I've been spending some time in Los Angeles recently, and have become infatuated with palm trees. They have always held strong symbolism for me, an icon of some dream of sybaritic luxury, a tropical vacation, a stranding on a desert isle, dates, and coconuts.
There were big rains around new years a couple of months ago, and I found afterwards that parks and beaches and boulevards had held hundreds of palm fronds that had come down in the wind and the rain.
I collected hundreds of these, mostly the small bits that cling to the trees after a frond trimming, but release and fall in a good rain. I scrubbed them clean, dried them in the sun, and stored them away for a couple of months, and let my imagination and dreams guide me in making a plan.
My pal David Horvitz had invited me to install an artwork in his 7th Avenue Garden in Arlington Heights, and the palm parts seemed like the material to use. Slowly, I devised a plan to "rebuild" a palm trunk using the local palm, bound with adobe using clay dug locally in the hills of Highland Park and fiber from palm fronds.
Last week I returned to L.A. and got to designing and building, working with my son Quill. laying out the materials, engineering the structure, mixing the mud, and layering the hundreds of frond trimmings into a 8-foot tall cylindric tower.
Over time, the sculpture will disintegrate and the local-sourced organic materials will reintegrate into the local organic environment. Until it does, it will stand in the garden.
If you are in L.A., stop by and have a look. We will host a small opening reception on Sunday, February 22, 2026 from 3 to 5 pm. We'll serve some palm-related treats: palmiers made with date and coconut sugars and coconut-date ice cream (v).
David Horvitz's 7th Avenue Garden: 1911 7th Ave, Los Angeles, CA (map)