CALIFORNIA SYCAMORE
In May 2017, a gorgeous, 80-plus year old, codominant trunk California Sycamore was slated for removal on Holly Drive, Hollywood Dell. The Sycamore is a signature native of Southern California, but the tree has been hit hard with the polyphagous shot hole borer beetle since the late 2000 aughts. This particular tree was riddled with beetles. We took these beauties home to ACL and milled them the following week. 

A few months later, as the boards and slabs from the Holly Drive California Sycamore tree came out of the kiln, designer Leslie Shapiro Joyal stopped by ACL. Still warm, she ogled the piece and sent a photo to her client for approval. We asked where in Los Angeles her project was located. She told us in Whitley Heights, a stone’s throw from where the tree came down in Hollywood Dell. 

A riparian Plane tree, the California Sycamore is endemic to Southern California. Its whimsical gray-white bark with earth-tone craters gives way to large, sprawling, 5-lobed light green leaves. Its whimsy does not end with its appearance. Its wood has a salmon-pink hue with breathtaking quarter sawn grain resembling a tiger’s stripes. Sycamore can be a real nudge to season, but after drying at low temperatures for a long time, this wood cuts and works like butter making the shop take on an aroma of nutty cinnamon.