After a few days of Springtime sun, the orange trees start to bloom. Bright white flowers emerge set against an evergreen citrus backdrop. That’s beautiful to see. But it’s the sweet scent of the flowers that give me pause on a Spring morning. Sometimes you just have to stop and smell the orange blossoms.
Blossoms on a single orange tree can overwhelm. So, what if there were acres and acres of orange trees in bloom? What would that be like?
Well, that’s the way it was around here. Not always. But, there was a time….
The southern California climate is mostly frost free, which is good for growing oranges. Back about 150 years and 20 million people ago, there was enough local water to irrigate groves upon groves of fruit trees. Add to those natural gifts railroad access to eastern markets, immigrant labor and then add some more water by importing it from the north and pretty soon you have a powerhouse business. Under the right conditions, there was a lot of money in those round orange fruits.
In their book, From Cows to Concrete, Rachel Surls and Judith Gerber tell the history of local farming. Yes, there was local farming and a lot of it. They point out that from 1909 to 1949 Los Angeles County was the top farming county in the entire nation.
Oranges were the key crop. “Although wine grapes helped to shape Los Angeles as it grew from a village into a small city, ultimately no crop impacted Los Angeles as much as the orange. Highly profitable due to growing demand for oranges and lemons, the vast citrus groves planted in the decades after 1870 brought riches to the growers and helped promote migration to Southern California. Orange trees, with their shiny green leaves and globes of golden fruit became emblematic of Los Angeles, a symbol of its health and abundance that drew newcomers from around the country and the world.”
Among the newcomers eyeing southern California was a group from Indiana. As Ann Scheid detailed in her Pasadena history, the Indiana group dreamed of buying land to grow oranges. The group formed the San Gabriel Orange Grove Association, purchased land east of the arroyo and by 1875, had planted 10,000 orange and lemon trees. The major north south street for the new settlement was fittingly named Orange Grove Avenue, all of which later became the City of Pasadena.
Others eyed land to the east of the Indiana group.
In 1873, famous painter William Cogswell purchased mesa land east of Eaton Wash and in 1875 Lucky Baldwin bought the giant Rancho Santa Anita. Leonard Rose bought his land much earlier and Sunny Slope ranch was well established when Cogswell and Baldwin arrived.
An 1877 Los Angeles Evening Express article notes the Sierra Madre Villa had 100 acres in orange trees already bearing fruit. The writer describes travelling down hill from the Villa through groves of English walnut trees on the W. S. Chapman ranch and then on to Santa Anita Rancho and ultimately San Gabriel train depot along a five or six mile long “avenue of orange and eucalyptus trees.”
Earlier in 1877, the Express reported that Baldwin’s great Santa Anita Rancho had 500 acres mainly planted in orange trees including navel orange, St. Michael, blood orange and tangerines.
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Vast swaths of orange groves remained well into the mid-1900’s. Glen Duncan, in his book Route 66 in California, describes the scene and scent awaiting those heading west on the Mother Road: “One of the most impressive features of early travel across the San Gabriel Valley on Route 66 from San Bernardino down to the Arroyo Seco in South Pasadena were mile upon mile of citrus groves framed by snowcapped mountains. The aroma at blossom time was as intoxicating as the scenery was breathtaking.”
Orange blossom time does not last long. Soon, the white petals will drop one by one and as the petals go so does the wonderful scent. Provided bees have been by to pollinate the blossoms, tiny green fruit will emerge. That tiny green fruit will grow into an orange. And, come one December morning, I will wander down to the tree to pick and savor a delicious Cara Cara orange.
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