REDWOOD TREES ARE SO L.A. THERE'S MORE TO CITY'S TREE LINE THAN PALMS.

Byline: Dana Bartholomew Staff Writer

Famed photographer Julius Shulman looks out from his Hollywood Hills studio and doesn't see a Los Angeles planted with palms, but a city cloaked in coast redwoods, the world's tallest trees.

``We can do it,'' Shulman, 95, titan of Modernist architectural photogs, told a delegation from the Save-the-Redwoods League, who'd come down from San Francisco to hear his sequoia-size scheme. ``All we need is enough water.

``You can do redwood groves all over these hills - across Southern California.''

As in across the Santa Monica Mountains, where the red giants of North Coast forests could envelope deer, bobcats and other wildlife.

Across the San Fernando Valley, where stiff-backed redwoods could replace the lazy palms along Sherman Way.

And along the sands of Malibu, where 300-foot stands of Sequoia Sempervirens - not to be confused with their girthy Giant Sequoia cousins - could shade sun-baked board shorts and bikinis.

The seeds for Shulman's plan: His own coast redwood grotto, which he planted 47 years ago behind his glass-sided house, one of the first to sport the sleek Modern style.

Generations of Angelenos have also looked up to redwoods in such locations as Griffith Park, along Cedros Avenue in Van Nuys and at Canoga Park High School, once home to the largest redwood forest in Los Angeles.

``There's no other tree like it,'' said Shulman, who first encountered the majestic trees on a trip with his late wife more than 75 years ago to Big Basin Redwoods State Park. ``I stood in awe of those beautiful trees.''

Today, his excitement hasn't diminished. Each morning, the man known for publicizing the bold designs of such architects as Pierre Koenig and Richard Neutra awakens to the sight of sunlight filtering through at least one of seven redwoods towering as high as 85 feet outside.

Members working to preserve 2 million acres of redwood forests from Big Sur to Oregon were impressed with Shulman's grove - and enchanted by the notion of a thirsty Los Angeles transformed by equally thirsty redwoods.

``It's wonderful, to see the vision on the land, fulfilling the promise created by a tiny seedling, in Los Angeles,'' said Katherine Anderton, executive director of Save-the-Redwoods League of San Francisco, craning her neck at Shulman's bower.

``It might change the Angelenos' consciousness - and it might even change the climate by drawing moisture inland.''

If Angelenos aren't quite ready for redwood hot tubs, they're not foreign to local redwoods.

Giancarlo Sini, a native of Rome, was looking to buy a bungalow 18 years ago when he ran a gantlet of more than two dozen redwoods on Cedros Avenue in Van Nuys. His enchantment braked there.

``I drove down the street and said, 'Oh my God, what beautiful trees,''' said Sini, 42, admiring the spongy red girth of the sentinels on his street, thought to be at least 75 years old.

``I'm a tree person. I bought here because of the redwoods.''

Over the years, some of the trees between Burbank and Oxnard have been chopped down. Some have grown unevenly for lack of water. And roots from the trees have cost neighbors thousands in plumbing bills.

``It gives off a lot of debris in winter, which can be annoying,'' Ellen Henderson, 42, said of the 5-foot wide redwood in her yard. ``But if they cut (it) down, I'd be really really depressed.''

Some arborists, however, say that planting redwoods in Los Angeles is like putting an elephant on your patio - there's just not enough room. Not enough water. And not enough humidity.

In Los Angeles, the stately trees never achieve their heavenly heights.

``On the whole, it's not the right environment for them,'' said Linda Eremita, arborist for TreePeople, which tends a few redwood specimens at Coldwater Canyon Park.

``I always feel sorry for them, to tell you the truth. They don't get enough moisture. Because they're so huge, people tend to take off all their lower boughs, and they don't like it.

``They can't pick up their roots and move to a moister climate.''

Teresa Proscewicz, chief forester for the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks, tends more than a hundred redwoods at Griffith Park. Unfortunately, she said, many have fallen in the last 20 years to air pollution, drought and reclaimed water.

``It wouldn't be feasible,'' she said of Shulman's vision to blanket L.A. with redwoods. ``It is the wrong climate.

``Photographers are artistic people, I understand that. (But) to sustain those beautiful trees, you have to be practical. This climate isn't geared toward redwoods.''

Perhaps the forestry teacher at Canoga Park High School wasn't aware of that in 1936, when he planted a grove of 58 redwoods north of Breniman Field.

Today, most of what was known as Senior Grove - reported to be the largest grove of redwoods in Southern California - has been cut down to make way for the Los Angeles River channel.

But 17 somewhat frowsy specimens planted by E. Yale Waterman still stand, providing a popular gathering spot for Canoga Park High alumni. A dozen more redwoods fill the school's quad.

``They're struggling,'' said Richard Tibbetts, history teacher, Canoga Park High grad and historian, whose father attended the school and studied under Waterman.

``We've called in an expert. We're going to make a game plan (to save them). We're going to see what we can do to help these guys out - they're part of the history of the school.''

Canoga Park High teacher and alumna Caryn Michaels said she looks forward to a reunion this summer under the official trees of the Golden State.

``Palm trees are ugly,'' said Michaels, who teaches in the Freshman Center. ``As I've gotten older, I've come to appreciate the redwoods.

``It's a feeling. They're beautiful. Absolutely beautiful'' she said, gazing into their spartan branches. ``I get a positive vibe off these trees - let's have a moment.''

Dana Bartholomew, [phone]

dana.bartholomew(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

7 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) Coast redwoods are generally associated with Northern California, but they exist in Southern California, too. Here Kate Anderton, of the Save-the-Redwoods League, stands beside a redwood in the Hollywood Hills.

(2 -- 3 -- color) Coast redwoods can be found in many areas, including, left, at Canoga Park High School, and, right, on the Hollywood Hills property of architect and photographer Julius Shulman.

(4 -- 5 -- color) In 1936, a forestry teacher at Canoga Park High School planted a grove of 58 redwoods on the campus, including the one on the left. Redwoods are also in yards, like this one, right, on Cedros Avenue in Van Nuys.

(6 -- color) Famed photographer Julius Shulman shows Kate Anderton, of the Save-the-Redwoods League, the trees on his property in Hollywood Hills.

David Sprague/Staff Photographer

(7) This photo from the 1957 school yearbook shows what the grove at Canoga Park High School once looked like.David Sprague/Staff Photographer

Canoga Park High School yearbook

Box:

Redwoods in Los Angeles

SOURCES: TreePeople, Daily News