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# Deciduous trees look dead
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/deciduous-trees-look-dead-editor/
- Published: 2008-04-11T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T19:12:58.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By Cecilia Rosenthal Santa Monica*

The view from my hospital window, was, of all things, an almost leafless tree. I couldn’t tell if it was dead or deciduous, since they both look identical. It made me think of the editorial in the SMDP several weeks before, advocating the destruction of our ficus trees. One of the editors had commented on how lovely our deciduous trees looked covered with Christmas lights. I tried to picture it. Certainly, the lights are beautiful, but what they lit up remained unpleasantly dead-looking, and the lights only served as a disservice to them, lighting up their barren nakedness instead of letting them fade into the night. I doubt if any of those editors would have a deciduous Christmas tree in their homes, so why are we forced to have them in front of our homes?

I also remembered a councilmember telling about the deciduous tree in his yard — a pleasant reminder of winter. I came to Santa Monica to escape the cold and barren winters. Is there a better reason to come to Santa Monica?

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 11, 2008.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/041108.pdf?ref=smdp.com)