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| Mark & Patricia Rohlfs, founders of Santa & Sons,
enjoy a moment at the Christmas tree lot. Only their team efforts
allowed the farm to survive some lean early years. They remain
committed to each other and to the continued operation of the
Christmas tree farm. |
Santa & Sons Christmas Trees was founded
in 1983 by Mark and Patricia Rohlfs. As a husband and wife team
we first operated the Christmas tree farm in Oregon and retail Christmas
tree lots in Arizona. In 1993 we moved the operations to the San
Fernando Valley, first to Studio City, then to Sherman Oaks, and
finally to the current location at Los Angeles Valley College on
the corner of Burbank Blvd. and Coldwater Canyon.
We started out not as sellers of trees but field workers
on some of the early Christmas tree farms in the 1970's in Oregon .
In 1978, we organized as a co-op labor crew and planted our first
trees. We still grow our own Christmas trees to this day, shipping
interstate wholesale loads to the western United States. Selected
high quality trees from our Christmas tree fields are shipped fresh
all season long directly to our only retail tree lot.
 Many
of our long time customers remember us from some of our previous
locations around the San Fernando Valley. Studio City Public Library
now sits on the corner of Moorpark & Whitsett where we had our
Christmas tree lot from 1993 to 1995. A wonderful man by the name
of Tony Dell Aqua agreed to lease us that property, and it was very
much due to his generous spirit that we ended up at that spot in
the San Fernando Valley. Eventually he sold the property to the
City of Los Angeles for the new neighborhood library. The retail
tree lot back then was before the move to shade tents to protect
the Christmas trees from the sun. It was a small neighborhood lot
where we made many friends and introduced our personal style of
doing business.
Sherman Oaks was the next stop. When library construction
forced the move
away from Studio City , we found a home next to the Fashion Square
Mall at the corner of Riverside and Hazeltine, across from Bloomingdale's
and Trader Joe's. From 1996 to 1999, we gained notoriety with real
native American tipis at pumpkin time and the huge shade structure
we built for the Christmas trees. The size of the lot allowed us
to grow, and we found many new customers and friends again at this
new site. Of special mention here is Gloria Robinson, a lifelong
resident of the neighborhood, the tree lot's immediate neighbor
and great friend.
It was the move away from Studio City when we first
started sending out postcards to let our customers know where to
find us. We still send a new card every year to thousands of repeat
customers. Our mailing list is never sold nor shared in any way.
Here are some samples of the cards that we have sent over the years.
See how many you remember!
Eventually, construction of the new DWP substation
in Sherman Oaks forced us to again seek out a new home in the San
Fernando Valley. That search lasted over a year, with our tree lot
temporarily located in the year 2000 in Granada Hills and a small
lot in North Hollywood This time help arrived from one of our customers,
good people from the local area who introduced us to the folks at
Los Angeles Valley College.
Since 2001, and for the foreseeable future the Christmas
tree lot will be located in the south parking lot at L.A. Valley
College right on the corner of Burbank Blvd. and Coldwater Canyon.
This great facility is centrally located, provides easy access and
unlimited free paved parking. There is natural shade from tall trees
and plenty of room for the new shade tents. With more room, we are
able to stand all of the inventory in water stands, and display
even more trees for you to choose from. With trees from 2' feet
to 20' feet tall, we have fresh quality Christmas trees you need
with a cheerful, knowledgeable staff there to help make your selecting
the perfect family Christmas tree a happy and fun occasion.
People like Tony Dell Aqua and Gloria Robinson are
gone now, but we are making new memories and meeting new friends
in the local neighborhood every year. Join us in a San Fernando
Valley tradition at Santa and Sons Christmas Trees!
In Memory of Jose Rafael Chavez
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