Today, we went downtown to pick up the Christmas tree. Yeah I know, really late, but we didn't have time. We went to where we always go, United Melon in Downtown Los Angeles. They generally have Christmas Tree auctions going but since it's so close to Christmas they weren't having any, so that kinda sucked. I enjoy the competitive spirit when hunting for the right tree. Not a huge tree after all but a good tree, nice Douglas Fir, 8 footer maybe a lil bit more. Not super fat though.
I think there is really something going on in the Christmas tree industry. Christmas tree prices have gone up, Christmas tree quality has gone down along with their height, the size of tree lots have shrunk, and the number of Christmas tree auctions and auctioneers have dimenished as well. United Melon for instance used to have 4 auctions, 2 large lots, and multiple rails to bring in box cars full of trees, not to mention multiple concession trucks or roach wagons as they are sometimes called. I remember when I was younger and we were always able to find 10 foot + trees. Now your lucky to find a 10 footer or even a 9 footer. I remember getting a 12 foot tree for $55 dollars and now your lucky to find one and it's going to cost you over a 100 dollars. I remember the biggest tree we ever had was a 14 footer. We didn't pay over 80 dollars for it. On the auction front, I've seen generations of auctioneers. One in particular Vanessa, who is actually the daughter of this one auctioneer who used to auction trees off when I was young, she still auctions, but this year she was the only auctioneer. When I was young United Melon used to have 4 auctioneers, with generally 2 auctions going at once and then they'd break and change auctioneers. Today though there's only Vanessa, and as good as she is, she just doesn't have the speed and the twang of those who have come before her. Maybe everyone has moved to synthetics but I believe in real fresh trees that once were alive and are no longer. I miss the glory days of the Christmas tree industry.
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Good Ole' United Melon
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment