Flocking Artist, LA, CA, 2009
Master flocker Larry Deminter, proudly poses with one of his very special Christmas confections. Freshly flocked trees are his holiday specialty. This one is a tri-toned tabletop tree in lime, light pink and bright pink. Larry can flock a tree any color you want including black.
Frankly, I’ve always had a wondering eye for flocked Christmas trees, especially when flocked in color. So this year when I spotted lime green, periwinkle blue and peach flocked trees displayed at the local neighborhood tree lot I pulled the car right up and hopped without skipping a beat. Standing beneath the red and white striped tent and surrounded by a impressive, fragrant selection of fine cut pines a variety of shapes and sizes my imagination was inspired and my spirit soared. After several questions including how many flocking colors do you have? And how many colors can u do on a single tree? The answers were 15 and two or three, I ordered tall tree flocked in shocking pink. Curious about flocking, (isn’t everyone?), and how one becomes a flocker, I introduced myself to the flocker and I got more than I bargained for.
I began talking to Larry and was quite impressed by his family history in the tree business. Turns out he learned the seasonal tree trade when he was boy. His father began selling Christmas tress at the corner of Central and Vernon Avenues in South LA in 1950. His family maintains that lot to this day every holiday season in addition to three others in Culver City, Hollywood and the Los Feliz Costco parking lot, where I met him and this image was captured.
Over the next few days I returned to the lot several times and ordered two more flocked trees -the tri-tone u see in the pic and another in fire engine red knick-named the “Red Devil” Christmas tree. I gave it away at my retro holiday slide show in Hollywood.
The next morning the wind was howling at high speeds when I went back to tell Larry what a big hit the Christmas tree giveaway was and to thank him for flocking it special. When I got there it looked like the wind had attacked the place like a tornado. Trees were blown over in every direction. I looked over at Larry’s flocking booth and it was completely gone. Only a mashed, muddy mound of multicolored flocking remained. I asked what happen to the flocking tent? It blew away the wind. Where’s Larry? He’s gone and wasn’t coming back.
I stood there in the bluster among the windswept trees and red and white tent slapping in the breeze. For a moment I truly believed I was in some sort of crazy Christmas fairy tale where the flocking booth flew away with the flocker in it flocking a tree.
THANK YOU, LARRY, for the flocking!
Here’s to flock, flocking, flockers, flocked Christmas trees, Larry and YOU!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
December 25, 2009
Los Angeles
Back in Ohio where I grew up, the tradional multi ornamented and multi color lighted tree was put up every year until we left the farm in the late 60′s and moved into town. Our next door neighbor in the new subdivision was a florist and they sold flocked trees. From then on our tree was a live pine flocked white with white mini lights and decorated with identical blue balls! I quite liked the “modern” look of the flocked tree, as it was as close to an aluminum tree with the rotating color wheel that I had always yearned for but never got. Can’t seem to find anyone around here now that flocks trees or most have never even heard of them. Great childhood memories resurrected once again Charles!
Interesting.
I haven’t seen a flocked tree in anyone’s home or even in a store for ages! Boy I wonder how his lungs are doing!
Love,
aitch
Yellow and Hot Pink Flocked Tree for me. Delicious!
Here in Arizona, I believe they simply stucco their trees.
Ah Charles, another happy memory.
Being a southern California beach kid, snow never figured into my Christmas memories.
I knew a few kids who had flocked trees but my mother was a purest, true to our climate; alas, not even fake icicles aka tinsel, were allowed on our tree.
I was lucky enough to have grandparents who enjoyed taking their tiny red and white travel trailer to fab early 1960′s Palm Springs where I got to spend part of my Christmas break from kindergarten. The trailer park was right off the main road and during the day, I’d sit at the tiny dinette which would later make into my cozy trailer bed, looking the far off snow covered mountains. We’d take walks around Palm Springs, me in my shorts and little red Keds, Grandma in her nicest sweater and Five and Dime corsage with red holly and white bells so festive.
The best thing about Palm Springs at Christmas in those pre-mall days were the department stores with their windows. I cared nothing about going inside Bullocks, May Company or IMagnins but their windows were pure magic.
That year, one of the stores featured a Mink clad manikin next to a pink flocked tree and on a leash, she walked a Pink Standard Poodle. OH how wonderful was that display. I begged to see it over, over and over. In the day it was wonderful and at night, Oh my goodness, it was the most fantastic display in the world. I vowed that someday, I would have such a tree; pink and flocked, I would wear Mink and I too would have white standard Poodle named Fifi who would not mind being dyed Pink.
Alas, it didn’t happen, I would never Mink and I prefer Labradors to Poodles but the happy memory of Christmas magic Palm Springs style stays with me forever.
I showed this to my husband early today. Later I was moving ornaments around on our fresh tree and said I did not see the point of green ornaments. He said they go on flocked trees! What a smarty. I’m hoping we’ll make it to the show in Kirkland tomorrow. He lived in L.A. in the 50s, so he might enjoy it even more than I do. Thank you for all the chuckles you’ve given me, Charles. Here’s to you!
Oh! Fabulous trees! I really thought no one flocked in color anymore. Poor Larry! Possibly he threw a hissy fit at the wind and went home to stomp about, unable to pursue his timely masterpieces further this Christmas. I would love to view his creations in person next year! We had a pink flocked tree in 1963 that sadly, one can only speculate that it may be something other than white in the pics-my dad used B&W film, not kodachrome. Still, it looked awesome paired with mama’s pink glass ornaments wrapped in netting & pearls.
A Hot Pink Flocked Tree! Too Fabulous! I’d love to get flocked!
My coworker, I’ll call her Mandy, has a husband who was too cheap to pay for flocking a tree. So he bought white spray paint. It turned the tree cement gray. He kept going back to Ace hardware to buy more paint, but it stayed cement gray. Meanwhile, the fumes in the apartment were terrible, so Mandy opened the front door and windows. While struggling with the tree, it fell over, hooking her sweat pants and underwear, pulling them down as it fell. Mandy’s mother in law, who loathes her, picked that moment to appear at the front door.
Mandy collapsed in tears over the whole fiasco, and her four year old son, trying to comfort her, said ‘Don’t worry mommy, I love our concrete tree.’