San Fernando Valley’s last orange grove

la.curbed.com/2019/8/14/20805795/los-angeles-last-orange-grove-bothwell-ranch


Only a century ago, Southern California led the nation in citrus production. In 1901, 4.5 million orange trees grew statewide, with farms concentrated in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and San Diego counties.



But with land values skyrocketing, most of LA’s citrus ranches had been subdivided into residential developments by the 1970s,



In fact, most of the Bothwell Ranch has already been sold off and incorporated into the surrounding neighborhood. According to Blumenfield’s motion, the ranch contained roughly 100 acres of orange groves when grower Lindley Bothwell purchased the property in 1926. Today, only 13 acres remain.



According to Fogg, those 13 acres have become prohibitively expensive to maintain—with the ranch’s water bill coming in higher than the revenue brought in from the sale of its oranges in 2017.



But some of those who live in the well-heeled neighborhood around the property don’t want to see the thousands of orange trees on the site destroyed.



“We’ve never seen such a thing,” neighbor Abbas Nasseri told the planning committee. “In summertime the whole neighborhood is abloom with natural perfume.”