)

After. The Laguna Beach City Council decided Tuesday to cut the tree down to 12 feet. Photographed Weds., Oct. 4. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, Orange County Register/SCNG)



Chris Osuna, Laguna Beach Public Works maintenance lead, records history as he captures a now 12-foot pepper tree, chopped down by 24 feet, at Laguna Beach’s City Hall on Weds., Oct. 4. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, Orange County Register/SCNG)

It smells like Christmas as a 36-foot pepper tree was cut down to 12 feet and mulched at Laguna Beach’s City Hall on Weds., Oct. 4. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The view from Laguna Beach’s City Hall as seen through a newly chopped pepper tree on Weds., Oct. 4. Debate over the dying treeÕs safety led to the formation of a subcommittee and multiple reviews by arborists, who say the tree was in jeopardy of splitting or falling apart. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Remnants of a 36-foot pepper tree was scattered across the Laguna Beach City Hall grounds on Weds., Oct. 4.(Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Laguna Beach Public Works crew a majority of a 135- year-old pepper tree through the wood chipper on Weds., Oct. 4. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, Orange County Register/SCNG)



After. The Laguna Beach City Council decided Tuesday to cut the tree down to 12 feet. Photographed Weds., Oct. 4. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The Laguna Beach City Council decided Tuesday to cut the tree down to 12 feet. Photographed Weds., Oct. 4. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, Orange County Register/SCNG)

For longtime resident Sande St. John, the 36-foot tree has always been magical.

“I’m beyond sad,” she said. “I take Santa there on Hospitality Night and he lights the tree. I love see the tree, it’s Laguna. I passed by three times today and I felt like I should do something. I felt lost. I’m confident it was a decision that no one really wanted to make. I saw city workers just gazing and not speaking.”

Related Articles Laguna Beach opts for cloning of iconic pepper tree, plans chop-down next week

Laguna Beach considers cloning iconic 135-year-old pepper tree to preserve its history The pepper tree was planted 135 years ago by George Rogers, one of the city’s earliest residents.

But the tree was removed because it had become diseased and was nearly 90 percent hollow. City officials had surrounded the tree with a white picket fence to guard against parts of it dropping onto passersby or nearby parked vehicles.

Cuttings to clone the tree were taken and are already on their way to Shannon Still, curator and director of Plant Conservation at the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden, Dupuis said. The City Council approved the $3,000 project on Sept. 26.

The plants will be kept in small pots and misted. Depending on how well they grow, they could start rooting in three months, Still said.

He said a $2,000 donation covers the cost for the greenhouse space and to keep the plants for a few years. He and his students will oversee their care.

The city also paid $1,000 to a local arborist who removed cuttings a week ago.

Ann Christoph, who last year was part of a group that published a book called “Laguna Beach and the Greenbelt, Celebrating a Treasured Historic American Landscape,” agreed the tree has historical importance.

She said Wednesday she did not want to see it come down.

“It would have been like witnessing an execution,” she said.

Christoph said she made last-minute efforts to rally locals and urged them to call the City Council, but in the end her efforts fell short.

For decades, the pepper tree has been decorated with lights during the city’s annual Hospitality Night.

That ceremony this year likely will be held in the Lumber Yard on Forest Avenue, where another tree will be decorated in lights.

Wood from the pepper tree will be made available through the end of November to artists or the public who wish to craft objects or to have a memento from the tree.

For information, contact Robert Sedita at 949- 497-0740.