How two childhood friends built an iconic South Bay-based brand (And how they plan to go global)
by Mark McDermott
The crooked little trees started appearing around the South Bay early in the summer of 2005.
The trees were about seven inches tall, made out of metal, and usually found in pairs hanging off power lines, much the way pairs of sneakers are sometimes thrown over power lines. They veered slightly leftward, like a little pine tree enduring the wind as it grows in some unlikely place, like a mountain cliff or a canyon gorge. Conspicuously, some were hung from piers, or near good surf breaks, like El Porto, or post-surf hangs, like Martha’s diner in Hermosa Beach. Others appeared as bright green decals on paired bottles likewise hung over lines, and not only in the South Bay — Ventura, Newport, Huntington, San Clemente and Topanga beaches also reported the appearance of the weird little trees.